a creature feminine

Ueno Chizuko on women in the military

As a feminist, what should my position be on women in military combat positions? In principle of course, I believe women should equal OPPORTUNITIES as men. There is a somewhat subterranean assumption that, if women had a bigger role in the military, the patriarchal culture of masculine militarism would itself change. In practice however, the record indicates otherwise - the few women who infiltrate the military in positions of responsibility are acculturated to be even more brutal than their male counterparts in order to be accepted/respected in those jobs. Case in point: Lynndie England, notorious Abu Ghraib torturer. At the Women's Worlds 2005 conference in Seoul, Ueno Chizuko put it succinctly: "The militarization of women happens much quicker than the feminization of the military." Clearly, having more female bodies in combat positions in the military is not (in and of itself) sufficient to change the culture of military masculinity - we are naive to think that such a complex problem can be ameliorated by shifting numbers around. I am not advocating that women be kept out of military positions - quite the contrary. All I am saying is that we need to refine our expectations of what it means when women serve in the military.

posted by sayumi @ 6:14 PM