The issue of gender and war is a contentious matter of debate, both inside as well as outside the military. Some would argue that men’s bodies and women’s bodies are inherently different; that men are made for war, whereas women are more “naturally” suited for domestic activities and should restrict their role to the home front. Roles for women have taken center stage recently, as the combat exclusion was set aside to clear the way for women to serve alongside men in combat roles. Our course readings engage a critique of gender dynamics as they relate to war by exploring them from a range of different viewpoints.
Tara Mckelvey takes up the issue of women’s invisibility in policy making as it relates to war; Angela Davis and Francine D’Amico look at institutional dynamics as they impact men and women in uniform. They also highlight the role of women as torturers in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal; Nancy Scheper-Hughes engages a critical analysis of the decision-making of mothers who send their children to war. We might also draw from Judith Butler’s work on gender and her idea that gender is constructed as a repetitive performance to help us think about gender as it relates to war.
The film Restrepo (the men pictured above appear in the film) deals with gender from the perspective of men. Yet one of the first things we notice is the absent presence of women. Sebastian Junger and the late British/American photojournalist Tim Hetherington spent more than a year documenting the lives of soldiers they lived with during combat operations in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan [AP Photo credit: David Guttenfelder. Specialist Taylor Jordan from U.S. Army 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry lifts weights in the rain in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan. May 8, 2009].
Discussion Questions
Why do bodies matter so much when it comes to military service and war?
How are issues and questions about war related to ideas about gender and power? Now that the combat exclusion has been set aside, do you think that women should be required (as men are required by law) to register with the selective service?
What are your thoughts about the different roles played by military men and women?
Is gender equality a problem in the military, or does the military simply have a “woman” problem only because feminists pursuing an agenda of “political correctness” are continuing to make gender an issue?
ZV says
Historically, the gender role that women performed during war was nursing the injured. Recently, women involvement in the service has become more active, and they are participating in activities together with the male soldiers. However, many people still believe that women – physically and emotionally – cannot handle war. Thus, very often service women are being abused in the military. Statistic shows that one in three servicewomen are sexually assaulted in the U.S. military. Also, Davis and McKelvey stated that women are being constantly abused in the military; due to historically embedded inequality in the service. Since military service is volunteer based, every one should have an equal opportunity to join the U.S. military, and be treated equally and with respect.
Brandon First says
Bodies matter when it comes to the military and war. War has traditionally been a male dominated enterprise. I can see the historical logic going back to the time when there were no soldiers, there were warriors. Warfare relied on brute physical force though training and the use of weapons helped. There may have been the occasional female warrior, but that was the exception rather than the rule. Might was power and it was men who had the might. Hence, society was dominated by men. The military was the ultimate bastion of male power. Physical strength still matters in warfare, but only in certain aspects of warfare. It doesn’t take much physical strength to remote pilot a drone, fly an attack helicopter, or turn the key that arms a nuclear missile. It takes training, skill, and discipline. The military has been slow to open up to female soldiers, but it is moving in that direction. Of course, that means the original bastion of male power is opening up to women. Should women be required to register with the selective service? My answer is, why not? Women may not make ideal Special Forces (G.I. Jane notwithstanding), but there are plenty of combat and non-combat roles they can play. There is no rationale for keeping women out of the armed forces, other than preserving a male bastion.
The Call of Duty MW3 trailer is funny because of the way it plays on gender stereotypes. The soldier who fired the rocket-propelled grenade acts as the stereotypical steroid driven male after a kill, yet resents the fellow soldier not “sharing” his feelings and emotions about the kill. It is a parody of the caricature of women as not fit for military service because of their emotions and feelings. The setting is urban warfare, which is physically taxing, but a female remote drone pilot could have achieved the same end result while sipping a latte (sarcasm) back at the home base 3,000 kilometers away. It can be argued that most female soldiers are not fit for Special Forces, but the same is true for most male soldiers. I suspect that even if Special Forces were open to female soldiers, they would always remain a minority due to the extreme physical requirements, but plenty of other very deadly specializations are available.
