On the Defence The times have given us many occasions to wince at powerful men's choice of words when addressing the culture of rape and sexual assault in the organisations they head. So it was when Prime Minister Scott Morrison pulled out the "as a father of daughters" line (something he apparently needed his wife to remind him of) and so it is with Defence Force chief Angus Campbell advocating that trainees avoid the "four As" so as not to become "prey" to sexual predators.
The As he cited are "alcohol", "out after midnight", "alone" and (Jesus Christ) "attractive".
Far from backing down from an idea so outdated and embarrassing it makes you want to squirm yourself out of existence, Campbell told Harley Dennett of The Canberra Times ($) (via a defence spokesperson) that he stood by what he said because, after all, the entire class he was addressing fell into the "risk factor" of being "young and attractive". Oh cool. That's fine then, for sure.
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