Sex and violence

May 19, 2004 11:53 AM

Sex and PsyOps. An interesting look at sexual propaganda throughout modern military history. Unfortunately slightly censored, but a good look into what may or may not have been an effective demoralization tool.
posted by eas98 (25 comments total)

Thanks, I just got fired.
posted by dfowler at 12:08 PM on May 19, 2004

I'm not sure why you picked that particular section of the psywarrior site but the whole site is fascinating in a creepy way. I first saw it when someone on ask.mefi linked to the section on the allied banknotes during the Korean war.
posted by vacapinta at 12:18 PM on May 19, 2004

Great post.
posted by crunchburger at 12:19 PM on May 19, 2004

heh...i assume that was because tehre was no "NSFW"?
-- so , terms like "sex" and "sexual propoganda" and "slightly censored" aren't a tip off?
or was that sarcasm, and I am just being a knee-jerk asshole?
posted by das_2099 at 12:19 PM on May 19, 2004

If I can get yourmind off sex for a moment. Note this passage of the "prose.": "In the fourth and final leaflet, Joan runs into Bob who has lost a leg at the front and is now on crutches. Text on the front is "It was a rude awakening for her…" Text on the back is "The moment she dreaded. Forgotten are the days when shapely Joan Hopkins was still selling ribbons in a 5 and 10 cents store in New York City. As private secretary to slick Sam Levy, big money maker in the war business, she rose to be a sugar daddy's darling.

Sam didn't have any cash when he got started. and he doesn't like to be reminded of his early days on the lower East Side. The war was just the right thing for him. Like many other home-warriors, he made the grade piling up dough and growing fat on the sacrifices of those young American boys fighting on foreign battlefields. At heart, Joan is not a bad woman. For over two years, she has not seen her fiancé, clean-cut Bob Harrison, whom she cares for very much."

Levy=Jeish name. Stereotype: piles up dough while etc etc
Lower East side=where the Jewish and It ) immigrants live. I know. My mother born there on Hester Street.

In other words, the post dwells on sex and psychology and war but contains the cliche anti-Jewish attitudes of that period of time.
posted by Postroad at 12:25 PM on May 19, 2004

Seriously?
posted by bshort at 12:27 PM on May 19, 2004

Knee-jerk asshole.

Topics like "sex" and "sexual propaganda" are different from photos or drawings of explicit sex acts. The link sounded interesting, and, indeed, was interesting. But it contained photos and drawings, not just topics. And that made it NSFW.

Hardly matters anymore. Maybe you'd like to talk semantics with my boss after my exit interview.
posted by dfowler at 12:28 PM on May 19, 2004

Did you seriously get fired?
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 12:31 PM on May 19, 2004

Sure.
posted by dfowler at 12:37 PM on May 19, 2004

How could anyone read the text of that link and NOT know what's on the other side?
posted by GeekAnimator at 12:43 PM on May 19, 2004

*Sidles up to dfowler's boss; inquires about job opportunities*
posted by dhoyt at 12:55 PM on May 19, 2004

The large majority of Vietnamese Americans, particularly in rural areas, are still as conservative as Americans Vietnamese were eighty years ago.
posted by Grod at 1:05 PM on May 19, 2004

In other words, the post dwells on sex and psychology and war but contains the cliche anti-Jewish attitudes of that period of time.

Postroad: Um, those leaflets were from the Germans. As I understand it, they weren't crazy about the Jews in the early 1940's.

I think the author was intentionally highlighting those, it was pretty clear to me even without your boldification.
posted by malphigian at 1:09 PM on May 19, 2004

This all reminds me of the recurring cartoon in The Onion's Our Dumb Century showing the enemy-du-jour raping the Statue of Liberty. Funny! But sad. But funny!
posted by soyjoy at 1:15 PM on May 19, 2004

Metatalk
posted by reverendX at 1:17 PM on May 19, 2004

The images are great, it's funny how the psyops people have no actual insight into psychology at all. It's like the scene in Saving Private Ryan when a German with a bullhorn is yelling "Ze Statue of Liberty iz Kaput!" and Tom Hanks mutters sarcastically "well that's disconcerting."
posted by Divine_Wino at 1:25 PM on May 19, 2004

I swore that first line read "Sex and SysOps." For a second, I thought we were taking a trip back to the days of BBSes.
posted by laze at 1:35 PM on May 19, 2004

Postroad - that's what's known as a quote. He's indicating here that he pulled the text from the leaflet - and he notes a few lines up that that series of leaflets was based on the idea that there was latent anti-semitism in American and England.

Certainly qualifies for best of the web.
posted by kavasa at 2:21 PM on May 19, 2004

Glad you got fired, but i bet 10-1 you didn't. If you live in a place where you're not supposed to be surfing, don't surf. And if you're not allowed to look at sex, don't click on links titled "sex"

Of course, if you were really fired, you'd not be online right now.
posted by re_verse at 4:00 PM on May 19, 2004

"The Germans also tried to take advantage of the alleged latent anti-Semitic feelings of the Allies..."
"This is a very imaginative piece of propaganda. It has a sexual image and yet sends the message that the British are fighting the war for the Jews."

If anything it shows that the germans believed there were "latent anti-Semitic feelings" among the allies. If this was so and to what extent is another story.
posted by golo at 4:21 PM on May 19, 2004

I swore that first line read "Sex and SysOps." For a second, I thought we were taking a trip back to the days of BBSes.

Me too laze! I was SO disappointed!
posted by JanetLand at 4:33 PM on May 19, 2004

Seems to me that sex is an effective demoralization tool, or at least the lack of it lately.
posted by fluffycreature at 5:24 PM on May 19, 2004

Topics like "sex" and "sexual propaganda" are different from photos or drawings of explicit sex acts. The link sounded interesting, and, indeed, was interesting. But it contained photos and drawings, not just topics. And that made it NSFW.

I'd disagree. If a picture of sex is NSFW, then nor is writing about it. Put it this way, someone could look at the screen and be offended by a picture, or they could read a few paragraphs while you were away, and be similarly offended.

Although, I must admit, anyone who would be offended by a picture on someone else's computer screen, if it didn't involve them, is a fruit loop.
posted by wackybrit at 6:14 PM on May 19, 2004

Of course, if you were really fired, you'd not be online right now.

Because when you get fired you are immediately removed from the building by a large man in a suit.

Always.
posted by cortex at 8:43 AM on May 20, 2004

For those who didn't spot it: "Professor Paul M. A. Linebarger" ... a.k.a. Cordwainer Smith.
posted by raygirvan at 3:45 PM on May 21, 2004