Military resistance to opening its positions to women is really a function of tradition in a patriarchal society. We need only to think of Israel’s War of Independence in 1947, when all the surrounding Arab countries invaded Israel to crush the new state at birth. There were plenty of female soldiers fighting on the Israeli side. When national survival is on the line and every available warm body is needed on the battle line, what the soldiers carry between their legs is way less important than the weapons they carry in their hands, and the training they have in the use of their weapons. The US military is not faced with a national survival war, but is faced with social changes demanding openness to women in the military. It has been led that way, kicking and screaming, and is discovering that women can be a great military asset.
David S. Green says
There is no question that there are biological differences in Men and Women. That being said, the differences between men and women in 2016 are just in the form of physical body parts. That does not mean strength or mental capacity, rather women are just as capable as men to do any activity. If women choose to contribute in war, they should have every right to do so. Women should not be taken advantage of or abused for any reason. The male-minded army needs a wake up call and needs to take an objective approach to war. The readings that were posted (Davis and McKelvey) discuss women’s involvement in war, specifically the middle east. They bring up the fact that women in the military are constantly being abused and taken advantage of because of the inequality in the army from the historic gender roles. This has to stop.
Jasmine Porter says
When growing up, I remember watching movies about war and how it was important for a male to go into war to fight for their country. It took plenty of years to see a woman being the main character in a war movie ( G.I Jane). Then when I was able to look at that movie more in depth, I seen that she was impersonating a male to be accepted to be seen as strong.
That’s cool, great, we get it. But why can women just be themselves in the military? Why can’t guys be themselves? Why must they walk around with their shirts off to show how muscular and the tattoos they have on their bodies? Why must women have to “show off” how much they earned to be in the military to be accepted? War isn’t just strength, it’s also intelligence. Men may have the strength but women have the intelligences. There has to be a balance and the military doesn’t see it as such. If we get through the oppression of where a man belongs and a woman should be, the military will run so much better!
Tiana Solis says
The role of gender in society has been ingrained in our minds since children. When we grow up, our parents and teachers and television show us how they believe girls are suppose to act or how boys are suppose to act. We see that girls are suppose to want to wear dresses, be wives, take care of their children, and clean the house. While boys are suppose to be the ones to take care of their households, go to work everyday, do all the jobs that seem “manly” etc. Because of these things, society puts women and men I these boundaries that don’t allow them to do more or be seen as equals in the fields they want to pursue. In class, we focused on seeing women in military forces and how many men believe that women should not have even been allowed to join. This mind set still exist today which is unbelievable because women have been showing their ability to equal up to the men for years. Somethin that comes to mind is the movie G.I. Jane with Demi Moore. She had to show how she could be like one of the guys and it changed her body completely. The men thought she would give up because they tried everything but she held on because it was something she strived for. Women are a great addition to war because they have the will power and strength just as the men do. Only reason why men do not like to see women in the military is because they do not want to be demasculated if a woman does better than him. The embarrassment is something they can’t handle which is funny because they say that women are the emotional ones.
Brandon First says
I think the turning point in attitude in G.I. Jane is when the mock capture/torture exercise was turned into torturing Demi Moore to force her fellow soldiers to reveal the secret of their mission as the price of ending her torture. She turned it around by fighting back and yelling “SUCK MY DICK” at the torturer. More interesting than the soldiering was the politics. The female Senator who had been instrumental in forcing the military to accept her into training for Special Forces sold her out in exchange to preserve a military base in her home state. Demi Moore forced the Senator and the military to reinstate her to training by threatening to walk into an ongoing press conference and make a stink on live TV. She played as dirty as the politicians and won. That scene made me think her talent was wasted as a grunt; she should have been an officer in charge of planning and strategy.
Huiying Liang says
We see and go through issues like gender inequality everyday of our lives. Since birth we’ve been labeled with gender roles such as painting the room blue or pink, buying action figures or buying dress up dolls so therefore women have been generalized to be a housewife and caregivers instead of being enrolled in the military. Both authors discuss an involvement of women in war which brings up the fact that women in the military will face inequality due to society’s expectations. I think gender differences can set a great example for younger girls with dreams of serving, it should not let a girl think less of themselves because some of the best trained soldiers in the military are females.
