I have no words to express my disgust.

[starrylizard]

Sex scandal: defence lobby returns fire at minister over handling of cadet case

Have people been following this? It has me disgusted beyond belief. A woman had consensual sex. She did not give consent for the man involved to broadcast the sexual encounter via skype to 6 other men in a nearby room, who then spread screen caps of the footage to the rest of the academy. In my own mind it's akin to rape, possibly even worse than rape. She did not invite those other men into the bedroom, nor did she give permission for footage or photos. She no doubt now feels disgusted and violated. And she wasn't even given a chance to say "no".

The bit that makes this really disgusting, is that the defence force then treats her like the villain. They put her through an unrelated disciplinary hearing yesterday. Meanwhile it seems that the men involved are completely untouchable. Defence is not charging them or even kicking them out of the academy that is meant to be training them as future leaders (You want one of these guys to be in charge of your life?) and so far the advice given by police is that no crime was committed.

Ugh. I don't have the words for this. I can't believe it is still happening at ADFA (where new guidelines and massive changes to stop the culture that existed there went through many years ago) or even in my country.

Comments

[beef-wonder3.livejournal.com]

Ugh I was totally disgusted by this too. It's just so awful.

And now because of this, even more stories about abuse on Female Cadets is coming out. I read one today about a cadet who was raped and then threatened with discipline when she tried to report it, her boyfriend was threatened with discipline when he tried to report it and her commanding officer told her to "suck it up".

I'm really hoping all this media attention will force the big-wigs to do something about it.

[krazykitkat.livejournal.com]

From SMH:

The alleged filming and broadcast may not constitute a crime but the young woman is likely to be able to sue the fellow cadet, lawyers have said.

It was a criminal offence in NSW to film a person in a private act without their consent but there was no similar prohibition in ACT legislation, the technology lawyer Peter Leonard, a partner of law firm Gilbert and Tobin, said.

The law in many cases had not kept pace with technological development, he said. Such matters should be covered under criminal law but there also should be provisions under privacy laws to enable affected people to seek remedies.

ACT needs to update their laws as well.

[callme-k.livejournal.com]

Even though the ACT doesn't recognise this as a crime (as other states do), I'd read that because it was committed on Commonwealth land that that might open the door to it being a criminal offence - as it should be!

It's abhorrent that this persists at the ADFA, let alone in the service itself. Imagine just how many people have kept quiet for fear of retribution and having their chances at a military career sabotaged.

[heylittleriver.livejournal.com]

Pretty much word.

[lark_ascends]

It's disgusting and I can't believe that the law is so antiquated in regards to this.