Gender and the Military

Although I have not been involved in the military or personally know someone who has, sexuality and gender play a serious role in the military. When looking in the past, the military was male dominate with only a handful of women involved assuming the role of nurses or medics. Nowadays, the media has been influencing America through movies, commercials, and advertisements. Many movies show the struggle that men in military face and how they band together with their comrades to overcome, persevere, and win the battle. Typically, women are usually not involved in the action but remain on the sidelines hoping husbands and/or male family members will return from war. In addition, most of the commercials we see show males using new cutting-edge technology that aims to draw an interest from the audience. They discuss fighting for our country while other commercials stress the importance of earning a degree and how a military personnel can attain a successful military career and degree at the same time.

The military has been thought to be for males who has physical and psychological strengths to deal with the hardships of war.  Woman are not viewed as having the physical capabilities necessary for war. However, today woman are viewed as being just as successful in military as males. There has been a shift in the media, pushing for women to join the ranks especially for the army reserve. The military is now targeting all markets due to serious recruiting and retaining problem discussed in the article "Sexuality, Gender, and the US Military." This blog written by Melissa Trible, explains her personal thoughts on how the military can use different procedures when it comes to homosexuals in the military. Although it is now outdated due to the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy being repealed in 2011, the arguments regarding women are still valid. The one argument I thought could be used strongly today was when she said the military should allow female only combat units. This would allow any female volunteers who pass the physical tests to join a combat unit to gain experience and give the US armed forces greater flexibility in using its personnel.

Overall, the question of homosexual males and females in military is a serious problem. Procedures and policies must be created to allow all Americans an equal chance to fight for our country if they decide to do so.