Harper Zimmer
Gendered Violence
Op-Ed 1
Who Fights for the Women Who are Fighting for us?
The United States military is portrayed as the great protector of this nation, made up of people with honor, love and respect. For how strong, and unbreakable the military is made to seem, and how well they do protect the U.S, they do a poor job of protecting and honoring each other, specifically women. The military is structured in such a way that it promotes and perpetuates gender norms. Both male and female military personnel feel the structural violence of this.
The Kimmel piece we read in class states, “A recent survey asked high school students what they were most afraid of. The girls answered that they were most afraid of being assaulted, raped, killed. The boys? They said they were most afraid of “being laughed at’” (pg. 146). Men are taught that emotions are a weakness, and that any sign of weakness, especially from those protecting our country, is virtually unacceptable. The result of that begins to play into gender norms, because stereotypically women are looked at and viewed as emotional, tender, and weak. As these binaries become more and more defined within the military, that targeting of women and their abilities becomes jeopardized and women who enter the military are already starting off at a disadvantage.
I used to date a man who attended one of the United States Military Academies, and through him I became good friends with one of the girls at the academy. One part of their education is that they must complete a certain number of sailing days in order to graduate. I vividly remember my ex explaining to me him and his buddies frustration with getting their assignments before his second sailing because there had been too many sexual assault cases involving female midshipmen from the academy. Academies were struggling to find ships to put the female midshipmen on, and as a result their assignments were delayed as well. Him and his friends responses to this were that “this is why women shouldn’t be at these academies”. That statement in itself proves the point I am attempting to make about a larger picture. That the solution to this problem for these guys was to just remove women from the equation. That response had nothing to do with the military. It had to do with the mindset that is instilled in most men from a young age, and then promoted through the military.
While both of them have spoken to me about their sailing experience, his experience was still vastly different than hers. She recounted multiple instances where her intelligence and physical capabilities were constantly in question, while my ex never once came across that issue. Her femininity became a target on her back. She also had a few nights where she would go out with men who were also on the ship and inappropriate comments would be made here and there. Imagine having to spend 200 plus days on a ship where there are one or two other women, and other than that you are vastly outnumbered by mostly older men. Older men who hide behind the entitled power that the military provides them with. While having men your own age saying behind your back that the solution to the problem is to remove yourself. When the real solution is to change the way gender, and sexual assault are talked about. Her story isn’t the only one like this, and many are worse.
The New York Times did a piece interviewing several women serving within the military and the demeaning experiences they endured during deployments. Women in the military must work to prove themselves worthy and adept, while men are simply assumed to be capable until they give a reason proving otherwise. These women are fighting to protect and serve our country, while also protecting themselves from the men that fight alongside them. Women in the military have been fighting a two front war for too long.
Works Cited
Kimmel, Michael. “Men, Masculinity, and the Rape Culture”. Found in Transforming
A Rape Culture by Emilie Buchwald, Pamela R. Fletcher, and Martha Roth.
(2005).
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