In my travels across the lawn today with my phone, I
happened to push some button that led me to the Facebook comments on this
article:
For whatever reason – let’s call it heat-induced temporary
insanity – I read them. I thought I was
hot before reading this one, but no.
This one made my blood positively boil:
·
Adam
Sutherland Sorry
but women dont belong in any combat slot. For a multitude of reasons. Not being
sexist....just saying. Im all for women in the military, but NOT in combat
slots.
#1 women need showers, men do not
#2 periods
#3 emotional instability due to period/birth control.
#4 love triangles or even couples within the ranks would be troublesome.
#5 physically weaker
#6 poor decision making out of menstrual discomfort(cramps).
#7 less of a KILL mentality.
#8 inability to carry a 160+ pound solider with over 80pounds of gear.
#9 do i need to keep going?
#10 allowing someone less qualified to fill a combat slot puts EVERYONE in danger, including the woman.
#1 women need showers, men do not
#2 periods
#3 emotional instability due to period/birth control.
#4 love triangles or even couples within the ranks would be troublesome.
#5 physically weaker
#6 poor decision making out of menstrual discomfort(cramps).
#7 less of a KILL mentality.
#8 inability to carry a 160+ pound solider with over 80pounds of gear.
#9 do i need to keep going?
#10 allowing someone less qualified to fill a combat slot puts EVERYONE in danger, including the woman.
Oh, Adam… where to begin? Let’s start by saying that your
comments made an impression on me.
Not good one, but an
impression.
I see from your profile that you work at US Army. I realize that FB does not allow you to be grammatically
correct in this section of useful information, so I’ll let that slide. I wonder what exactly you do at US Army, and
if you are indeed a combat veteran I will grant you one tiny shred of “benefit
of the doubt.” However you, unlike some of the other vets who also posted
comments (mostly positive), did not offer one single example to corroborate any of the items on
your list. Therefore I feel the need to
pick you apart with the intensity of… well, of a woman.
You state that you are “not being sexist.” Wow, really?
All of your statements except numbers 5 and 10 are overtly sexist, not
to mention asinine. Let’s break this
down.
#1 Women need
showers, men do not
I like getting dirty and I love my showers. I love the feeling of being clean after
working my land all day, or even for just a few hours. I love rinsing off the dirt. I love my shower in the morning to start my
workday. I was married to a MALE iron worker
for 13 years who also loved showering when he got home in the evening. I dated a guy who took two showers every day
because he said he never felt clean enough.
Some of the ROTC men I went to college with were quite fastidious about
their bathing habits; one young man who went on to be a Navy pilot would only
shower immediately after the cleaning staff had been in so he was the first one
to use it after it was sanitized. I have
also known women who shower once a week, taking an interim sponge bath if
needed. I can safely assume that all the
women you know are the kind who do not like getting dirty. There is nothing wrong with that! But Adam you need to understand there are
just as many men out there who do not like to get dirty either. They are not requesting combat duty – heck,
they are probably not even enlisting. I
think we can safely assume that a woman who is requesting combat duty is fully
aware of the fact that she will get dirty and stay dirty for long periods of
time, and that she is just as okay with this as the men.
So yes, your comment is sexist – grouping all women into the
“Eww, that’s icky!” box – and shows that you are not familiar with a wide variety
of people, men or women.
#2 Periods
What exactly is your problem with this? You are here on this
earth because of a woman who had periods.
Half the human population has a period once a month, and we’ve been
doing this for millennia. Just because
the majority of the male population cannot possibly comprehend this phenomenon
does not mean there is anything wrong or weird or strange about it. You might not be able to explain how microwave
popcorn “works” and yet you don’t ask questions or post ignorant comments about
it. Or maybe you do, I haven’t checked.
Ask any woman who has
been camping during her period – there are plenty of ways to deal with
this. Ask any woman who is homeless
right now in this county. Ask a female
refugee living in a tent how they deal with it.
There are lots of answers because necessity is the MOTHER of
invention. We just figure that sh*! out,
and its’ really none of your business.
However… let’s examine some of the statistics from the medical community
and think logically about this:
So chances are a woman in a combat situation will be under
enough environmental stress that her body will respond appropriately and
kindly, and even if it doesn’t, I’m quite sure she’s not going to demand a
cease fire to go buy tampons. She will
just deal with it, and I would bet that not one of the men in her platoon would
even know.
Yes, another sexist statement from you: an attempt to link a
female attribute to inferiority with no backup.
#3 emotional
instability due to period/birth control
I will be the first to admit that I can absolutely tell when
my period is on it’s way – I get cranky with my kids over stuff that usually doesn’t
bother me, and I’m clumsy… okay, clumsier than usual. I absolutely sympathize with women who have
PMS and PMDD to a greater extent than me.
I have experienced depression and empathize with that as well. I had an IUD and hated every minute of it –
the cramps were so much worse than I’d ever had before. It never
once affected my ability to be a good mom or to do my job as an
educator. But here’s the deal: I’M NOT ENLISTING. I cannot imagine that a woman who experiences
monthly difficulties to such a great extent as to have it affect her job is
enlisting and requesting combat duty either.
There are a multitude of woman for whom their period is a short monthly inconvenience
at its worst, never affects their daily life, and no one around them would ever
know whether they were or weren’t menstruating.
Why shouldn’t they be allowed to consider a military career that
includes combat? There are plenty of men
I know who work in an office all day and they do a wonderful job at their daily
duties, but they also are NOT ENLISTING AND REQUESTING COMBAT, because they
know they wouldn’t be good at it.
And birth control? Well guess what: unless a woman is
planning on having sex with a man, it’s NOT NECESSARY. I have been single and sex-free for a few
years now, haven’t needed or wanted birth control, and I’m FINE. If a woman is not in a sexual relationship
with someone who produces sperm, she does not need birth control. I would venture to guess that sex is not an
hourly thought of the women currently in Ranger training. I know it’s not even a daily thought of
mine. I have so many things I want to do
with my life, and making sure that I have sex regularly is not one of
them. There are just as many men I know as women for
whom sex is not really that big of a deal.
It’s nice when you are in a relationship, but it’s not a basic
need. Why would you assume that single
women are just sitting around waiting for a man? Is that the kind of women you
know? You need to get out more.
So another sexist comment, lumping all women into the
category of “hot mess because of that uterus thing,” and phrased like a man who
hasn’t been near one in a while.
#4 love triangles or
even relationships…
Oh please… again, if all the women you know are simply
waiting for a man to come along so they can start breathing again, you need to
get out more. And those women are, I’m
sure, faking that on some level because even the most messed up, emotionally
traumatized people I know have dreams and hobbies and things they do with their
lives. Just because you put men and
women together in stressful situations does not automatically make them fall in
love! You need to stop watching so many movies.
This comment is stereotyping at its worst, dear Adam, and
your sad assumption that a woman in a combat situation would be thinking about
her vagina is horribly naïve.
#5 physically weaker
Okay, I will give you one fraction of one point in this
direction, because I know that generally speaking, women are built differently
than men, with less upper body muscle mass, less muscle mass overall, and yes,
less physical strength. However, I can
heft a 50 pound bag of dog food for 40 feet without breathing heavy in a normal
stress free situation. I know several
men who, by choice, work in a low stress office job all day and struggle under
the weight of a toddler. I also know
several women who can bench press you and two of your buddies in a normal
stress free situation. Basic biology can
be overcome, the human body is incredibly malleable, and if you want muscles,
you can build muscles.
But let’s not overlook the emotional component that battle
brings to the table for BOTH men and women.
Women have adrenal glands just like men, and those glands secrete the
exact same hormone in both men and women, with similar responses in both
genders – fight, flight, or freeze. The
ability of a woman to choose or be trained to choose “fight,” and to fight with
an incredible amount of strength in a life or death situation is no different
than a man’s.
While most women choose not to exaggerate their muscles,
some do; and the opportunities afforded to those women should be the same as
the ones afforded to men.
Women also bring a different kind of strength to a
battlefield. Ask any firefighter, LEO,
or ER team about the strengths that women have, and you will be surprised at
how strong we can be – emotionally and physically:
Contests that involve
tests of endurance show that women excel here:
Are women capable of performing the same duties as men under
the same types of pressure? Yes, absolutely.
The only thing we have to overcome is the crappy attitudes of men like
you, Mr. Sutherland.
#6 poor decision
making out of menstrual discomfort
Please re-read #3.
Read it again. Now, please
understand, there are women for whom the whole process of puberty, menstruation,
and menopause is a lifelong nightmare of hormone imbalances and this is not
their fault, and there is nothing wrong with them. Despite their physical and emotional
difficulties they have wonderful lives, marriages, jobs, etc. THEY ARE NOT THE ONES REQUESTING COMBAT
DUTY.
Having cramps does not make for bad decisions. Dealing with people like you makes for bad
decisions. Like giving you the power to
make me angry enough to write this response when I should be playing house with
my child.
So yes, sexist and ignorant.
Please get out of your small life and meet some more interesting people.
#7 Less of a KILL
mentality
Could I personally stab, shoot, or strangle another human
being? Probably not. I can barely get
the straw in the Capri Sun container, have never handled a gun, and have
arthritis in my thumbs. I AM NOT
ENLISTING OR REQUESTING COMBAT DUTY.
But if you ever threaten my children or my home I can promise you I will
be capable of a great deal of violence, despite my lack of training and physical
ailments. I will do anything I have to
in order to keep my children safe and my home secure. Adrenaline does interesting things.
I value being an American and I have an incredible amount of
respect and gratitude for our soldiers. I
pray for them and support them, but I’m not signing up to be one of them
because that’s not for me. Not because I’m
a woman, but because I know myself.
Millions of other human beings sign up or do not sign up for exactly the
same reasons. They know what they – male
or female – are capable of. Let them do
what they are capable of, and let the rest of us be eternally grateful.
#8 inability to carry
blah blah blah
This goes back to your argument about physical strength and
is moot. Please get out more.
#9 do I need to keep
going?
Yes, if you would like to be removed from the gene
pool. However I hope that your argument
here has been enough to discourage any woman from choosing you as a mate anyway. Please refrain from speaking with anyone
younger than yourself in the future.
#10 allowing someone
less qualified to fill a combat slot puts everyone in danger, including the
woman.
If you truly believe this, you will support gender-neutral
qualifications and allow in whoever can pass the tests. There are just as many men out in the field
right at this moment who are not “qualified” to be there as there are qualified
women waiting to take that role. If a
woman can beat a man in drills, load her weapon faster, shoot better, and pass
the physical strength requirements, she should be out there on the field; she
should not be placed in an office or medical unit JUST because she doesn’t have
testicles.
