This column originally appeared in Emily Peck’s newsletter, a weekly email that looks at the convergence of women, economics, business and politics. Sign up here.
Welp, you thought Silicon Valley bros were bad. But if you’re looking for the headquarters of the modern-day He-Man Woman Hater’s club, it’s the U.S. Marines you’re after.
Apparently 30,000 of them were members of a closed Facebook group where they’d share nude photos of female marines, the MarineTimes first reported. Sometimes nude pics were accompanied by a woman’s name and rank.
Late on Thursday more reports emerged that these guys have already started up a new Facebook group, “Marines United 2.0,” that has more than 2,300 members, according to Jared Keller and taskandpurpose.com, and includes explicit videos. Business Insider reports that there’s also a message board filled with more men behaving badly, sharing revenge porn, etc. A Marines spokesperson told BI: “Marines will attack this problem head-on and continue to get better.”
It gets worse
Lest you think this was an isolated thing: A former Marine sergeant wrote a piece in the New York Times detailing a horrific misogynistic culture in the organization.
Just an example: His platoon in the Marines had a “slut wall,” he writes. “This drill-instructor-approved bulletin board was where recruits posted photos of girlfriends who broke up with them during training. The unspoken, but clearly understood, rule was that the raunchier these photos were, the better.”
Of all the branches of the military, the Marines, you’ll be utterly unsurprised to learn, have the smallest percentage of women in their upper ranks.
I called bullshit on that sculpture everyone loved
Like everyone else, my heart instantly warmed at the site of the bronze sculpture of a little girl bravely staring down the iconic Wall Street Charging Bull. But the more I thought about it, the less I was into it: First, why a girl? Perhaps because adult empowered women are still too scary for people to handle. Hmmm.
Second, did the company who sponsored the piece actually practice what it was preaching? Not really. Read my take.
Women are fighting back every damn day
I spoke to a woman who was fired from her job after refusing to hug her boss, who had been grabbing her every day for six months. Finally, she had enough.
What makes the story not too awful is that she fought back. She got a lawyer and it looks like the company is going to at least pay her some money and possibly fire the guy. Who was he? Oh, the CEO.
Also, this woman is one of many who are fighting back against harassment and discrimination in the Trump era.
So, it’s not all so bad.