“Living and Fighting Alongside Men, and Fitting In” by Steven Lee Myers accounts how the war front has undergone perceptible change due to the relatively new presence of women in this new kind of war. The article mostly tries to put the reader at ease, saying that most of the problems people assumed would accompany the integration of women into combat simply have not been issues. Sex and pregnancy happen, but the article claims that neither has become a noticeable distraction to the soldiers. For the most part, women have their own facilities and some semblance of privacy – and when they don’t they are happy to find ways to cope. Overall, the article implies that women have been a positive influence on the American military efforts and that they have been so because of their ability to “show their toughness.” Their reception by males in the military seems slightly more ambiguous, giving way to the categorical thinking our society often exhibits: slut, bitch, or dyke. But the article explains this away by claiming that the women don’t let it bother them. While this was an interesting read, I can’t help but think that it may be contributing to enlightened sexism. It dismisses a lot of things pretty lightly and gives an overall feel that everything in the military front, is on the right track. Hopefully this is true, but it should be read with a questioning eye.
A Peril in War Zones: Sexual Abuse by Fellow G.I.’s, is also written by Steven Lee Myers and gives some credence to my suspicion of the first article. It gives multiple accounts of inappropriate behavior towards women on integrated military bases abroad. A vast majority of these cases goes unreported, and soldiers have a long list of reasons why. Understandably, some women feel like they would be hurting their military effort by adding the distraction of a sexual abuse report. Their sense of duty, first and foremost, to their mission discourages drawing attention to such a menacing issue. Other reasons include the common idea that it won’t do them any good, nothing will be done about it anyway, or that it might even hurt their careers. While the number of reports is going up, there is still not a strong climate of support for victims of sexual crimes, male or female. The military continues to make a public effort to better this situation, but it is often undermined by skepticism and conservative beliefs about female service from people inside and outside of the armed services.
Enloe’s chapter “All the Men Are in the Militias, All the Women Are Victims” uses the base story of Borislav Herak to underline how nationalism shapes and reinforces particular notions of masculinity and femininity. Borislav Herak went from an unassuming, unsuccessful man to a power-wielding militiaman, accused of mass rape and murder. Enloe believes that it was the nature of Nationalist warfare that brought out this dormant side of the young man who was unremarkable in peace time. Enloe’s strongest points, I think, are her evaluations of how female relationships contribute to these ideas of masculinity, particularly in wartime. For instance, we are all familiar with the concept of the patriotic mother who allows or encourages her son(s) to fight for their country. The militarized ideas of masculinity depend on the participation of the entire society, not just men. Enloe makes the great point that ideas of masculinity cannot be upheld without ideas of femininity to counter-act them. These concepts, Enloe argues, experience even greater polarization and specification in war-time by telling men that their masculinity is validated by their performance as soldiers and telling women that they need to support their men. This polarization may also be a reason why ordinary men like Borislav Herak resort to violent acts we might call supremacy crimes. I think Enloe’s argument makes sense and is an interesting case study into a cultural behavior that seems to span across the world and across time.
NPR recently had an interesting discussion relating to women in the military. It can be read or listened to here: http://www.npr.org/2011/02/26/134083528/Women-In-Combat-How-You-Feel-About-It
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