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porn magazines available again to american soldiers serving aboard: yay or nay?

September 26th, 2007     by Thea Lim     Comments

We’ve talked about porn before (here and here), what do we think of this?:

From the Feminist Daily News: Sexually Explicit Magazines Return to Army Exchanges After 10 Year Ban

“Penthouse, along with Playgirl and Ultra for Men, returned to Army and Air Force military exchanges this summer after being banned 10 years ago by a Pentagon review board for being sexually explicit. By July, Penthouse was available in more than 500 exchange outlets worldwide, including in combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. More than 40 anti-pornography groups plan to appeal to the Pentagon Inspector General. … ‘I know from my 20 years as a prosecutor and as an activist that men involved in porn look at women in a different way. At the military academies, they’re selling the same magazines. Don’t women deserve to be safe in that environment?’ Patrick Trueman, special counsel to one of the groups involved, told the Air Force Times. He cited incidents of sexual harassment in the military and other problems that he contends are exacerbated by pornography.”

The Feminist Daily News is strongly opposed to this development, but I’m unsure what I think.

On the one hand, I don’t really like the kind of porn that Penthouse and Playboy produce, more often than not it makes me feel uncomfortable and distressed. On the other hand, (I’m pretty sure that) the women in Penthouse and Playboy are consenting, and if the magazines brighten up the lives of soldiers fighting in this horrible war - because it is horrible, and I wouldn’t want to be them, no matter what I think of the war itself - isn’t that a good thing?

Tags: news flash, on the job

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