Monday, September 13, 2010
Question for the Females
I was reading the Odyssey of Pat Tillman yesterday and it made me think of a question. (For those of you that don't know, after 9/11 he gave up a multi million dollar NFL contract and signed up for the US Army and was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan) Personal feelings aside from the war and everything, if all the women in our class/society (a generalization, yes, but come on..lol) want to be treated equally to men, how many of you girls would be willing to get entered into and drafted into the US Armed Forces if a draft were to ever happen?? Again, I'm not looking for any kind of views on war or anything of that nature, but it is always a possibility for a man, regardless of their views, in the US between ages (I think) 18-26 and I just wanted some female input on this subject.
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5 comments:
I wouldn't say that "all" women want to be treated equally to men in all matters, but I think if it were me I'd take my chances and be willing to get entered into the draft. I think there are a lot of males out there who probably don't want to be signed up for the draft, but don't have the choice, and there are some that do. Personally I find this somewhat biased, but my opinion isn't going to make it change. So, I would personally be willing to sign up for the draft and take my chances right alongside others.
Tough question! It's hard for me to really say because it would greatly depend on what/whom our country was fighting for/against. If it was something about which I was really passionate (I mean seriously passionate about), I'd like to say I'd do it...but who knows! It's hard for me to imagine a situation worth giving my life for! I think this is an area where many women tend to shy away from promoting absolute gender equality...curious!
I would like to point out an important piece of this puzzle: The man you are speaking about left his career and joined the military. Women can do the same right now. The other side of this is the draft; we will not see one while we are eligible. With everything that our parents' generation went through with Viet Nam, we are not going to be subjected to involuntary military service. They would not stand for it.
As for draft, which I know is your question, I believe that this is largely why the Equal Rights Amendment has never fully passed.
There are individuals who are male who want nothing to do with war, a draft, etc; while I understand that war is a "male" sphere and environment, it is worth noting the large and powerful numbers of men who are pacifists and conscientious objectors. Also, there are women in the military as a career. Again, I understand that they are a minority, but the fact that they are there is, again, worth noting.
And personally? I do not think that there is any cause that I could ever be invested enough in to HURT, MAIM, TORTURE, KILL, MURDER, PILLAGE. I will be angry. I will scream. But I will not touch a hair on anyone's head. And I will never support the military. I will respect individuals within the system, but I have no respect for war, terror, and violence.
This is a good question, but it's also really complicated. The idea of having a draft that only calls on young men to serve is inherently sexist. If the draft absolutely must exist, then women should be a part of it. However, from here we get into a whole new argument about the basis of having a draft, of having a military, of having war in general. I think most people would agree that a major point of having a military is to defend and maybe to spread the system of beliefs and values, the way of life of one society. Is it fair to call upon women to defend a society in which they are not equally treated nor equally represented? Maybe it is. But I think it's a complicated question and I think that more has to be done to create a society that all people are willing to fight for before making all people fight for it. Maybe then there would be no desire/reason/stimulus to fight anyway. As I said, this is complicated and all I can really do is speculate. And yeah, I won't even get into my personal opinions on war and the draft.
We'll get more into this soon, but your question also asks us to think about what it means to support war. Soldiering is one role, there are many others. Bryne for example will look at the ways in which women do support war - and one might aruge participate in it even if they aren't soldiers.
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