http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/21/business/media/21adcol.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
“There are no female marines. Only marines.” True and false, right (read “Band of Sisters” and they will confirm this very sentiment. And their word –that of these actual female soliders– need be greatly considered).
Then again, there is a massive difference in the experience of a female solider. She’s two battlefields –that’s one more than most male soliders have to deal with, and she’s 2x as likely to suffer from PTSD (that info is from a 3 year old article, but I’m just typing out loud here, no quoting or ranting please). The prominence of sexual harrassment and assault in the military is staggering; a brutal representation of how these circumstances of war can bring out the absolute worst in people who find themselves impune to proper prevention and punishment, not to mention the outdated institutions do little to improve these circumstances for both males and females, on both ends of this harrassment and assault.
On an ad catering to the female recruits featuring a strong female prototype, Dana Balicki of Code Pink says, “She’s supposed to look like she’s being empowered, but she’s in a typical self-defense stance. After knowing the statistics and talking to women who have experienced sexual trauma or violence in the military, it’s hard to think of it as empowerment.”
The link to the article is above; I’ve no more comments on it. While on the subject of females in the military (brief as this may be) I’ll just as briefly reference the unofficial(?) first female solider memoir, boldly titled “Love My Rifle More Than You: Young and Female in the US Army” by Kayla WIlliams. Read up, it’s an interesting perspective she shares, and unique to the literary genre of solider memoir and autobiography.
