July 29, 2008, - 10:42 am
U.S. Military Recruiting: Women Are the Weaker Sex, After All
By Debbie Schlussel
After all the militant feminist arguments for women in combat and more women in the military, looks like my gender is admitting that we are the weaker sex, after all. Women are shying away from Iraq and need a gentler, softer pitch . . . which kinda defeats the purpose of the word “military.”
This story isn’t rocket science or news to me (or you). But maybe to Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan’s ghost-ette. Oh and check out the photo of the recruiter supermodel in the story–they now need someone with “America’s Next Top Military Model” looks and make it look glamorous, to get women to join:
Military officials say female service members are expected to perform and be treated the same as their male counterparts once they’ve enlisted – but recruiters and academics who study the issue say the process for recruiting women, and their parents, is subtly different.
In its recruiting efforts, the military “may try to reassure potential recruits and their families that women in the military don’t lose their femininity, even though they are joining an institution known for conferring masculinity and making men out of boys,” writes Melissa Brown in her paper, “A Woman in the Army is Still a Woman,” which evaluates the gender messages of decades of recruiting materials. Brown, a professor at City University of New York, took the title of her paper from an Army advertisement directed at potential female soldiers.
Brown found that females in military advertisements are often not pictured in uniform. . . and none were shown carrying weapons, as many of the men were.
The ad reflects realities Sgt. Marietta Sparacino sees every day in her job as an Army recruiter in Salt Lake and Davis counties.
“The males are much more into the range – shooting weapons and everything. The females, not so much,” Sparacino said. . . .
The number of females serving in the Armed Forces has fallen every year since 2003, the year of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, according to figures from the Pentagon’s Statistical Information Analysis Division.
There’s no NOW (National Organization for Women) in the military.
There ain’t no NOW on the oil rigs, the iron workers on high bridges, coal mining, or anything remotely dangerous or strength specific either. The entire “movement” is for cushy desk jobs involving no risk or physical exertion with the side demand of ordering supposed men around.
Howard on July 29, 2008 at 11:20 am