Best Sex Writing 2009 (10 page)

fare and Recreation] outlets located within CENTCOM AOR [Area of Responsibility].”

What does this clumsily worded regulation mean? Anybody un- der the responsibility of CENTCOM, including both military and civilian personnel, cannot have any sexually explicit material unless it is delivered via military-approved broadcast or retail outlets. A magazine with bare breasts is not contraband if it is sold by AAFES (which manages the PX and BX stores on military installations), and a film with sexual themes is not obscene if it is screened for troops in a MWR center. Computers in MWR centers even allow the use of social networking websites such as MySpace, though this (and other social networking websites) is not permitted outside the MWR context.

Riddled with exceptions in the way it was crafted and enforced, GO-1a lacks a straightforward definition of “pornographic or sex- ually explicit.” While oral, vaginal, or anal penetration, for ex- ample, usually signal pornography, anything else relies on Justice Potter Stewart’s 1964 standard: “I know it when I see it.” Unfor- tunately, General Tommy Franks was not available to supervise every inspection in Iraq personally. An unusually stringent or lax commander can create a different culture under GO-1a, with dif- ferent standards for “sexually explicit.”

At a commander’s discretion, the term “sexually explicit” could be used to outlaw full or partial nudity, clothed models in suggestive poses, or mainstream books that contain nude sketches. As written, GO-1a would apply only to adult novelty items that resemble (i.e., are “similar representations” of) banned body parts that would vio- late GO-1a. A smooth, plain plastic vibrator thus would probably pass the test while a textured item resembling a penis would not.

GO-1a characterizes online adult entertainment material as ob- scene and therefore prohibited, and military and civilian contractor

Internet use is carefully controlled. Soldiers and civilians serving in Iraq are not permitted to visit websites that could be construed as having offensive material, including the benign photography enthusiast website Photo.net. Since Photo.net has a section about photographing art nudes, the military has deemed it off limits.

Photography and porn devotees can sidestep government In- ternet filters, but it is expensive, according to Brian Sayler. Sayler spent nearly two years in Iraq as a civilian contractor with KBR and ITT before losing his job for possessing adult films that were found during the July 5th inspection. Sayler explains that individu- als can secure personal Internet connections for their rooms using satellite equipment that can cost up to three thousand dollars.After installation, the service requires an ongoing fee that can reach one hundred and fifty dollars a month.

With this personal Internet service, one can access anything on the Web, as military filters are not applied, but GO-1a still governs the use of these Internet connections.The military simply lacks the means to physically restrict access, but the policy remains in effect. The semblance of privacy afforded by private Internet connections can dissipate when computer problems need to be resolved (e.g., from viruses).

“The IT [information technology] guys have to repair com- puters loaded with porn all the time,” he explains.“They even get computers from Lieutenant Colonels that are full of porn. Usually, they just delete it or tell the guy not to go to porn sites anymore,” taking no further action. Rank, it seems, has its privileges.The con- text in which porn is discovered and one’s standing in the military hierarchy can mean the difference between a polite request not to violate GO-1a and the decimation of a career.

The absence of clear guidance as to what constitutes contra- band coupled with a sometimes permissive attitude and ungov-

erned Internet access contributed to the debacle with the 402nd Field Support Brigade, but the mistake was avoidable. Had Com- mand Sergeant Major Vela, who personally initiated the inspec- tion by contacting the MPs and issuing the order, simply docu- mented the scope and nature of the inspection, the likelihood of error—and subsequent embarrassment—would have been reduced substantially.

The military thrives on order and accountability. The absence of discipline degrades the capabilities of the fighting force. If a military commander devises or implements any policy for the purposes of maintaining discipline, it is generally for a reason. In regard to contraband, the primary means of maintaining such discipline is the “health and welfare inspection.”

