Military Masculinity Analysis

In the years after the Second World War, people created uncountable numbers of historiographical research on various topics related to the war, such as military tactics in battles, individual groups of men during their time in service, and other such subjects. Not much surprise exists then, that women’s actions in World War II eventually would also gain interest and publication for the public, though it did not gain an undivided focus until the advent of women’s and social history grew momentum. Women, despite being half of the world’s population, doubtlessly had acted during the war years, although limited by social gender expectations of the period. As time passes from 1945, more interest in the lives of women and their effect on the war

H.R. 1928 sought to title the bill “Women’s Fair and Equal right to Military Service Act” (Sanchez, 2011, p. 1) as more than 250,000 females had already been deployed to combat zones in the Middle East. As of May 2011,137 females had lost their lives while in combat (Sanchez, 2011). As women continue to work side by side with men, the case of equal placement continues. Contrary to that argument is the power to care for family members, specifically the children and how they are affected when their mother goes into battle.

In the two following excerpts, “Breaking Traditions” by Kathleen Ernst and “A Family Affair” by Gina DeAngelis and Lisa Ballinger, each author supports that war transformed women’s lives. The excerpts reveal many ways that women’s roles changed greatly during the wars and can be effectively shown by taking the excerpts apart.

The author instills emotion in the audience by using many true cases to create a lasting impression on them about the reasons for “fears of putting women in the trenches” (Collins 2) that could contribute to the lack of respect they are getting for wanting combat roles because of them. She mentions a true scenario case involving “Shoshana Johnson, a cook [who] was shot in both ankles, taken captive and held for 22 days” (Collins 2).

In the essay, “In the Combat Zone,” Leslie Marmon Silko writes for the purpose of explaining the hardships that women go through in their everyday lives, that men do not necessarily have to worry about. Through personal stories about her growing up with her father who taught her how to use guns and hunt, to actual encounters with dangerous men who could’ve potentially harmed her had she not been experienced, Silko provides real life examples of the dangers women face in their everyday lives. Women are at risk whenever they leave the safety of their home, and even may be at risk in their home as well. Being raised to depend on others for protection leaves women vulnerable to attacks that leave them defenseless. This is different than men who are raised in a way that gives them power and essentially puts them above women and eliminates this fear. We see this theme on page 734 when Silko writes, “Men who have been in combat know the feeling of being a predator’s target, but it is difficult to men to admit admit that we women live our entire lives in a combat zone.”

Many countries such as Israel and Russia have allowed women to serve in combat roles in the military; however, this has not always been true in the United States. Throughout history, women have had an active role in war time. The United States has documented cases of women disguising themselves as men in order to participate in combat as far back as the Civil War. It would seem that women have as much desire to serve as men, but in what capacity? This is a question that not only the United States has struggled with, but is a continuing debate around the world. Today, we see many more opportunities for women to fully serve with their male counterparts in countries like Israel and Russia. The United States has conducted research into the effectiveness of expanding the role of women into combat. Women have proven that they are able to withstand the demands of military life and the United States Army recently had two female Army Rangers graduate. But to understand where we are now, we must look back on how this increased confidence in females in the Service began. Possibly, the greatest and most visible contributions were during World War II.

The common thought of all men during the World Wars were that women and war were not compatible, for the two of them did not mix in any way. Regarding the men away at war, these men when injured needed

“As a group, women soldiers never told their own stories, so we went looking for the contemporaries who told their stories for them. In the course of looking for women soldiers, we encountered a variety of other women at the war front or disguised as men... While these women have fascinating stories of their own, they are not included here. Our work focuses solely on women soldiers regularly enlisted or commissioned in the army.” (2) Included in the chapters are the history of women in battle, their means of disguising themselves, and their motivation for becoming soldiers.

