Sex in the news

Another juicy Australian 'sex scandal' involving their armed forces:

"21-year-old Daniel McDonald, has been linked to another sex scandal. He is expected to face disciplinary measures as the founding member of The Love of my Life, an AFDA football group that made new members perform sexual acts on one another as part of a hazing ritual."

But why that should not be a scandal, let alone an offence, is made clear:

"[...] while McDonald was a founding member of the group, no criminal offence had been committed by the participating males."

The earlier case refers to him showing off to his mates in a heterosexual Skype show:

"Daniel McDonald, now 21, and Dylan Deblaquiere, 20, faced the ACT Supreme Court on Monday for a sentencing hearing over the 2011 sex scandal at Canberra's Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA).
McDonald had sex with a fellow female military recruit in March 2011 and broadcast it live on Skype to Deblaquiere's room where other male cadets watched.
In August, both were found guilty of using a carriage service in an offensive manner and McDonald was also found guilty of committing an act of indecency."

Are you tough enough?

UKTV started broadcasting the BBC series "SAS - Are You Tough Enough?" in which members of the public, who have something to prove to themselves or others, go through a 10-day simulated SAS military training session. Never mind the test period is far tougher for real soldiers who wish to join that regiment, the amateurs still kept dropping like flies. Nothing like some real SM games to spice up your life, I suppose.
The star of the show is, of course, the Scottish drill sergeant Eddie Stone, who never has to raise his voice to bark orders, but who was surprisingly coy in his assessment of why women were really unsuited for the SAS. All down to anatomical and physiological difference between the genders, apparently. None of the band of brothers / buddy bonding stuff you would really have expected as a justification.
And there's not enough of presenter Dermot O'Leary with his shirt off for my liking (pictured - and mentioned on a long list of Britons, who are gay or have caused the anti-gay movement a lot of damage. I'm not sure what category he fits into, but I wouldn't kick him out of my bed).
He should have joined in the fun to give a first hand report of the experience rather than sitting snugly on the sideline. He should make a reality TV show one day about the soldiers who moonlight as gay porn stars. Would he be tough enough for that? Or will he have to call in assistance from Mark Simpson for that assignment?

Our policy: No sadist left behind.

So when is the Russian Army going to be indicted?

The Shorter SageNZ:

Unless you had a hard man in you, you can't become a real hard man yourself.

It's part of our kulture, dammit

What to make of all that male sex in the news?
First, we got those sods on the rocks, a.k.a. Pitcairn, saying all that extramarital nookie of the kids and everyone else's kids was ultimately OK because it was part of island culture. Having only been once to a Pacific island (Rarotonga) it didn't seem to me a hotbed of illicit sex, or any other sex. Every other building along the road was a church or a cemetery and the islanders seemed to have been very effective at breeding out and preaching out any fun you associate with a tropical island culture.
So what were those Adventists on Pitcairn up to then? Pitcairn looks to be such a godforsaken and boring place - there isn't even a sandy beach, let alone a palm tree - it's hardly surprising they had to make their own fun.

Making your own fun seems also to be the case with those 500 Australians arrested in one of those moral panic swoops on illicit internet shopping for kiddy porn. If we still had gallows, stocks or public burnings, they would be very busy these days, since the kiddy porn merchants have taken on the role of witches in the public mind. Never mind that they only need to be a dab hand at PhotoShop to come up with the imagery that they want to wank over (rather than having to molest the neighbour's daughter for real, as on Pitcairn), it's so much more satisfying to have a go at a few sad sacks. Maybe they should also claim it was part of Australian culture at their trials.

Which brings us (again) to Garth "Vader" George, patron saint of hazing rituals in the New Zealand Army. How dare those recruits complain about the treatment they received as part of their cadet training? he seems to say. The only one that is allowed a pip squeak is the dead one, according to Army chaplain Garth. The others should have taken the brooming, the beating and the humiliation like a man, like obviously George did when he was in the army.
Garth George is a living example of why we can't have any respect for our elders, unless they earn it by calling a spade a spade in past criminal behaviour by their peers.

UPDATE: More allegations of abuse at the Waiouru Military Cadet Camp have rolled in and this time it's rape. Wonder what spin Garth George will put on this one. Training to take it like a man is best left to consenting queer boys.

Heroism anno...

Since we've been in Anzac Day mood this week, what with all the Iraq and Afghanistan and Palestine goings on, I was struck by the Pat Tillman thing. You just know that here is a body/icon that is going to reflect the "heroism in the war on terror" when its history will be written and History Channel documentaries will be produced about the subject.
It's an interesting, albeit tragic, story about a guy who made a choice in his life, and a choice, I suspect, not many - if they had been in his shoes - would have made.
The paradox is rather unenviable: give up on a $3.5m football career to join the army at $18k a year because of a 'sense of patriotism', while the "American way of life" exhorts you to pursue happiness (which is usually defined as a fistful of dollars).
I suspect, given the choice, an overwhelming majority of people would have gone for the money rather than the body bag.
And to be totally cynical about it, it's the sort of sacrifice/heroism/recruitment poster the Pentagon (and Hollywood) will be salivating to use. No prizes to guess who will make the money out his lifestyle choice.