Banterings of a Mad Man : Patient Dignity 17: The Military's Double Standard for Men

Warning: Parts of this post are NSFW (Not Safe For Work):
It contains nudity and sarcasm.

It is funny how things connect in this world. The 2012 movie Cloud Atlas (Starring Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant) is a good example of how things connect.

"An exploration of how the actions of individual lives impact one another in the past, present and future, as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero, and an act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution. (Source: IMDB)"

Infographic Source: Cinema Blend

So goes it with this "military theme" has grown the same way. It started with a book titled "Medical Rape," by Lars G Petersson. (You can download it as a FREE ebook here:) I have been having on going conversations with Lars, I introduced him on my blog here: Lars will be writing a future post for my blog too.

My next post: "From Mother Theresa to Dr. Mengele" dealt with examining how physicians enter medical school wanting to help and leave (quite frankly) as monsters. It looked at the Holocaust as the greatest example of physicians' betrayal of their "do no harm" oath and how this occurred.

In the process of doing research on patient dignity/healthcare abuses, I came across some interesting information about "The Medical Process for Candidates Applying for Entry into the Australian Defence Force." I referenced this in a comment on the Bioethics Discussion blog of Dr. Maurice Bernstein. Looking at my comment I realized that this would make a great post on my blog.

I began to see a pattern. Lars Petersson's book "has been written for all the men who have suffered as a result of abusive medical examinations by military institutions and their civilian associates." The focus of the book is on the "musterung" (the German military medical induction exam).

"From being a perverted male-only ritual of 'initiation', the whole matter, the musterung (the military medical induction exam), in the name of so called 'equal rights' between the genders, has developed into nothing but a state-approved sexual humiliation process of young men. Today female medical inspectors, though themselves under no legal obligations neither to serve or to strip, have almost completely taken over the dominant roles in this age old humiliation process. Today these women have grabbed for themselves what could look like almost unlimited power over thousands of legally forced, naked young men."

So here is the post I made from my comments on Bioethics Discussion:

Here is a perfect example of the double standard that men face:

The Medical Process for Candidates Applying for Entry into the Australian Defence Force (PDF document). (My comments are in Purple.) It starts out:

Why is a Medical Examination required?Medical standards in the ADF need to be of the highest level to allow the successful completion of all military duties. These are often performed in isolated and stressful circumstances where there is no ready access to medical care.
The medical process will assess your suitability to perform military specific duties, and your ability to adapt to different living conditions. The medical process aims to ensure that you do not have a pre-existing medical condition requiring uninterrupted access to medication, medical care or special diets.

OK, fair enough. Here are the other section headings...

What are the processes of the Medical screening?

Your Opportunities Unlimited (YOU) Session"Unlimited Opportunities," that must be a good thing...

What is involved in the Preliminary Examinations?

What is involved in the Medical Examination?
Now it gets good....
...During this examination you will be required to undress down to your underwear (both males and females will be provided with a gown to wear, if requested)...
Wait, I have to request a gown? Why don't they just give me one?
--Looking and feeling for any abnormalities around the abdomen and anal regions. A rectal examination is not performed. Males will have the external genitals examined for abnormalities.
External genital abnormalities???
--Gynaecological examination will not be performed on females. If the Doctor deems a gynaecological examination necessary to determine your fitness you will be referred back to your own Doctor.
--Females are not required to have their breasts examined. If there is a problem identified in the medical history questionnaire, you will be referred to your own Doctor for further follow up.

Why do males need their external genitals examined for abnormalities? Are they that important to the defense of Australia?

I have to conclude from this that the country of Australia expects that if you don't have a weapon and you are under attack that you will have to pull out your penis and stab the enemy...

More Research:

Warning: Nudity!

I stumbled across the following pictures on a single web site. They depict soldiers in combat displaying their penises. You may be outraged by the following pictures, but I would hope that you are more outraged by the disparity of the respect of human dignity that men receive in all healthcare, not just the military.

Perhaps you may say these are men in stressful situations attempting humor, rebellion, commentary, or a combination there of. They could be a means of lovers experiencing sex while one is deployed. It could also be a perversion of soldiers with damaged psyches from dignity abuses.

I propose it is the latter. I reason this from the pictures that I did NOT want to post. Some were XXX rated. I will not describe them, but you can use your imagination to estimate them when you see what I am willing to post.

All these pictures are of active duty soldiers from various countries. Most were taken during the recent Middle East conflicts. I am not an expert in identifying what country each belongs to (due mainly to the lack of uniforms), but I can guess. I also made sure that their identities were obscured.