Amy Cartagena says
Bodies matter so much when it comes to military service and war because during times of combat an individual will face obstacles that goes beyond a body’s limit. The military sought to look for individuals that are a perfect picture of health and can be utilize for their digression. For a long period of time, males were viewed as superior to women because their physique was ideal for combat and it was believed that women were smaller therefore weaker than men. Although the combat exclusion has been set aside, women are still subjected to injustices and sexism because they are working for a patriarchal institution. They simply lack power because its a male dominated sphere. I’m not quite sure how I feel about women being required by law to register with the selective service because it puts them at risk of rape, humiliation, and harassment by their fellow squad members. Based on the readings and the movie Invisible War, it is evident that there is a gender equality problem in the military. Women face much more pressure to “measure up” and be “as good” as men because there is so much doubt and reticule forced on them. Also, when they endure various forms of harassment there is little repercussions to male offenders and the victims are often blamed, tormented, and ignored.
Gender play works in this video clip by illustrating the gender role of males being aggressive and trigger happy. Jonah Hill’s character seems thrilled that he’d blown up another individual and killed them while the other character remained in awed. He then plays the stereotypical female role by trying to discuss what just happened and asking for feedback in desperate attempt of approval. He then began telling the other character to talk more because the stereotype for women is that we like to talk about everything. His partner also shows the gender script of men being stoic and just wanting to get the job done. I don’t think gender performance are essential to the conduct of war simply because both men and women may be adequately skilled to perform the same task.
Chandelle Lashley says
There were a lot of things that came to mind watching The Invisible War. I was aware that there was gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and sexual assault in the U.S. army. However, I never imagined that there were so many cases of rape and I am appalled at how little has been done to support these women. We discussed this in class and we know that when American people picture a soldier, or a “hero of war”, they think of men. When we think of soldiers that have been killed in the line of duty, we think of men. Even I am guilty sometimes of discounting women in my imagery of the military. But women in the army need to be recognized for going above and beyond what is required for men to retain their positions. Rape is the ultimate violation and anyone who can do that to another person deserves to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. U.S soldiers are supposed to be “protectors” who keep us and our country safe every day and it’s absolutely unacceptable that female soldiers cannot even feel safe among the men who are supposed to be their “family” for a number of years. I would have to agree that because nothing has been done, the army has essentially made rape okay. The entire system from the highest level down, has made rape okay and excusable. It is literally ingrained into “army culture”. The biggest slap in the face though (to me as a woman) was that on top of being violated in this way the women were blamed, shamed, and even punished for what happened TO them. That is sick on so many levels. Let’s not forget that ridiculous committee that was supposed to prevent rape but instead created an ad campaign that also blamed women for their own rape. It’s disgraceful but I can see that in order to solve this problem, the whole system has to be changed.
Gina T. Camargo says
In One of the Guys: Women as Aggressors and Torturers A Feminist Analysis? by Jennifer Kelly, the author focuses on exploring the Abu Ghraib scandal and the methods utilized. We can agree that letting women serve in the military was an empowering achievement for our gender. However, I could not imagine how violence against women in any government service would be allowed. I trusted at one point in the greater good of people when thinking of our structure. Being that we must abide by labeling system, I was gullible in thinking that maybe the system would improve. What I have found through this and other readings is that gender violence in the military really hasn’t been addressed nor any future intention can be trusted.
In our society, as time evolves, views of women have evolved as well, and not to our benefit. The damaging effects of sexualizing and objectification have made women victims as well as participants in false ideologies regarding women’s worth. Women outside of the military are taught that there is only value and chance of achievement if you fit into a specific box meeting all mostly superficial requirements. Chances of being chosen improve not by intellectual ability but superficial qualities at first. To join the military, expectations increase and being physically fit and mentally prepared for job doesn’t always result in what women would expect. In the reading description alone “Quite simply, sexual abuse against men is considered torture; sexual abuse against women by men is business as usual. “ (Kelly, pg. 117) the statement is scary to make violence on women the accepted norm.
