The U.S. Navy has created a wave of outrage in its ranks by publishing a list of sexual assault “prevention tips” that advises sailors not to have “have sex with someone unless they are awake.”
The posting on the Navy’s official Facebook page was met with hundreds of confused and dismayed comments, but Navy officials confirmed last week that the tips were in fact a legitimate part of the service branch’s ongoing bid to stop sexual assaults among its ranks.
“As sad as it is, you’d be surprised how many people need to be told these seemingly basic things,” the Navy said. “It’s everyone’s responsibility to stop sexual assault.”
The tips are nothing if not basic.
“If you pull over to help someone with car problems, remember not to assault them!” reads one. Readers are likewise advised not to sexually attack other passengers in an elevator.
“NEVER open an unlocked door or window uninvited,” reads another of the 10 tips.
The list has incited growing controversy online since the Navy posted it last month.
A retired Navy commander, who writes his own blog under the pseudonym “CDRSalamander” and is featured as a guest blogger on the U.S. Naval Institute’s website, blasted the “prevention tips.”
“I am still at a loss what to do with this cancer of advice,” he wrote. “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 counterproductive on many levels.”
“Not only is the advice worthless for Sailors — it makes the Navy seem idiotic for having it on their wall,” CDRSalamander continued.
“Navy, April Fool’s Day was a few months back,” reads one comment on the Navy’s Facebook page.
Spokeswoman Lt. Alana Garas acknowledged that the poster was published with “insufficient context,” and later noted that the tips weren’t conceived by the branch’s own Sexual Assault Prevention and Response department, but rather pulled from a feminist blog called TumblinFeminist.
The point, according to several blogs and news stories about the tips, is an attempt to shift away from a blame-the-victim mentality surrounding sexual assault, in which women are often told how to avoid becoming victims — by not traveling alone at night or drinking too much, for example.
The posting on the Navy’s official Facebook page was met with hundreds of confused and dismayed comments, but Navy officials confirmed last week that the tips were in fact a legitimate part of the service branch’s ongoing bid to stop sexual assaults among its ranks.
“As sad as it is, you’d be surprised how many people need to be told these seemingly basic things,” the Navy said. “It’s everyone’s responsibility to stop sexual assault.”
The tips are nothing if not basic.
“If you pull over to help someone with car problems, remember not to assault them!” reads one. Readers are likewise advised not to sexually attack other passengers in an elevator.
“NEVER open an unlocked door or window uninvited,” reads another of the 10 tips.
The list has incited growing controversy online since the Navy posted it last month.
A retired Navy commander, who writes his own blog under the pseudonym “CDRSalamander” and is featured as a guest blogger on the U.S. Naval Institute’s website, blasted the “prevention tips.”
“I am still at a loss what to do with this cancer of advice,” he wrote. “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 counterproductive on many levels.”
“Not only is the advice worthless for Sailors — it makes the Navy seem idiotic for having it on their wall,” CDRSalamander continued.
“Navy, April Fool’s Day was a few months back,” reads one comment on the Navy’s Facebook page.
Spokeswoman Lt. Alana Garas acknowledged that the poster was published with “insufficient context,” and later noted that the tips weren’t conceived by the branch’s own Sexual Assault Prevention and Response department, but rather pulled from a feminist blog called TumblinFeminist.
The point, according to several blogs and news stories about the tips, is an attempt to shift away from a blame-the-victim mentality surrounding sexual assault, in which women are often told how to avoid becoming victims — by not traveling alone at night or drinking too much, for example.
