[SUBMITTED] The Wrath of Davy Jones

[Baggieland]

This one is for all you old sea dogs out there.

[TITLE] The Wrath of Davy Jones

[DESCRIPTION] Your sister has suddenly burst through the door, irately dragging in two officers from the Navy Recruitment Office with her. The reason for your sister's wrath: her daughter has just been denied her life-long dream of joining the Senior Service as women on ships bring bad luck.

[VALIDITY] adult, low civil rights, high primitiveness, has a military

[OPTION] "What century are we living in?" asks your sister, while comforting her sobbing daughter. "Women bringing bad luck on ships is just a silly superstition from hundreds of years ago. There should be no barriers to anyone just because they have breasts. We can be navigators, mechanics, ship captains -- anything we put our minds to. Tell your admirals that the @@DEMONYM@@ Women's Naval Service is on its way and here to stay."

[EFFECT] ships' captains spend more time marrying crew members than sailing

[OPTION] "D' ye wish to send the entire fleet to Davy Jones' locker?" questions the first recruitment officer, Captain @@RANDOMLASTNAME@@, as he snatches the enrolment form away from your niece. "Twas only a year ago -- me good mate Captain Morgan allowed eight women to board his vessel. After setting sail, a huge and mighty storm blew up. Morgan tried to appease the sea-gods by throwing all the women overboard. Alas, the gods were so angry, they did not relent their storm. His ship was wrecked and all hands were lost. UNQUESTIONABLE proof that women do indeed anger the sea-gods and must never be allowed to board any ship."

[EFFECT] hell hath no fury like a sea-god scorned

[OPTION] "Thar be another way," proclaims Sub-lieutenant @@RANDOMLASTNAME@@, the other recruitment officer, as he lifts up his eye-patch to get a better view of your secretary's cleavage. "Tales tell that bare-breasted women shame the sea-gods into good behaviour by their nakedness. That be why ships' figureheads be of a bare-breasted lady. Let thar be a @@DEMONYM@@ Women's Naval Service, but their uniform be only a skirt and a hat."

[EFFECT] female ship captains never volunteer for Arctic routes

[TITLE] The Wrath of Davy Jones

[DESCRIPTION] Your sister has suddenly burst through the door, irately dragging in two officers from the Navy Recruitment Office with her. The reason for your sister's wrath: her daughter has just been denied her life-long dream of joining the Senior Service as it is believed that women on ships bring bad luck.

[VALIDITY] adult, low civil rights, high primitiveness, has a military

[OPTION] "What century are we living in?" asks your sister, while comforting her sobbing daughter. "Women bringing bad luck on ships is just a silly superstition from hundreds of years ago. There should be no barriers to anyone just because they have breasts. We can be navigators, mechanics, ship captains -- anything we put our minds to. Tell your admirals that the @@DEMONYM@@ Women's Naval Service is on its way and here to stay."

[EFFECT] ships' captains spend more time marrying crew members than sailing

[OPTION] "D' ye wish to send the entire fleet to Davy Jones' locker?" questions the first recruitment officer, Captain @@RANDOMLASTNAME@@, as he snatches the enrolment form away from your niece. "Twas only a year ago -- me good mate Captain Morgan allowed eight women to board his vessel. After setting sail, a huge and mighty storm blew up. Morgan tried to appease the sea-gods by throwing all the women overboard. Alas, the gods were so angry, they did not relent their storm. His ship was wrecked and all hands were lost. UNQUESTIONABLE proof that women do indeed anger the sea-gods and must never be allowed to board any ship."

[EFFECT] hell hath no fury like a sea-god scorned

[OPTION] "Thar be another way," proclaims Sub-lieutenant @@RANDOMLASTNAME@@, the other recruitment officer, as he lifts up his eye-patch to get a better view of your secretary's cleavage. "Tales tell that bare-breasted women shame the sea-gods into good behaviour by their nakedness. That be why ships' figureheads be of a bare-breasted lady. Let thar be a @@DEMONYM@@ Women's Naval Service, but their uniform be only a skirt and a hat."

[EFFECT] female ship captains never volunteer for Arctic routes

[Australian rePublic]

Wait- do you wanna from women naval ships only, or civilian ships as well? Also, I would get rid of the line in option 1 which says that women are bad luck because of their breasts. Not only does it contradict option 3, but also fails man boobs into account

[Nihonato]

Doesn't this also contradict with the "Women Under Fire" issue?

