Editorial: Call girl set women back

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Call girl set women back

Some 91 women have died in combat since Sept. 11, 2001, more than the number killed in any previous American war, including World War II. Thousands more have risked their lives in the war zone. But women in the military still struggle with being viewed by some as sexual objects.

The revelation that Lt. Cmdr. Rebecca Dickinson, a supply officer assigned to the Naval Academy at the time, moonlighted as a call girl only serves to undermine the gains so many women have fought so hard to achieve.

Dickinson had to testify in open court in excruciating detail about the encounters. Witnesses described her as “dazed” as she left court.

One must feel sorry for someone who is desperate enough to do something so beneath her standing as a professional officer. But the special notoriety she is getting in the press is not unjustified.

Unlike other career fields, those in the military are held to a higher standard than the rest of society, and most are proud of the special trust the public places in its service members in general, and in officers in particular. In the profession of arms, words such as honor, courage, commitment and integrity still matter.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/community/opinion/navy_editorial_women_042108/