Document text
- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Guide Weather Subscribe Contact Us February 8, 2005 Sexism in military is intolerable In an era when equal rights, especially in the workplace, are legally protected for men and women alike, it is hard to imagine how the recent demotion of a National Guard member can be allowed to stand. According to the New York Daily News, 19-year-old Deanna Allen was demoted for indecent exposure after pictures of her baring her breasts were made public following an impromptu mud-wrestling party at Camp Bucca detention center in Iraq. The Daily News published several photos of women in bras and panties wrestling in front of male soldiers. As far as is known right now, only Allen was demoted following the incident. Let's not sugar coat this. Allen was demoted because she is a woman. Allen's behavior is certainly not unique in the hallowed tradition of male soldiers in the military. Just ask virtually any soldier about the night they got the tattoo on their arm. Allen is not the first soldier to get drunk and act crazy. She is not the first soldier to act more like a college kid at a frat house than a soldier in the military. But men sowing their wild oats is somehow part of the acceptable culture of the military, while women apparently are held to a different standard of conduct. Understandably, some leeway for a tradition-steeped organization like the American military is required. Certainly, the military has its own standards of conduct that it expects its soldiers to uphold. But when a woman is singled out, loses wages and is demoted, the basic rules of discrimination in the workplace supercede military tradition. The military cannot get away with decisions that other corporations in America could not. While the military is having to adjust to women in its workplace, the adjustment requires it being held in account when a decision like this is made. If Allen is to be punished, then all men in the military should be as well. Sexism, even in the male-dominated world of the military, is more indecent than the behavior of a few soldiers, letting off steam under tense and trying circumstances. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Slippers Women's & Men's Slippers Ceramic Piggy Banks heloc libor rate Calenders 2005 Calender 2005 Accelerate Weightloss Products Memory Foam Mattress afsa studentloans home equity loans teleconferencing W2 Forms fasa student loans Matchmaking & Dating Scripts African Safari Conference Calls - $50/Month Security Systems student loan consolidation wholesale diamonds Currancy Exchange web conferencing Online Casinos Community Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams