Is it wrong for an active duty Air Force Staff Sargent to pose in Playboy?

Michelle Manhart, a Staff Sargent who has been in the U.S. Air Force for 13 years has been relieved of her duties as she is being investigated for posing nude in Playboy magazine. I'm sure Hef was proud to have one of our military's finest in all her nekkid glory.

In this ABC Good Morning America Weekend Edition interview, Michelle states that she thinks that the body is a work of art and that she sees nothing wrong in posing for Playboy while still on active duty for the Air Force. The Air Force on the other hand feels differently:

"The staff sergeant's alleged action does not meet the high standards we expect of our airmen, nor does it comply with the Air Force's core values of integrity, service before self and excellence in all we do," the statement said. "

So, what do we think? If a grown woman wants to pose nude for Playboy then that is her right to do so. Is she hurting the Air Force? I think what she is hurting the most is her ability to keep the respect of her fellow airmen/women, and her superiors. Until the Playboy spread came out, Michelle's job was to train new soldiers. She thinks that posing in Playboy will have no affect on her ability to do her job.

I don't doubt that Michelle can still do her job as excellent as she did before, but her students and colleagues will have an entirely different view of her now, and it will not be a view of equality or honor. Michelle works in a very macho, male dominated field, where women inevitably have to work twice as hard to get ahead and earn respect. Posing for Playboy has just reduced her to a sexual object, and who wants Playboy models training the young men and women who are going to war fighting for our country?

Should the Air Force strip her of her military career?  I would say that posing for Playboy is an incredibly career limiting move, and it is in very poor judgment. The military is not a place for beauty pageants and posing naked. Posing for Playboy when you are a soldier is not empowering, and it does not set as a good example for younger women in the military who are trying very hard to be taken seriously as soldiers and as leaders.

[ABC news]