Not only must they be vigilant of enemies fighting us as a nation, but they must also be vigilant of those who she considers peers and friends. Those same people she stands on the wall side-by-side to protect her nation are the same that inflict inhumane forms of torture that are not recognized by the government but when going for treatment of injuries, have their own ICD code as occupational hazards because rape is so common and not to be solved. “Ample evidence reveals that sexual and gender-based violence in the military is treated with impunity. And the racism apparent in the treatment of Iraqi detainees is an extension of an already-existing problem.” (Musa, pg. 85). I am also truly troubled by the Tail Hook scandal, where the victim exposed case of harassment and almost rape during a conference, and the case target main intention was trying to discredit and blame victim. Blaming the victim and problematizing women is a huge problem taking responsibility away from predators. This does not begin to include the violence against men that is vastly underreported due to the implications of masculinity and trauma. Suicide is not something they research I am pretty sure to avoid the correlation that may be found.
PTSD, and injuries are treated but only after the soldier serves pass two years. This makes volunteers victims to the system. How can these events stay overlooked and not addressed or thought as problems by executive branches within the military has my mind with so much emotions of confusion, conflict, rage, and disappoint of so little people not fighting the wrong and nonexistent of morality. Men are victims if they do not fit the expected standard of peers and display emotions that go against mental conditioning of war. Gender is clearly cited in reading as a form of punishments by shaming men to walk naked and force women to objectification in order to force male pleasure against religious norms of prisoners. In Gender and Sexual Violence, in the Military by Jumana Musa exposed the truth behind sexuality and military. “Among the abuses they’ve verified thus far were those of a female interrogator in a tight shirt straddling a detainee in a virtual lap dance and a female interrogator wiping red ink, made to look like menstrual blood, on a detainee.” (Musa, pg. 82). I am sickened frankly speaking of all the atrocities we blind ourselves too. I feel powerless unable to help.
Adda says
It would seem that the military has been making steady steps towards gender equality from the lifting of bans on women flying in combat and serving on combat ships to the implementation of changes that allow female officers to take on wider range of roles. Thus, in essence, one can argue that sexism and gender bias within the military doesn’t exist or is gradually disappearing. Unfortunately, that will be an incorrect understanding of the situation.
As its core, the military is a patriarchal institution promoting and rewarding martial and masculine values as the norm. For women to prove their worth, they are forced to blend in with the guys and like a chameleon must change their characters and personalities to be on somewhat equal footing with the men or not draw attention to themselves. Sometimes, they end up being more violent and sadistic than their male counterparts to shed the higher moral standard they are help upon. Gender equality is a problem in the military that cannot be thought simply in terms of according more rights to women. The core structure of the military institution, its values and belief towards women as morale booster, troublemakers and easily accessible sexual partners and their use to promote an egalitarian façade must be dismantled.
The video clip implicitly depicts the struggle that female soldiers face in an intensely male world of the military. The trash talker is meant to be performing the role of women and the official vet is representing men. The former wants to discuss the aftermath of his actions and receive feedbacks from his partner; he craves emotional reinforcement and positive support through discussion. The latter is silent, wants to get the job done and just leave. Those stereotypes reinforce the military’s outdated gender standards and subsequent policies carried out as a result.
Deena Rothman says
The issue of gender and war is an extremely controversial and heavily debated subject, both inside and outside of the military. Throughout our society, we see issues of gender inequality, gender stereotypes, expected gender roles, and more. Whether its the male figure providing for the family while his wife is at home putting dinner on the table, or the false proposal that men are more aggressive than women – there are hundreds of examples of this shared challenge in society. Regarding warfare in specific, it has been a male dominated venture for a long time, and when women became more and more involved over the years it has raised many “issues” and conversation.