[Baggieland]

Wait- do you wanna from women naval ships only, or civilian ships as well?

Options 1 & 3 are for naval ships, they both clearly state to introduce a Women's Naval Service. Option 2 is for any ship, agajn clearly stated in the final sentence.

Also, I would get rid of the line in option 1 which says that women are bad luck because of their breasts

That's not what it says at all. Read it more carefully.

Doesn't this also contradict with the "Women Under Fire" issue?

Nope. That issue is about Is it safe for women to be in the military, whereas this one is about women being bad luck on ships. Totally different.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

[DESCRIPTION] Your sister has suddenly burst through the door, irately dragging in two officers from the Navy Recruitment Office with her. The reason for your sister's wrath: her daughter has just been denied her life-long dream of joining the Senior Service as women on ships bring bad luck.

The last part probably doesn't belong in the words of an objective issue narrator. Maybe "are claimed to bring bad luck".

[Trotterdam]

I have to wonder how seriously the "woman are bad luck on ships" superstition was taken, even back when we were more misogynistic. Clearly women must have been allowed on ships at some point, or Europeans would never have been able to colonize America, Australia, etc. Sure, they were passengers rather than crew, in keeping with social mores of the time where women weren't expected to do much work on sea or on land, but they were still on the ship.

Non-passenger-carrying ships (cargo transports, warships) were indeed often male-only, just like most ventures of the time, but even then, it wasn't unheard of in Victorian times for the captain's wife to be tagging along on the trip.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

For sure, it's a belief that looks to have faded over time and was probably only approached with any sort of seriousness up to the middle ages. By the age of sail it would have been an oft-cited aphorism that gets dismissed when pragmatism suggests otherwise. Their presence on ships might be obscured from historical record too, as wives, lovers and sex workers would rarely be listed on the crew or passenger manifest of a vessel. We know for sure that by the late 18th century it was common practice to have prostitutes aboard many naval vessels.

[The JELLEAIN Republic]

So not a school issue ...

[Bears Armed]

We know for sure that by the late 18th century it was common practice to have prostitutes aboard many naval vessels.

Although generally only when those ships were in harbour, rather than when they were out on the open seas as well, no? The superstition might have been more specifically about ships 'at sea'...

[Baggieland]

So not a school issue ...

It already has the adult tag, due to the copious amount of times that breasts are mentioned.

I have to wonder how seriously the "woman are bad luck on ships" superstition was taken

For sure, it's a belief that looks to have faded over time and was probably only approached with any sort of seriousness up to the middle ages.

That's why the validity is for high primitiveness and low civil rights.

We know for sure that by the late 18th century it was common practice to have prostitutes aboard many naval vessels.

Although generally only when those ships were in harbour, rather than when they were out on the open seas as well, no? The superstition might have been more specifically about ships 'at sea'...

Who wants to write a separate issue about prostitutes working in port areas?

The last part probably doesn't belong in the words of an objective issue narrator. Maybe "are claimed to bring bad luck".

2nd draft is up.

[Trotterdam]

Who wants to write a separate issue about prostitutes working in port areas?

I think the question of specifically military prostitutes (even moreso on land than at sea) is more interesting than just prostitutes in port areas, on which your opinion is likely to be the same as in any other civilian area.

It was standard practice throughout various armies in the history of the world to have prostitutes travel along with armies on the march, treating them similarly to other noncombatant military support personnel like cooks, medics, and so on, and incorporating them into military logistics planning. It certainly helped keep morale up. However, even someone who is okay with prostitution as a private enterprise might be uncomfortable with the government basically endorsing it as an essential need for the nation's soldiers (and using taxpayer money to maintain it), and then there's the fact that you'd be exposing the prostitutes to danger going into a warzone. (It's probaby best not to start on the armies that just captured enemy civilians as sex slaves rather than bring along willing prostitutes. There's plenty to be explored on the subject without that particular complication.) Of course, the increasing modern acceptance of women as actual soldiers also raises questions about the implementation...

[Candlewhisper Archive]

2nd draft looking really good.

[Baggieland]

Submitted, thanks everyone.

[Australian rePublic]

Good Luck!