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U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier Calls on Marines to End Vulgar Facebook Page Denigrating Women
NBC Bay Area ^ | May 8, 2013 | Lisa Fernandez

Posted on 05/08/2013 10:33:58 PM PDT by FoxInSocks

U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier (D-San Mateo) has fired off a letter to the Secretary of Defense, bringing his attention to what she called a "disturbing Facebook page," which includes many negative comments and photos denigrating women in the Marine Corps.

NBC Bay Area is not showing all these photos because they are inappropriate, but one shows a woman's breasts and her fingers flipping someone off in an image that is labeled "F'N Wook," and another shows a female Marine putting a colleague in a choke hold with the words, "This is my rape face." Speier said she did not know who the Facebook page belonged to, and she was tipped off to it by a whistleblower. The page has since been taken down.

Speier's letter and accompanying Facebook screen grabs was dated May 8, and sent to Secretary of Defense Charles Hagel, Commandant of the Marine Corps General James Amos and Principal Deputy Inspector General Lynne Hal brooks. Her letter comes as the national uproar over sexual assaults in the military following a Pentagon report this week saying that 26,000 military members were sexually assaulted last year.

"Many of the pictures imply women only advance professionally by performing sexual favors," Speier wrote. "And otherwise promote the idea that women are inferior and only useful as sexual objects and sandwich makers."

In a statement on behalf of the Marines received by e-mail on Wednesday, Capt. Eric Flanagan said that in general, "We have identified active Marines doing inappropriate posting on social media and they have been punished."

In some cases, Flanagan said that Marines have faced "office hours" as "non judicial punishments" for unsavory comments posted online.

He said the men have been both active duty and reserve Marines and have been referred to commands for "appropriate action," though he was not specific about what that action was. Flanagan's comments were not necessarily made regarding the "F'N Wook" page, specifically highlighted by Speier.

Flanagan also issued some general facts about the Marines and their social media policies. Marines are responsible for all content they publish online, for example, and there is "no tolerance for discriminatory comments."

Violations of federal law and Department of Defense regulations or policies may result in disciplinary actions, which includes posting "any defamatory, libelous, abusive, threatening or ethnically hateful or otherwise offensive or illegal content."

When the Marines do receive a complaint regarding derogatory comments made online, Flanagan said that his military branch has notified companies such as Facebook about it. However, Flanagan said in an e-mail that "there are difficulties" in finding out the Marine who did it because people use fake accounts and pseudonyms. Social media sites, he said, are not obligated to divulge personal information to the Marines.

His statement added that the Marine Corps has been dealing with social media complaints "over the past ten years."

According to Speier, Amos has been aware of this specific Facebook page and monitoring it for three years. And despite the monitoring, the "cyber retaliation against those who complain about the website's content continues unabated," Speier wrote.

On her website, Speier called for "Hagel and Marine Leadership to Respond," and said that this type of vulgar "humor" seems to "encourage sexual assault and abuse."

Speier has worked long and hard to end what she calls an "epidemic of rape and sexual assault in the military," and has authored three pieces of legislation to change the military's justice system's treatment of cases of rape and sexual assault.


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events
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To: FoxInSocks
The reason why our military WAS the best in the world was because drill instructors could say whatever the hell they wanted to recruits and there were no repercussions. That means anything offensive. (For those not in the military, see movie Full Metal Jacket for an idea of how it used to be)

Now that our military is ham-stringed by political correctness...it is getting weaker and weaker. No wonder troops are committing suicide...
21 posted on 05/08/2013 11:37:54 PM PDT by Wanderer99
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To: FoxInSocks

“another shows a female Marine putting a colleague in a choke hold with the words, “This is my rape face.””

Based on the description, that sounds pretty pro-woman, or at least pro-female Marine. As in, “Mess with me, creep, and *you’ll* be the one getting hurt.”


22 posted on 05/08/2013 11:53:56 PM PDT by DemforBush (Bring me the head of Alfredo Garcia!)
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To: FoxInSocks
"And otherwise promote the idea that women are inferior and only useful as sexual objects and sandwich makers."

...Ms Speier should check with Dodd about making sandwiches

23 posted on 05/08/2013 11:57:24 PM PDT by Doogle (USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand..never store a threat you should have eliminated))
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To: Sarah Barracuda

Yeppers. She’s the loon who asked Hicks where else he would like to be posted, which struck me as very bizarre.


24 posted on 05/09/2013 12:15:19 AM PDT by princeofdarkness (The GOP is the present version of 1940 France and it will only get worse.)
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To: FoxInSocks

Did she create the fb page?


25 posted on 05/09/2013 12:21:40 AM PDT by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote; then find me a real conservative to vote for)
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To: Wanderer99

I may have posted something similar in the years ago but..
A friend of mine and I were playing in the front yard,we were both nine as I recall,when a carload of four teenagers stopped and got out and started cursing and yelling at us.
Their idea as fun.
My friends father came out of the garage with a hammer.
Retired Marine. Oops they don’t retire. Needless to say they departed in haste.
Nothing like having a Marine around when you need help.
Never will forget it.


26 posted on 05/09/2013 1:10:04 AM PDT by glyptol
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To: glyptol

Forgot to mention some of the things he said were harsh and politically incorrect.


27 posted on 05/09/2013 1:12:34 AM PDT by glyptol
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To: FoxInSocks
Admittedly, Facebook pages can be a little crude and upsetting to libtard sensibilities:

https://www.facebook.com/youpogbootfk

Above URL found by googling phrases found in the 'Rat Congresscritter's complaint. The hell with her!

28 posted on 05/09/2013 1:47:14 AM PDT by cynwoody
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To: FoxInSocks

She’s right - it has become the job of the Leftist Lesbian perverts like Sandra Fluke to denigrate women by making them playthings with no consequences or responsibilities.


29 posted on 05/09/2013 4:38:16 AM PDT by trebb (Where in the the hell has my country gone?)
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To: DesertRhino

Bingo.


30 posted on 05/09/2013 5:08:42 AM PDT by Venturer
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To: FoxInSocks

From the Facebook page. Nothing wrong with this.


31 posted on 05/09/2013 5:29:47 AM PDT by TangoLimaSierra (To the left the truth looks like Right-Wing extremism.)
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To: FoxInSocks

Bump for later


32 posted on 05/09/2013 5:44:56 AM PDT by real saxophonist (If something is TRULY 'common sense', then a law about it is unneccesary.)
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To: FoxInSocks
Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos

Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos

33 posted on 05/09/2013 5:50:56 AM PDT by Dick Vomer (democrats are like flies, whatever they don't eat they sh#t on.)
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To: FoxInSocks
Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos

Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos

Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos

34 posted on 05/09/2013 6:04:02 AM PDT by Dick Vomer (democrats are like flies, whatever they don't eat they sh#t on.)
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To: FoxInSocks

I’m sure Speier wouldn’t have had a problem if there had been a lot of hot homo action on the FB page.....


35 posted on 05/09/2013 7:13:02 AM PDT by clintonh8r ("Europe was created by history. America was created by a philosophy." Baroness Thatcher)
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