jianantonic | Women in Combat

I just feel like voicing my gripes to an actual audience instead of just yelling at my radio, so I figure this is a good place. This morning, NPR was all over the women in combat issue. Now that the ban is being lifted, there are all sorts of issues, apparently.

One of the lead-ins was like "Can you believe that it took women 65 years to get the same rights that black people have in the military? And they're a year behind gays?!" I get that the point is "Wow! Women are really discriminated against!" but the way that struck me was that it's totally normal to discriminate against blacks and gays but how old-fashioned are we that it took so long to come around on women?! I mean...come on.

Then they interviewed an infantryman who thinks it's going to be terrible to have women in his unit because those guys are used to life around just guys, where they behave very badly, apparently. Damn those bitches ruining all your chauvenist fun! Don't worry, I doubt the mere presence of estrogen in the room will make you any less of a douchebag.

Next they were talking about how there will likely be some exceptions, like Navy SEALS, for instance, because those jobs are just too strenuous for women. Seriously, wtf is the point of lifting the ban then? Let a person's capabilities be judged on an individual basis, for fuck's sake! It's true that most women may not be physically capable of doing certain jobs. But why bar them from trying? It's not like lifting the ban on women in combat means you suddenly have to lower every requirement -- keep the requirements the same, but let everyone have the same shot at achieving whatever their goals may be. There are plenty of dudes who can't cut it, but they get weeded out by sucking, not because of their genitalia. Those who can't cut it (in ANY field) should be eliminated the same way anyone else would be -- objective evaluation of skill and potential.

All that said, I'm still a pacifist and wish there were no militaries...but I still get all riled up about the horribly flawed logic surrounding this story. From the pros and cons to even the "neutral" reporters...there's just so much about it that makes me scream at the radio.