Today the New York Times ran a piece on the Purrfect Angelz’ third tour in Iraq, part of an ongoing effort to “keep up morale in a war that is more dangerous than ever.” The scantily-clad dance group was invited back despite objections voiced by female troops when they toured last year.
“The show only appeals to men, and in my mind has the potential to increase sexual advances toward female soldiers afterward,” said one female Air Force officer. “To me, if the military really cared about sexual harassment, they would not sponsor such a show.”
Last week, Ann and I blogged about some bad news in this department, sexual harassment by military recruiters and a Citadel survey finding that 20 percent of female cadets report having been assaulted.
Fully one in six of the country’s active duty military, Reserve and National Guard troops is a woman and more than 100,000 women have served in combat since the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Yes, the war is more dangerous than ever, so women shouldn’t have to feel in danger amongst their peers. Having five erotic dancers perform for an evening certainly can’t help an already volatile situation.