Both McKelvey and Davis discuss the recent involvement of women in war and specifically focus on the fact that these women are subject to inequality through the Abu Ghraib scandal because our society, as well as societies all across the world, still believes in these gender roles and/or misconceptions. Our society still cannot fathom a woman doing what is considered to be a “male” typical behavior. As far as the film Restrepo, the absence of women is immediately noticeable. Furthermore, it is rather humorous to watch that they display the difference of emotions between the two male characters, where one is overly expressive about his emotions while the other does not speak of his whatsoever. When discussing the human body in regards to warfare, there is definitely a difference between men and women however the military is not solely based on physicality. War requires mental strength as well which is a strength in which females posses just as equally as a man can. As they said in the film we watched in class, Invisible War, women are becoming some of the best trained soldiers in the military, and they should get equal opportunity and respect for choosing to be a part of it.
Fatema Begum says
Everyone is labeled differently. We have the concept of men being stronger and the bread winner where as women are the stay at home moms and cooking and cleaning. In the military it is just like that as well, they isolated the women as much as they can
When we look back at past wars we see how women are the nurses and they are cleaning up the messes and bandaging up the men.
The women’s right movement made the demands for equal rights and still women don’t have the same rights as men. People who join the armies have their own reasons.
Carol Krauss says
Throughout time men and women have been categorized differently, men/boys are taught to play cops and robbers or war games as well as organized sports. Women/girls are taught to play house with dolls, be cute and don’t get dirty, to get married and raise a family. The military is no different, if they could keep women out of the armed services they would do whatever possible to do so.
Around the time of World War II, we saw the explosion of women entering the work force to handle jobs that were left vacant by men off fighting in combat. Women shed the aprons, put on jeans, rolled up their sleeves to work hard and show pride in a job well done. Women flew planes, drove vehicles, and built a war-time economy. Once the war ended most women went back home to raise families and take care of the house. A number of women stepped out of the stereo-type, went to work and took whatever jobs they could get.
Enter a new generation with the ‘60’s, ‘70’s and ‘80’s civil rights movement, anti-war movements as well as women’s right movements that saw a surge of women trying to make a better life for themselves, to be individuals-entrepreneurs, to get out of the kitchen and into the corporate world. After the Vietnam War ended so did the draft which opened the armed services to an all-volunteer service and found an inability to recruit enough qualified men. Women were then recruited in increasing numbers and assigned to a wider variety of occupations as one method of meeting shortfalls in the enlistment of qualified men. This movement for equal rights led to demands for equal opportunity. The big three major service academies: Military, Naval and Air Force had to allow women into their all male schools and learn alongside their counterparts and become formidable competitors.
The movement of equal rights for women led to demands for equal opportunity in all fields, including national defense with a gradual removal of restrictions against them. Women have still not quite achieved the status they deserve and they will continue to push on and fight for their place alongside men.
The Armed Services is not for everyone. There are those who join for the education, benefits and those who see the service as a lifelong occupation. Whatever the reasons, I salute anyone who joins our armed services. It will be interesting to see how this all volunteer service goes forward in the future and who will step up, take over leadership positions. Will women step up? Will we see more drones, robots?
How about having a conversation instead of war or what about a enjoying a sporting event. Futbol anyone? At least we wouldn’t kill anyone – I hope 😉
samira Hekmaty says
In my religious faith, it says that when a man gets married, it is his duty and responsibility to care for and support his wife and kids. When he accepted the marriage, he took on an oath that, no matter what the circumstances may be, he will do his best and take on full responsibility for their lives. In return, the job of a women is to support her husband and to raise the children they conceive to be righteous followers of Islam. This may seem very sexist, however, Islam describes women as delicate flowers. They are describes as being precious and loving people who have big hearts. We believe God gave the responsibility of teaching Islam to children to the women because they have big hearts and they are able to teach it with lots of love and affection, the same way our religious actually is. As a woman, I believe that growing up with this mentality, I don’t view gender differences as an issue. When men are sent into war, they are doing everything and anything to protect their women and kids. I see it honorable. When people interrupt this wrong however, they think men are superior than women and that the only job women have is to take care of the men because they’re incapable of doing anything else. This is something that really irks my soul, therefore in these cases I see myself as a feminist and I express my thoughts on the role of a woman and their importance in this world.
