Images by Steven Meisel (“Make Love, Not War”) from Vogue Italia September 2007, seen at foto decadent.
So we’re all here figuring out what to be thankful for, with a big split down the middle of the country and a trainwreck in office, and there are a bunch of people over in Iraq whose freedom to look at porn is under (sadly successful) attack. I mean US soldiers, and according the the email I’m getting this morning, they’re mighty pissed about it. You’ll be shocked and appalled (not awed) to see what I uncovered in this week’s Chronicle column, Don’t Ask, Don’t Wank: a cabal of “family values” groups just pressured the Pentagon to enforce a somewhat recent porn ban to the strictest degree. It’s just not right on so many levels. I’m getting some pretty impressive, supportive emails from Iraq about this one… They’re commenting on the piece from over there, too. Teaser snip:
(…) I knew Tara wasn’t kidding. She followed up with me a few weeks later, telling me how much the guys appreciated the porn — they whooped and cheered as it was distributed, and were even more exuberant when they found out it was handpicked by a girl.
I had no idea I’d participated in the breaking of any laws. But I had. And I’d do it again in a red-hot, Barely Legal second.
Porn — the oft-ridiculous caricature of human sexuality, and most basic sex toy that there is — is considered by officials as dangerous to our service people as drugs. The Military Honor and Decency Act of 1996 prohibits stores on military bases from selling “sexually explicit material.” It defines that as film or printed matter “the dominant theme of which depicts or describes nudity” or sexual activities “in a lascivious way.” Challenged as a First Amendment violation, the law was upheld by a U.S. appeals court in 2002.
In Iraq, service people are subject to General Order Number 1a (GO-1a) put into effect December 19, 2000:The regulations prohibit conduct “prejudicial to the maintenance of good order and discipline of all forces.”GO-1a prohibits a lot of things, such as “controlled substances and drug paraphernalia”, gambling, selling or defacing artifacts and national treasures, entry into a Mosque without permission and much more. Including porn. GO-1a expressly prohibits our soldiers from — or “protects” them from, “Introduction, possession, transfer, sale, creation or display of any pornographic or sexually explicitphotograph, video tapes, movie, drawing, book, magazine, or similar representations.” Sure — go sweat your life into your fatigues guarding a checkpoint that might deliver you a suicide bomber, but get caught with a DVD of “Shaving Ryan’s Privates” and you’re in trouble. And not the kind that involves shaving anyone’s privates, not for fun anyway.
The laws are nearly ten years old, so what’s the fuss, Miss Evil Porn Crusader? Well, (…)
Link.
Also: here’s my favorite email — I want to hug this guy, or send him some (yummy) Four Finger Club DVDs:
Hi babe, I am a soldier over here in Qatar, and here is a copy of the email I sent that old fuck-wad Bartless:
——————-
You know, for a guy who was never IN the military, who didn’t even fight in WWII, you sure have a lot of opinions about what us soldiers are allowed to read. Maybe if you had actually BEEN in combat or ever been brave enough to join the military, you would feel differently.“If soldiers want to read that stuff, they can walk down the street and buy it somewhere else,” Bartlett says. “I don’t want (the military) to help.”
Yea, well, over here in Iraq and elsewhere in the middle-east, it is kind of hard to “walk down the street”. Look, why don’t you go to your church or whatever and worship whatever God you want, in any way you want, and keep for damn nose out of the military’s business. Really, why don’t you just leave us soldiers alone, we can take care of ourselves, we don’t need some old bible-thumper like you dictating to us what we can or cannot read.
If we don’t want to buy it, then we won’t, but don’t try to censor what we can obtain. We fight for freedom and rights, and you self-righteous religious nuts try to take them away. Retire already. I already am tempted to start campaigning against you when I get back, either running myself or helping your opponent.
Sgt [redacted]
The Middle East
