The self-appointed political correctness crowd go out of their way to take everything as deadly serious as part of their “Women are always victims and all men are bastards - No fun allowed” creed.
Cdr Tom Phillips suggests female sailors wear bikinis
Holly Byrnes
January 15, 2009 12:00am
A NEWLY appointed Australian navy submarine commander is in hot water for suggesting female sailors wearing bikinis might help to boost recruitment.
Cdr Tom Phillips, appointed to command Collins class submarine HMAS Farncomb last year, also revealed that the submarine equivalent of the “mile-high club” is the “going down club”.
In an interview with Ralph magazine, he said the naval uniform worked to “either pull a chick or get in a fight”.
He was asked, “If female sailors all had to be hot and wear bikinis, would that help recruitment?”
He is quoted as responding: “It would certainly get the right demographic of young men in. I’m not sure how feasible it is.”
The Federal Opposition and feminists have called for disciplinary action over the article.
And Defence Science and Personnel Minister Warren Snowdon said the comments were “utterly unacceptable”.
He said they did not reflect “new generation navy” and has called for an urgent review of the criteria for media approvals to ensure interviews “match the values of the ADF”.
Opposition defence science and personnel spokesman Bob Baldwin said the remarks were “totally inappropriate and absolutely offensive.”
“From a commanding officer of the Royal Australian Navy one would expect a bit more maturity and a respectful attitude to his fellow men and women in the services.”
Eva Cox, chairwoman of Women’s Lobby Australia, said the article reflected “the navy’s limited view of women as bodies rather than brains”.
Ms Cox questioned the wisdom of the ADF agreeing to the story and recruiting through magazines such as Ralph.
But navy deputy chief Rear Admiral Davyd Thomas defended the submarine captain, saying the offending comments were a response to a “flippant question and the commanding officer’s response was not intended to be serious”.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24914106-661,00.html
Note that the headline is not what Phillips said in the report above, not that anybody engaging in the automatic hysterical reaction is going to bother with that once he’s been identified as yet another male bastard denigrating women and treating their bodies as sex objects while oppressing them in the armed services and perpetuating the glass ceiling which prevents mothers from fighting in combat units because the army won’t provide proper child care services in weapon pits BLAH! BLAH! BLAH! …
Ralph magazine is a bloke’s magazine not noted for intellectual content. Have a look at it and see if Eva Cox is correct in thinking that it’s not the sort of magazine that might reach potential armed service recruits. http://ralph.ninemsn.com.au/
Now have a look at Eva Cox and see if her scribblings would be likely to reach your average young bloke thinking about a life on the ocean wave, with catchy titles such as “Workplaces: Why male power must be cut” (I don’t think power is the only part of a male Eva would really like to cut.). http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/author.asp?id=2036 and “How the Budget demonises rich women” http://www.crikey.com.au/Budget-08/20080516-Cox-The-Budget-that-plays-gendered-games.html
At least Rear Admiral Davyd Thomas is capable of taking a sensible approach to the matter. Thank Christ people like him are running the navy instead of the other whingers quoted in the article, although he’s probably about to get a rocket from the deeply offended Defence Science and Personnel Minister, which will ensure that in future there won’t be any more sensible responses by Thomas to media beat ups and politically correct hysteria.
(As far as I’m aware, Commander Tom Phillips is no relation to the Admiral Tom Phillips who went down with the Prince of Wales in 1941 when it was sunk by Japanese planes. Up to that point, Admiral Phillips believed that planes couldn’t sink big ships.)