Kashay Bailey says
The video was quite funny yet it displayed a seriousness about war that cannot be ignored. A lot of men in war are seen to be emotionless individuals while there are a handful who just aren’t capable fox pressing emotion so they take there pride in being the best soldier they can be. The service molds soldiers to think of one thing only and that is killing. You enter war with a set path and a goal to be accomplished. Men in war take on a very aggressive and often times malicious role which is now becoming characteristic of women in war. Ironically overly aggressive woman in war are not seen as acceptable nor are overly emotional women or men welcomed in the setting of war. Women should not be sanctioned for their desire to assert the same aggressiveness as men simply because they are not generally accepted as domineering creatures. The video also brings light to war and recreation. How closely do video games mimic the setting of war? It is important to note that video games perpetuate this increased testosterone level in men. More and more as I watch documentaries and videos about war it closely resembles a video game. The men of war are displayed as individuals who find victory or satisfaction in killing opposing forces. I listen to soldiers excited about going out on the battle field with there group ready to take on the enemy as if they are pieces on a chess board. We have to be aware of the conversation between war and reality. There is a constant realization that behaviors of war will be carried out after war. In another words if our soldiers are not reintegrated into society with a clear distinction between reality and war, we will then continue to see war like behavior off the battle field.
Brian Manrique says
There have been many wars that have been fought by men throughout time. This fact of women entering the field of combat is new to our history of this male dominated occupation that is warfare. Since the beginning of time, until fairly recent, women have been given the societal role of family providers, caregivers and domestic occupation. Men have been associated with war since the very beginning and now that women are included in combat, many “issues” are being raised with their involvement and association with war. The readings by Davis and McKelvey shed light on women’s recent involvement with the war in the Middle East. Both authors make the point that women in the military are subject to inequality because today’s society still follow many concepts of gender roles that are prominent thoroughly the globe. The event that both authors mention is the Abu Ghraib scandal. This event in the Iraq war has brought up a lot of questions of how women’s involvement in warfare has changed significantly. Men and women have the same emotions and behavior, but society and roles associated with gender make women hide how they truly want to act and express thief emotions and behavior. It is all human nature, we have it in all of us to have emotions, be extremely violent and act in ways that might result in unspeakable behavior. Men are represented as tough, violent and merciless in times of war and perhaps in general. Now that women are expressing their human nature during war, it is a whole new concept in society. War is much more than just physical strength, a message conveyed in more modern films and other media forms, but also emotional and metal obstacles. Gender inequality will always be present in warfare and in society until we all accept the fact that a particular gender doesn’t result in exclusion of emotions and behavior.
Olivia Loscalzo says
After reading Tara McKelvey and Angela Davis, the reason body and gender becomes such an issue in war is because society still operates on the belief that women and men have different roles and behaviors. The military is based on male thought and perspective and because of this, seeing a woman do what is considered a male behavior or role is shocking to society. The Abu Ghraib scandal shocked Americans because it is not a behavior expected of a woman. These women though are being institutionalized by an institution that is run by and created for men. There can never really be equality, especially in the military until we lose gender expectations.
Gobin Persaud says
Watching this video at first glance I see the humor and I am entertained. Watching it for the second time I began to notice some of the underhand message about lack of communication and expression. As an audience I receive the message that soldiers are not meant to think or speak but just do. Also I see that soldiers are not allowed to express their feelings. Another kinda funny but ironic observation is the two male characters were speaking and acting as if they were a married couple on a sitcom where one is a nagging wife and the other an annoyed husband who doesn’t speak his feelings or want to hear about feelings.
Gobin Persaud says
As far as the human body goes there are many ways in which we can measure strength, a necessity for war. But I personally believe war doesn’t only require physical strength but also mental. A strength that females can contribute. Also females can also keep up with males when it comes down to endurance. The strength to keep going, not necessarily who is stronger when it comes to arm wrestling.