Government sources close to The Spearhead have revealed some of the shocking materials discovered by Air Force officials during the recent agency-wide search to eliminate items which might offend women’s sensibilities and/or careers. Air Force career officers and enlisted personnel worked feverishly to scour work spaces and living quarters, uncovering some 30,000 offensive objects of hated patriarchal culture. The contraband was duly cataloged and disciplinary entries made into the personnel files of the transgressors.
As profiled in Spearhead’s Air Force to Scrap the Strawberry Bitch?,
Over 100 Air Force installations were inspected. Commanders of thousands of units inspected the workspaces of almost 600,000 Air Force military and civilian personnel. Commanders looked for and removed three broad categories of material: pornographic; unprofessional; or inappropriate or offensive.
According to the results, in the three categories, the Air Force found 631 instances of pornography (magazines, calendars, pictures, videos that intentionally displayed nudity or depicted acts of sexual activity);3,987 instances of unprofessional material (discrimination, professional appearance, items specific to local military history such as patches, coins, heritage rooms, log books, song books, etc); and 27,598 instances of inappropriate or offensive items (suggestive items, magazines, posters, pictures, calendars, vulgarity, graffiti).
Identified items were documented and either removed or destroyed. In some instances, findings were turned over to OSI where appropriate.
The Air Force has released a sanitized database of the inappropriate mugs, posters, trophies, crew patches, and nose art that some might call a compendium of unprofessionalism.
The document provides a “searchable” spreadsheet, a veritable treasure trove of inappropriateness, listing such shocking items as (sic) :
- pencil with small penis eraser
- photo of former Squadron Commander holding up two gay porn videos
- “Bullshit” button (like “Easy” button)
- Book, 50 Shades of Gray
- Airmen of pictures w/their wives @ beach in bikinis
- Quad chart like comparison of quality of life of USMC,USA, USN vs USAF Airmen
- Plaque “Time to put your big girl panties on” on civ female desk
- USO Photo/calendar featuring NFL cheerleaders
- Muscle magazines and photos of body builders
- 1 inappropriate item – Self magazine
- Poster of female straddling bomb
- “Gay Porn Star” Magnet
- 1 Cover of Runner’s World magazine with picture of a women with penned in penis and other lewd comments
- WWII panel nose art (interior) with female back view scantily dressed airbrushed on. Utilized paper and tape to cover it due to lack of chemicals to remove it without damaging the panel. Panel is on order for replacement.
- WW II panel nose art (interior) with female fully clothed but promiscuous, labeled “Night Penetrator”. Turned panel around so it doesn’t show due to not having the proper chemicals to remove it without damaging the panel. Panel is on order for replacement.
- “Wicked Wanda” historical nose art based on aircraft. She was airbrushed onto the locker by one of our female Airmen. Covered the art.
Among the materials uncovered, one in particular, brazenly displayed in a senior Air Force official’s office, stands out as particularly offensive :
You heard that correctly, someone got gigged over “Buff Einstein”. Now, I don’t know what artist is responsible for this masterpiece so if any readers can identify [him or her] credit will be given. The graphic work is superb, with Einstein’s sardonic mug attached seamlessly to the young Adonis. Beyond that it is funny on many existential levels, so much more so because of the context in which it was found and the initiative that uncovered it.
On a serious note however, women, who need to be encouraged to pursue careers in science and technology, and have only now just broken through the sexist barriers preventing them from serving in combat, should not be forced to endure wonton displays of sexually demeaning imagery that create hostile work environments and stymie their careers.
I’ll bet Einstein would have laughed though.
