Navy bans porn pinups, but underlying concerns persist....

[The Straight Story]

Last week, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus ordered immediate visual inspections of all Naval workplaces, with the intent of removing pornographic material from public sight.

“The Navy is launching a ‘comprehensive visual inspection’ of its properties with a goal of eliminating pornographic materials, including lewd pin-up calendars or other salacious photos found in work spaces and public areas … to ‘ensure (workplaces) are free from materials that create a degrading, hostile, or offensive work environment,’ ” Leada Gore reported for Alabama.com. “The inspections, which will include the U.S. Naval Academy, must be complete by June 28 with results back to Mabus by July 12.”

Politico’s Philip Ewing wrote, “The anti-porn group Morality in Media said Friday that it ‘applauds’ Mabus for his order and challenged Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to take it to the next level. … A Navy spokeswoman confirmed that Mabus’s order does not ban the sale of adult material in Navy and Marine Corps exchanges or forbid sailors and Marines from viewing it privately.”

Warren Cole Smith, a reporter at the Christian-centric World Magazine, quoted Family Research Council president Tony Perkins on Wednesday as supporting Mabus’s mandate despite remaining very leery about President Barack Obama’s administration: “(Perkins) praised the decision, but said Mabus is treating the symptoms, not the cause: ‘The Pentagon needs to look deeper to the policies they’ve adopted for more permanent solutions to this crisis. Starting with the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” … no one has done more to sexualize the military than President Obama. … While pornography is contributing to the problem, it’s time to take a long, hard look at the White House’s radical social policies and start acknowledging their role in fostering this dangerous, sexually-charged environment.’ ”

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865581943/Navy-bans-porn-pinups-but-underlying-concerns-persist.html

[geek tragedy]

1. Porn in the workplace is a huge no-no everywhere, did the Navy just figure that out? nt

[AnotherMcIntosh]

2. Would they ban this?

[WinkyDink]

3. Yes, because that is clearly the very definition of "pornography."

[BainsBane]

4. Go back in time 70 years and find out.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

6. After WW II, the military needlessly destroyed a signifigant amount of nose art

[The Straight Story]

5. Yes, they would:

But Mabus did order that ships, hangars, training centers and all other department workplaces be “free from materials that create a degrading, hostile or offensive work environment.” Essentially, the Navy does not want a female pilot to have to work in a squadron ready room adorned with, say, a bikini pinup calendar.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/06/navy-porn-crackdown-92827.html#ixzz2WtSGzYhx

[FSogol]

7. Isn't the statement, " no one has done more to sexualize the military than President Obama" nothing

more than an attempt to blame the high number of sexual assaults and rapes on the Obama administration? Why would any writer feel than Tony "complete asshat" Perkin's opinion is required?

[redqueen]

9. That is an extremely good question.

The FRC is a hate group.

Looks like someone went way the hell overboard with their desperate rightwing framing.

[haele]

8. DADT repeal lead to a dangerous, sexually charged environment?

The porn-in-the-workplace issue is a command level problem, not a Navy level problem, but they always have these sorts of Navy-wide sweeps whenever there is a high-profile case (Tailhook and the subsequent stand-down/sweep was the biggest I remember).
I think this is about the fourteenth I've experienced since I joined in 1977, did my 20, then took a job supporting various Navy projects. The Navy stopped finding "large amounts of workplace porn" in the mid/late-1990's, and it's continued to taper off through the 2000's to pretty much a "porn found affixed inside an individual's locker or drawer during an inspection" status.

Most commands recognize that public exhibits of porn tend to be either a form of bullying or an indication of someone with an addictive personality control problem that can potentially affect their job - i.e., he or she cannot be without their porn stash for eight to twelve hours a day and have to go look at it regularly.

But it takes a special sort of leap of "faith" to suggest that the ubiquitous sexy cheerleader calendars or hunky firefighter calendars would never have become a workplace problem if it weren't for those darn gay people and their wanting equal rights when it came to personal relationships and marriage contracts...

Haele

[BainsBane]

10. good points.

Thanks for that insight.