From: blchapma@eos.ncsu.EDU (BEKKI LYN)
Newsgroups: soc.feminism
Subject: Re: Military Quote
Date: 5 Oct 92 22:26:22 GMT
Article-I.D.: ncsu.1992Oct1.012211.4340
Reply-To: BEKKI LYN <blchapma@eos.ncsu.EDU>
Organization: North Carolina State University, Project Eos

In article <1a7elaINNhhb@agate.berkeley.edu>, Steve Russell <sfjr@wam.umd.edu> writes:

|>    All in all I agree with what you said, however I still dont like
|> the idea of my sister or girlfriend being drafted.  Basically, as
|> much as I care for my own skin (enough to make plans to flee the
|> country during- the gulf war) if push came to shove I would rather
|> face the horrors of war then subject them to it.

But you see, this type of thinking can go both ways.  *I* don't like
the idea of my brother or boyfriend being drafted either.  I don't
like the idea of *anyone* being drafted in fact.  I feel military
combat should be a personal choice for both sexes, and that in a time
of legitimate need, there will be enough volunteers willing to fight.
I would also rather risk death than make my loved ones go, but that
doesn't mean that my forcing them not to go if they want to go would
be the correct action on my part.  Your response seems to be a very
typical human emotional response in my experience and an admirable
one, but sometimes one has to let others do what is right for them
regardless of how terrible one may feel about it.

|>    Why are so many feminists eager to eligible for combat?  I would
|> love to have the protection from it that women now enjoy.  The
|> argument that women dont deserve equal rights because they dont
|> fight in wars is fallacious.  What men who are 4f, come from rich
|> families, or whose number simply never comes up?

I wish you did have that protection, and I agree with this statement
for the most part.  I will answer you question about why
feminists/women wish to be eligible for combat based on my own
opinion.  It is not that women are so eager to go to war.  I'm not
sure many of the men are all that eager, and if they are, I think they
would be disillisioned very quickly once they did go into combat.  The
issue is whether women should have the same choices and opportunities
that the men presently hold if women are capable of upholding the
responsiblities that go with them.  Women in warfare is not new, and
women have proved themselves many times over that they are indeed
capable.  I am not eager to go to war or go kill someone, but I am
eager to have equal job opportunities and responsiblities as a U.S.
citizen.

|>    I'm against conscription for EVERYONE.  I think it is a good
|> state of affairs that more than 1/2 the population is insulated
|> from it.  One more half to go and it might be so difficult to fight
|> a war the government might need a REAL reason for it

I agree with you here wholeheartedly.  In my postings, I was generally
referring more to women who wished to go into combat voluntarily.  The
draft is a different issue to me as I feel that no individual should
be forced into combat, male or female.  I believe in a person's right
to her/his own body.

--

Bekki Lyn

************************************************************
"All's well at the midnight hour; you're ready to fly
 Don't think about the darkness, or the rumbling in the sky.
 Somewhere on the morning road just waiting for you
 Some things that just could never be are calling up a
   spell so you can see..
 Dream Evil, the dark that you find in the back of your mind
 Dream Evil Dream Evil -- DIO --
************************************************************

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