The overall argument she makes is scattered and incoherent. According to BBC's Steve Nolan and Rosie Taylor, Major Webb first claims that "women soldiers should not be allowed to fight on the front line because they are not fit enough." This claim implies that physical screening requirements are going to be lowered or dropped alongside the ban lift. She claims that this has already happened, although it is unclear whether she is referring to the U.S. military or the British Army, nor does she give any specific examples of this occurring. Senator John McCain has already stated that physical requirements should not be lowered in an attempt to get more women past the physical exam.
"As this new rule is implemented, it is critical that we maintain the same high standards that have made the American military the most feared and admired fighting force in the world – particularly the rigorous physical standards for our elite special forces units."
If the requirements are lowered, however, then the argument shouldn't be against women serving in frontline positions. The argument should simply be against lowering the requirements.
Deviating from her first claim, she goes on to say that "the prospect of women dying in direct combat would be too shocking for the public to handle." What she fails to take into account is that women die in plenty of other ways, be it assault, terrorism, suicide, accidents, and natural disasters. Seeing as our society hasn't yet descended into utter chaos and madness, I think it's fair to say that adding "direct combat" to the list of ways women die isn't going to significantly upset the public feeling small amounts of remorse here and there and otherwise go about their day without giving a second thought to who's currently dying. Major Webb does herself a disservice by thinking that women are valued so much more than men as to cause some sort of substantial public distress whenever one of them dies. They will be honored and respected to the same extent that men are, which, unfortunately, for many people means only when they are explicitly reminded to do so.
In class, we learned about how sources of gendered oppression are not limited to just those of the opposite sex. Oppression stems from mindsets instilled in both parties. These mindsets continue to exist as barriers to equality when they are not recognized as components of systematic oppression, with Major Webb has failed to do.
Sources:
- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2268021/Women-fit-fight-line-says-female-Army-Major-US-announces-historic-change-policy.html
- http://washingtonexaminer.com/john-mccain-military-needs-to-maintain-rigorous-physical-standards-as-women-enter-combat/article/2519559#.UQXzL6vEpnI
Oh Major Webb. I'm not going to lie, this disappointed me a lot. People are just not willing to look past their own noses. Women who want to be in the front-line will work just as hard as the men to get to the top. We have tons of ambition. We had to have it to survive the inequalities around us. As far as women dying, Webb's statement is ridiculous. I completely agree. Women ARE dying everyday and you don't always hear about those. It actually seems that we would be less devastated and more willing to stand up for our country. We will be sad whenever a soldier dies but we will also be very angry. Just as we are every time a male soldier dies. They are seriously disillusioned if they think this will make people discouraged. Please. Ridiculous.
ReplyDelete-Rachael Belcher