Army PR push: 'Average-looking women'

[HeloDude]

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/army-pr-push-average-looking-women-100065.html?hp=f3

Army PR push: 'Average-looking women'

“In general, ugly women are perceived as competent while pretty women are perceived as having used their looks to get ahead,” wrote Col. Lynette Arnhart, who is leading a team of analysts studying how best to integrate women into combat roles that have previously been closed off to them.

“There is a general tendency to select nice looking women when we select a photo to go with an article (where the article does not reference a specific person). It might behoove us to select more average looking women for our comms strategy.

I'm sure this will solve all the Army's problems.

[StoleIt]

I wonder how Corporal Tejeba feels about officially being called an "average looking woman."

[zach braff]

StoleIt - If you read the article, Cpl Tejeba was actually called hot, and thus a bad example to use with PA articles. I'll bet she's okay with it.

[waveshaper]

StoleIt - If you read the article, Cpl Tejeba was actually called hot, and thus a bad example to use with PA articles. I'll bet she's okay with it.

That picture "hot or not" for some reason makes me want a cold San Miguel.

[FallingOsh]

Average women in a military setting quickly become hot, and therefore are not acceptable. The average army woman is less than average by civilian average standards which means ugly women will have to be hired in order to meet the average category of Army standards. If all women are civilian ugly, and therefore Army average, the new average will contain ugly women who are now Army standard hot. Conclusion, women can't serve in combat.

[TreeA10]

Who is going to judge this? This is confusing as a HWCM. First, we are told to judge women based on looks, then we are told not to judge women based on their looks, and now we are back to judging women based on their looks.

[The Texan]

For what I've seen deployed, a lot of dudes could care less about the hot/avg/ugliness of females. Didn't matter what they looked like. Every one I saw had at least a 6-9 male human shield chaperoning them around the base.

[sky_king]

This whole discussion is going to lead to rape. I just know it.

[StoleIt]

SAPR training...

[Clayton Bigsby]

Lynndie England getting knocked up downrange is proof of Army weiner lack of discretion.

[BitteEinBit]

This whole discussion is going to lead to rape. I just know it.

LOL. THIS^

Who the fu*ck is running this circus? The Army can't be serious about preventing sexual assault or sexism when they are launching an entire PR campaign based on a woman's "looks." Why are they looking for "average looking" women when they can just look for the "average infantry chick" and put her on a poster...who gives a f*ck what she looks like if she can do the job. This just reemphasizes how the military just cares more about image rather than how good someone really is at their job. If anything, they just made it worse for hot chicks in the military who really are good at their jobs. Unless they look average, they couldn't have possibly made it to the top without "chowing some hog".

We'll do well in the next war...all of the Air Force posters have dudes with 32 inch waists....yeah, we're that good!

[10percenttruth]

http://nypost.com/2013/11/21/uncle-sam-does-not-want-pretty-girls/

Based on that pic, she must be highly competent...

[C-21.Pilot]

We only work in the binary scale, I thought?

[TreeA10]

We only work in the binary scale, I thought?

Sort of, I think you could use this but with dollar bills. Get volunteers to be judges, give dollar bills to those deemed attractive and at the end of the day, the chicks with the fewest dollars win as the average women the Army wants, the chicks with the most dollars also win and are allowed to keep the cash. A win-win.

Edited November 22, 2013 by TreeA10

[HeloDude]

I think we're being a little too kind with our definition of 'average' in this case.

[sky_king]

http://www.thevine.com.au/fashion/beauty/does-beauty-equal-mediocrity-20130208-238290

I love average looking women.

[FallingOsh]

Sort of, I think you could use this but with dollar bills. Get volunteers to be judges, give dollar bills to those deemed attractive and at the end of the day, the chicks with the fewest dollars win as the average women the Army wants, the chicks with the most dollars also win and are allowed to keep the cash. A win-win.

This sounds like a survey that I've helped judge a few times. I also got two free drinks with my entry fee.

[TreeA10]

This sounds like a survey that I've helped judge a few times. I also got two free drinks with my entry fee.

From what I usually heard, I was donating to a college fund. I'm good with that.

[pawnman]

So, when will we incorporate this little gem into the SARC training?

[Lawman]

From what I usually heard, I was donating to a college fund. I'm good with that.

You can write that off on your taxes as charity right?....

If there is anything we don't need to be doing in the Army it's showing off our "average" female soldiers....

[TreeA10]

You can write that off on your taxes as charity right?....

Damn, never thought of that. I need a new tax guy.

[Masshole]

Col. Lynette Arnhart, who is leading a team of analysts studying how best to integrate women into combat roles that have previously been closed off to them.

I am honestly confused by this. Isn't training them properly and sending them to their jobs once competent the best way to integrate them into combat roles? I feel it is going to cause more of a stir being so public about it because you are drawing that much more attention to it. What are you going to do about attractive women in combat? Make everyone wear a mask until they're "part of the team" and then allow then to remove it?

how they should tell the press and public about the Army’s integration of women.

Not make a big deal out of it. Just let it happen.

For example, the attached article shows a pretty woman, wearing make-up while on deployed duty. Such photos undermine the rest of the message (and may even make people ask if breaking a nail is considered hazardous duty),” Arnhart said.

LMAO. So terrible jokes are a reason to pour money into researching how people react to stories about attractive/average women in military-related media stories? I cannot think of anything more detrimental to our progress and integration into the military than being so superficial and concerned about appearance. These women are not models flown out to remote locations for a PR campaign, they're military personnel doing their job. If Halle Berry fireman-carried a wounded soldier all the way back to base, would they select a picture of the average looking woman standing in the background instead? This makes no sense to me.

After POLITICO first reported on the e-mail in Tuesday’s Morning Defense, critics seized upon Arnhart’s guidance as proof that today’s Army culture has a long way to go before women will be treated as equals.

It might have something to do with fishing through pictures worrying whether or not the woman you want to display in your story is too attractive.

[F-15E WSO]

"... What are you going to do about attractive women in combat? Make everyone wear a mask until they're "part of the team" and then allow then to remove it? "

That'd be ok with me, but being a bunch of rapists and all, it'd just be a matter of time before...

And oh... Beep Boop

Edited November 25, 2013 by F-15E WSO

[Masshole]

I thought all stormtroopers were clones of Jimmy Smits, or is that just the portrait painted by the Empire to show a properly integrated, average-looking force?

['E. T.']

This just in...

http://www.armytimes.com/article/20131122/NEWS/311220041/One-officer-steps-down-second-suspended-over-pretty-soldiers-email

"Two colonels involved in a controversy over showing “pretty” female soldiers in Army communications no longer have their jobs, the Army confirmed Nov. 22. Col. Lynette Arnhart stepped down from her position heading the Army’s study on the integration of women into combat arms, and Col. Christian Kubik, who was the Training and Doctrine Command public affairs officer, was suspended."