This morning, I read a posting at the United States Naval Institute blog by CDR Salamander, who took objection to sexual assault messaging recently posted on the Navy's facebook page. He begins his post with this:
Since this came out on 22 JUN on the Navy’s Facebook page, I have been trying to figure out quite what to do with it.As a father, brother, and member of the first generation of Navy officers to spend their entire career in mixed-gender units – I am very serious about sexual assault and its impact at both the personal level and the readiness level. As a reflection of the society it serves, sexual assault takes place in the Navy as it does in society. Especially in such a youth heavy organization and all that comes with it – the Navy needs to make sure it has a focused, clear and realistic policy and prevention program.
Here you can see the Sexual Assault Prevention Tips posted on the Navy's facebook page, which CDR Salamander references in his opening. If you read through the comments on the facebook thread, you'll see the responses are varied, although I think it's fair to say (as of now) the majority of respondents were not happy. Some people thought it was a joke, some hoped it was a joke, some found it offensive and a few thought it was a creative way to tackle a serious issue. As for CDR Salamander, here's his conclusion:
There are ways to address sexual assault, and there is good advice to provide to our Sailors. This fails on all accounts, and is actually counter-productive on many levels. Not only is the advice worthless for Sailors – it makes the Navy seem idiotic for having it on their wall.BTW – before people say, “… but these things happen …” I would say, “Stop.” In my career I also had to deal with an E5 who was sexually molesting her elementary school son on a regular basis to the point he was a threat to his classmates – but we didn’t put out a “Don’t assault your children” memo in the Plan of the Day as a result.
Messaging fail of epic proportions.
Read the entire post here (for more context).
What do you think of the Navy's decision to publish this poster, or allow it to be published? In poor taste, or creatively done?
