Offensive Defence

I complain a lot about the mainstream media. And there's a great deal to complain about too - like Andrew Bolt getting his own TV show. This is a most unappetising prospect - that little Australian slice of Fox News is so not going to be pretty. But sometimes even I have to acknowledge that the mainstream media can do some good.

The story of 18 year old ADF cadet 'Kate' which hit channel 10 this week is a great example. There's no question at all that our military institutions are bad places to be if you're a woman. They're built by men, run by men, and they protect men. So it was really a victory that Kate was able to get her story told. The fact that she had to go to the mainstream media to it because the ADF wouldn't do anything is fuckery of the highest order.

Can there be a more damning indictment of the state of the ADF that a woman must go to these lengths to have that story taken seriously? Really, to get any kind of attention at all - and what about any redress? It is absolutely outrageous that the Federal Police initiatlly decided that no offence had been committed - but the paper tells me that was because of the ADF and the tiny amount of information they provided...Now, I'm no lawyer, but I'm pretty that what this woman went through is against the law. And clearly the AFP think so too.

The ADF has hardly been playing fair either. Releasing information about a disciplinary hearing (unrelated to the skype incident) she was to attend at the same time as all of this was unfolding - classy guys, not to mention original too. Why not wheel out the old faithful set of tools which are used to discredit women who stand up to sexism and bad treatment all the time?

Since this case has come out, many more women are coming forward to share experiences of sexual harassment, misogyny and even rape. I've pasted some links below because this is making me too angry to type.

For FSM's sake military institutuions - get your shit together. Start taking women, safety and respect seriously....because the boy's club world you are trying to protect is slowly crumbling. Women have every right to work in those institutions, you need to accept that and you need to respect them. It's really that simple.

Why dont' you listen to Stephen Smith - he know's that something's got to give, and good on him. Nice to know that sometimes politicians do the right thing.

SENIOR military figures are privately furious over Defence Minister Stephen Smith's public attacks on Defence's handling of the webcam sex scandal.

Mr Smith today repeatedly refused to express confidence in the head of the Australian Defence Force Academy and took the extraordinary step of endorsing an 18-year-old cadet's decision to go public with allegations of misconduct against fellow cadets.

He also blasted Defence for hauling the “distressed' woman - who says she was secretly broadcast by webcam having sex as six cadets watched in another room - before an unrelated disciplinary hearing yesterday.

See more: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/defence/stephen-smith-slams-defence-errors-in-cadet-sex-case/story-e6frg8yo-1226035406276

A case in Brisbane:
A BRISBANE woman says a commanding officer told her young niece to "suck it up" after she was raped while training at the Australian Defence Force academy.

The unnamed woman told the ABC her niece was 19 at the time and the sexual assault was so bad the young woman was admitted to hospital.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/raped-adf-trainee-told-to-suck-it-up/story-e6frfku0-1226035193747#ixzz1IsmmSFZI

More women come forward:
12.04am April 8 Three more women have come forward claiming sex abuse cover-ups by the Australian Defence Force. One says she was filmed and assaulted while naked and unconscious when she was a 17-year-old first-year naval cadet at HMAS Cerberus in Westernport Bay in 2001.

Another woman alleged she was sexually assaulted at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra by a third-year cadet in 1989 and that several of his peers paid money to watch.


Read more: http://www.news.com.au/national/australian-defence-force-academy-rocked-by-webcam-sex-scandal/story-e6frfkvr-1226035062923#ixzz1Isn1sOc8