Commanders have decided images that objectify women have no place in the U.S. Air Force.

Beginning last week, officers and supervisors initiated inspections of all Air Force locales to remove any calendar, poster, briefing slide or other photo that displays women in a sexual manner.

The decision impacts all levels of the Air Force, including reserves and Air National Guard units. The goal is to completely remove the photos by December 17.

Chief of Staff General Mark Welsh said the images have no place in a professional workplace. Welsh has also made it a priority since coming into office in August to stop sexual assaults and harassment in the Air Force.

“In my view, all this stuff is connected. If we’re going to get serious about things like sexual assault, we have to get serious about an environment that could lead to sexual harassment. In some ways this stuff can all be linked,” Welsh told the Air Force Times. “I’m not saying every case is linked, but it could be linked, and why would we want to tolerate there even being a chance of that?”

Sexual assaults are up in the Air Force, going from about 600 in 2011 to approximately 700 in 2012. This year also witnessed a sexual assault scandal at basic training that resulted in 11 military training instructors being charged.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

Air Force-Wide Inspections Begin Today (by Becky Iannotta, Air Force Times)

Exhibit B (protectourdefenders.org) (pdf)