Air Force staff sergeant Michelle Manhart has been relieved of her duties while the military investigates. Did she torture detainees? Did she shoot a bunch of innocent civilians? No, she exposed her breasts for Playboy magazine.The 30 year-old mother of two has been in the Air Force since 1994 and served time in Kuwait. A spokesperson noted that her behavior "does not meet the high standards we expect of our airmen, nor does it comply with the Air Force's core values of integrity, service before self, and excellence in all we do". Manhart responded, "I didn't do anything wrong, so I didn't think it would be a major issue."
And it shouldn't be a major issue. It's her body and she should not be ashamed. On one hand I believe that Playboy magazine has exploited women over the years and has been perhaps the primary contributor to society's sexualization of the female breast, but on the other I feel strongly that this woman has the right to be photographed nude without fear of reprisal from men.
Being nude in Playboy is not nudism or naturism, which espouses the principle of non-sexual exposure of the human body. Removing you clothes and posing provocatively is a form of sexual expression and a bit of exhibitionism, and since it is done for money it's selling one's body for another's pleasure. But this does not mean that the person who poses for nude photos should be punished by having her job taken away. People like Paris Hilton and Pamela Anderson are elevated to celebrity status when their hardcore sex films circulate, so why do we condemn this military mom for doing something far more innocent?
1 comment:
As she's drummed out of the service, her record of outstanding service and devotion to duty will be ignored and in the official record, no mention will be made that she posed nude for Playboy. It simply state she engaged in "conduct unbecoming and detrimental to good order."
She's a renegade and a nonconformist. The military has no place for someone like that.
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