Cynthia Enloe’s book titled Nimo’s War, Emma’s War: Making Feminist Sense of the Iraq War allows readers to enter the lives of eight women; four American and four Iraqi, in order to better understand the everyday lives of people, their struggles, and the outcomes of war by using particular stories of women to bring together issues present globally. Enloe wrote this book to analyze war from a feminist perspective. Analyzing war through a feminist lens by way of stories makes understanding the war more accessible for wider audiences (Enloe 2010:xii and 218). The use of stories allows for a better understanding of women in both countries and shows that there is no one group of women, whether that be American or Iraqi, there is no monolithic Muslim women or American women (Enloe 2010:xii). In doing so, Enloe (2010) allows for readers of all backgrounds to critically question the gendered aspects of war including the histories, feelings, struggles, and the ways in which women organize and resist war waging (p. xii). Enloe (2010) in both her purpose for writing this book and in the title, does not focus on one group of women which allows for a more serious and balanced engagement with the women in both countries. Enloe connects stories of women from two countries while at war. When women are taken seriously in all of their diversity, and their ideas and actions are explored, the world will better understand how upholding certain forms of masculinity at particular moments in time

DOD data indicates 30% of female and 6% of male service members reported pre-military sexual assault. (Defense Manpower Data Center 2013) A common thread of this re-victimization is that the abuse does not contribute to the risk, but the emotional and behavioral consequences of the initial abuse does. (Arata 2002)

The sexist stereotypes of men and women greatly enforced their roles in the Vietnam War. While women were not included in the draft and protected from war’s brutality and tragedies, men were forced from their homes to be enlisted in the army. In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, a platoon is comprised of struggling young men whose lives are challenged each day. On the other hand, women are blissfully living in the states, providing complete security and comfort, both of which the soldiers are not able to acquire. According to society, women are supposedly the homebound sex, too fragile and moral to be exposed to the world outside their own, and unable to empathize with the emotional baggage that the soldiers carry.

Through this written piece of work, I want to examine the ways in which the dominant ideas of gender and war, from a Feminist perspective. I will be contributing an understanding to the role of the Kurdish female fighters in the field of war and politics, that have broken the taboos of gender roles within the community, and the national movement. The concept of gender, war, and conflict has lightened the issue of women in war. The image of war is associated to masculinity, and in many cases women are not welcomes in the field of war, as “she is exposed as a victim of war by drawing the idea of women being helpless (Sjoberg, 2014, p. 10).” Laura Sjoberg; Gender, War, and Conflict, states that “war-making and war-fighting have been traditionally

In Women in the Military, Janette Mance explores the debates and problems faced by the increasing number of women involved in the military. After examining issues such as pregnancy, sexual harassment, and rape, Mance concludes that as a society we must continue to strive for gender equality.

War, a word that often describes the aftermath of a disagreement tends to often become a topic of conversation amongst Americans today. Since the founding of our fathers we have faced ample amounts of conflict. Justice amongst these circumstances is not easy to reach, sacrifices had been made and will continue to until the conclusion is met. While their loved ones are away, the families of the fighting soldiers face daily obstacles. These sacrifices often become overlooked and taken for granted. Women have always played an important role in the success of family life and the well being of our country under these circumstances; through the years, these tasks have ranged from work on the assembly lines to performing seamstress duties for a soldier’s uniform. Without this unwarranted support, we’d be at a loss during these disheartening times.

This helps to absolve us from feeling guilty about the pain we inflict on others, and social psychology shows that the worse you treat a group, the more you hate them (Schopler 1971). Orientalist discourse actively strives to maintain the false distinction of self and other whenever it is challenged, because to realize that the ‘other’ is not all that different from you is to open yourself to the risk of empathizing with their suffering. To help prevent empathy, society fights to maintain a second false binary: the gendered norms of masculine and feminine behavior. To be masculine is to be tough, emotionless, and warlike. To be feminine is to be sensitive to the feelings of others and worry about trivial things like body counts. Praising these masculine traits creates a militaristic society that does not question the human rights abuses of the military and certainly doesn’t worry about the perspective of the enemy. In this paper, I examine the relationship between gender, orientalism, and war, and also explore similarities and differences between authors on these issues.