An invasive process, these inspections occur unannounced in the middle of the night. Surprise prevents those being inspected from concealing or disposing of contraband. The housing facility being examined is cleared of all inhabitants, and each resident is es- corted back into the barracks as his or her room is being inspected, a measure intended to ensure that those conducting the inspection do not steal or damage an individual’s permissible property. Soldiers and civilian contractors must wait outside until their turns arise, then watch as bags, bureaus, and wall lockers are ransacked and prohibited personal belongings removed.

The health and welfare inspection that CSM Vela ordered for July 5, 2007 generally followed this pattern, though the administra- tive aspects of his inspection differed substantially from the norm.

Contrary to the manner in which the 402nd Field Support Brigade conducted its health and welfare inspection, the pro- cess is not a blank check for search and seizure. In most cases, a

memorandum for record is written in advance, specifying the scope of the search.This measure, suggested by the army’s Judge Advocate General Corp (JAG), intended to prove that an inspection is not a subterfuge for illegal search.

JAG suggests that the memorandum state the date and time of the inspection, locations to be inspected (e.g. rooms or facilities), and areas within rooms to be searched. CSM Vela did not write a memorandum for record to support the July 5, 2007 health and welfare inspection at Camp Anaconda. Instead, he simply called the MPs and initiated the inspection.

During most health and welfare inspections, the searches of individual rooms are conducted in the presence of the room’s resident(s); the MPs following CSM Vela’s direction did not ob- serve this standard. Instead, those inspected had to wait outside the building, unable to ensure that personal property was not damaged or confiscated unnecessarily. As a result, the dildo affair could have been avoided, as well as the confiscation of a laptop computer (be- longing to Sayler).

Though his laptop was returned prior to his removal from Camp Anaconda, Sayler lost a number of videos in the search that were autographed and given to him by adult film performer Cassidey. Her gesture, she made clear to him at a public appearance in April 2007, was a show of support for those serving in Iraq.When told of the July 5th inspection, she wrote,
I am upset that such things can be a reason for [a civilian contractor’s] getting fired.We send our boys off to fight in a war that is not even ours, and [they] get fired…for that shit?

And then there is the issue of the dildos.

The MPs were not sufficiently trained as to the definitions of pornography and sexually explicit material, and they were unaware that adult novelty items were not banned under GO-1a.While the military can dismiss the seizure of personal property as a mistake,

absolving the MPs involved in the search of error, a memorandum for record could have prevented mistakes and embarrassment. Had CSM provided some guidance via a memorandum for record, the dildos might have been discovered, but they would have remained where they were found. Sayler’s laptop (containing personal and financial records) would not have been withheld.

Captain William Englebert, Camp Anaconda’s Provost (the MPs’ “police chief ”), indicated privately to Sayler that “mistakes were made,” which he emphasized occurred before he became Provost. In addition to taking permitted personal items, such as the laptop and dildos, the leaders of the 402nd Field Support Brigade (CSM Vela and his commander, Colonel Sorenson) allowed the names of the affected women to be leaked, making dignity the cost of a pay- check. CSM Vela did not respond to email requests for comment.

Since the start of the war, the adult entertainment community has been quite vocal in its support of the troops, if not the war it- self. Industry executives and performers alike have genuine feelings of compassion for those who risk their lives every day in combat theaters around the world. Carmen Luvana asks,“What is the harm in soldiers’ wanting to get off for a minute to get rid of all the stress they have…as long as they are not doing it in front of anybody?”

In 1993, for example, Army Rangers in Somalia had copious access to such outlets, a fact that is well documented in Mark Bowden’s
Black Hawk Down
. At some point in the seven years that followed, the military reversed course. While the policy has changed, much remains the same. Soldiers face hostile fire in a foreign country. The “host nation” in each case had cultural bi- ases against pornography. This time, though, society’s selfless are not allowed even the most primal of comforts.

