SEX SUCCESS SENSATIONALISM

Unnamed sailors formerly aboard HMAS Success are the subject of much media speculation:

A shocking scandal within Australian naval ranks has seen several personnel sent home.

It is believed male sailors on HMAS Success devised a competition based around how many female colleagues they could sleep with.

Allegedly, men in the service put dollar amounts on the heads of different women and accrued points based on how many female colleagues they slept with.

There is no indication any crime was committed, or that the "conquered" women were coerced or bullied. Outrage has flowed nonetheless:

Women's Forum Australia spokesperson Melinda Tankard-Reist says the allegations are extremely disheartening.

"When you consider that women constitute 40 per cent of the Navy, they have a right to feel safe in their place of work and not to be treated as potential notches on a sailor's belt. Obviously things have gone backwards, I thought the defence forces had moved on from this sort of pack-animal behaviour."

"This is a serious sexual incident. It requires the strongest level of disciplinary action and censure possible. I don't believe these men should be able to serve at sea anymore because they're not reliable, they can't be trusted, they don't respect women and these are not the kind of men that we need defending us."

It would be helpful if in amongst the hyperbolic bullshit we were told exactly what the male sailors did -- based on what is know so far -- that is wrong or even improper.

Update: The Seven Network News report that started the furor.

Update II: The Age site prominently displays the HMAS Success "sex scandal" story and next to it an Ask Sam! blog post about how natural it is for a man to relish chasing and conquering a woman, quickly moving on to a new chase and conquest. You know, like those HMAS Success sailors allegedly did.