Navy Removes Porn in Response to Sexual Assault Crisis
In his order on June 13, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus called for the immediate removal of all offensive and degrading materials, including pornography, from all work spaces and from Navy exchanges where numerous pornographic magazines are sold.
Will Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel follow suit and make this order military-wide?
Since February, when Morality in Media (MIM) named the Pentagon to its “Dirty Dozen” list of porn facilitators, the organization has called on Hagel to stop the sale of pornography in military exchanges.
“Pornography is exploitative and demeaning and has no place in the U.S. military, especially in light of our military’s current sexual exploitation crisis,” MIM said in a statement.
The Department of Defense released a study in May, estimating that 26,000 service members were victims of sexual assault. MIM thanks Mabus for stopping the sale and displays of pornography to help stamp out the culture of sexual exploitation in the Navy.
In light of the May study, MIM sent a letter to Hagel on June 3, renewing its request that he ban the sale of sexually exploitative pornography magazines and to prohibit access to pornography by electronic devices on military bases worldwide. MIM has also contacted all members of the U.S. House and Senate Armed Services Committees, asking that each urge Hagel to stop pornography sales in the military exchange services.