The “about face” executed since 1993 indicates a change in tol- erance, but the industry remains unwavering in its support for those who defend freedom. The First Amendment rights on which the industry relies make the military’s role in defending freedom tan- gible, more real than it is to critics of adult entertainment.Without the free society that our military is sworn to defend, the porn in- dustry would cease to exist, and we are left thinking, as starlet Han- nah Harper does, that “it is a shame that the freedoms the soldiers cannot enjoy are the freedoms they are fighting and dying for.”

in defense of Casual sex

t r acy Clar k-Flor y

Twenty-something Anna Broadway has known many men—so many, in fact, that she’s given them each an easy nickname, like Singapore Fling, Sugar Daddy, Internet Date, and Married Man. She’s met them on Craigslist, through online dating sites, and at singles bars. Broadway sounds a lot like your average member of the “hookup” generation, save for one detail: none of these men have made it into her bed. That’s because, as Broadway writes in her memoir,
Sexless in the City,
she’s saving herself for marriage.

Broadway’s G-rated memoir is just one of a slew of books about chastity released in time to make everyone’s list of hot sum- mer reads…for those planning a vacation in the Arctic Circle.The onslaught started in the spring with
Sex and the Soul: Juggling Sexu- ality, Spirituality, Romance, and Religion on America’s College Campuses,
which reports that all but marriage-minded evangelical students are sleeping around—and attending Pimps ’n’ Hos parties—in hopes

of meeting that special someone. Next came
The Purity Code,
a book for Christian teens detailing “God’s plan for sex and your body.” The catalog climaxed with the August 1 release of
Hooked: New Science on How Casual Sex Is Affecting Our Children.
(Hint: cata- clysmically.)

These books are just the latest result of the mounting abstinence movement, which, despite its religious roots, has recast its attack on “hookup” culture as secular, even feminist. The term “hooking up”—meaning anything from kissing to casual sex—can be traced back to the early ’80s, but only within the past few years did the hand-wringing really begin. Former
Washington Post
reporter Laura Sessions Stepp spent years detailing so-called collegiate mating rit- uals—often lamenting a tendency among young women toward boozed-up hookups instead of cross-legged gatekeeping—which culminated in last year’s retro revitalization,
Unhooked: How Young Women Pursue Sex, Delay Love, and Lose at Both.

The abstinence movement has been successful in securing fed- eral funding for abstinence-only programs—to the tune of eight hundred million
1
over the past eight years—but the spectacle of father-daughter purity balls, chastity rings, and virginity pledges has failed to make abstinence appear even marginally cool to the mainstream. More recently, activists have begun borrowing from the feminist arsenal—using words like “empowerment” and “re- spect”—in their assault on uncommitted sex.These books add to a loud cautionary chorus: Young women are hooking up and tuning out emotionally. And, increasingly, young women are being told they are either respecting or exploiting themselves; they’re either with the
Girls Gone Wild,
sex blogger set or with the iron-belted and chaste. A few months back, a
New York Times Magazine
piece about chastity on Ivy League campuses relied on this false binary: it pitted a prim Harvard abstinence advocate against a campus

sex blogger (who recently posted a photo of her face covered in splooge).

Choose a side? No thanks. I’m a twenty-four-year-old member of the hookup generation—I’ve had roughly three times as many hookups as relationships—and, like innumerable twentysomethings before me, I’ve found that casual sex can be healthy and normal and lead to better adult relationships. I don’t exactly advocate pick- ing up guys at frat parties and screwing atop the keg as the path to marital bliss. It’s just that hookup culture is not the radical extreme it is so frequently mischaracterized as in the media.There is sloppy stranger sex among people my age, sure, but sometimes hooking up is regular sex with a casual acquaintance; sometimes it’s inno- cent making out or casually dating or cuddling, and, oftentimes it involves just one person at a time. In a sense it’s all very old-fash- ioned—there’s just a lot more unattached sex involved.

Like most twentysomethings, I’ve had online pornography and unregulated chatrooms at my fingertips since I hit puberty. But I also grew up during the Girl/Grrrl Power explosion, which taught me to demand respect, and play handball (and, later, hardball) with the boys. And it taught me that I didn’t need to cake myself in makeup or teeter along in foot-disfiguring heels—unless, of course, I wanted to.