On June 24, 1991, the front page of Washington Post titled “A Gauntlet of Terror, Frustration; Navy Pilot Recounts Tailhook Incident” (Kasinsky 87). The appearance of Paula Coughlin in the media redefined the Tailhook story because “for the first time, the media presented a women’s voice. Her public appearance forced Secretary of the Navy Garrett to offer his early resignation, which was reported in a front-page story in The New York Times” (Kasinsky 87). Many women’s magazines gave her a voice and considered her to be a heroine for “breaking the silence” about sexual harassment and she was chosen by Glamour to be the women of the year (Kasinsky 87). Soon later after this accomplishment, the media represented Paula as a whore, tease, party girl, and willing collaborator in the sexual frivolities (Kasinsky 89). The Navy and the influential political leaders in Washington were able to reframe this event with the help of the media. The media in this example played a two-sided trigger, at one side it was supporting and bringing awareness to this important story, and later it upturned to blame and shame the victims. Instead of blaming men the media started to blame women and portraying the male officers as victims (Kasinsky 95). Paula Coughlin was a brave woman who spoke about her experience, but the “mainstream media have been complicit with the official of the state in reproducing the oppression of and violence against women”(Kasinsky 94). The government is always involved in such kind of stories to keep people away from the reality of how unclean the military can be and the wrong things that can take place during the service in the military. Coughlin was an example of how the media is representing female victims and how it can reframe the story to the benefit of patriarchy.
Feminization of the military is usually associated with liberal feminism. They fought for years for gender equality and women’s inferior position in the society. They wanted women to participate in the public sphere, beyond the realm of family and household. “Once those barriers were lifted, and women were guaranteed the same rights as men, it was assumed, gender equality would be achieved since women are much the same as men”(Rimalt 150). During the Vietnam era, feminists were trying to involve women in the masculine domain and the military was the primary example of women’s exclusion from the public sphere. Women granted the right to serve in the army and, it was a victory for the feminists because women we were given equal rights. As a feminist myself, I certainly think that women should have equal access to jobs and careers inside the military and outside it. But I think women have a much more significant role in their society more than being in combat. They have children to raise and families to take care off. Women are always advocating for peace not only in their homes, but they promote peace in their communities and for a universal peace and never enjoyed fighting. Virginia Woolf argues that:
Though many instincts are held more or less in common by both sexes, to fight has always been the man's habit, not the woman's. Law and practice have developed that difference, whether innate or accidental. Scarcely a human being in the course of history has fallen to a woman's rifle; the vast majority of birds and beasts have been killed by you, not by us; and it 's hard to judge what we do not share (Three Guineas).
As Woolf stated, fighting is the habit of men and women never enjoyed it. The military was and still been a masculine domain and the values and ideologies of the army is patriarchal and will never work to the benefit of women.
As mentioned earlier in the paper, women suffer from sexual assaults in the military and the numbers are increasing every year, which highlights the patriarchal values in the military. Women were always seen as objects for men to use them as they please, and are the tools for men to practice their power through their unethical behaviors. I also discussed the outcomes of these sexual assaults that were given the name military sexual trauma MST and the effects it has on women’s health. PTSD was the common mental health problem between the victims/survivors of these crimes and when women spoke about these crimes in public the media was following the orders of the political leaders to silence the issues and portray men as victims instead of the women. When it comes to the feminist perspective about having women in the military, we are divided into two groups. The first group is supporting the idea and fought for it because they think it grants women equal rights as men. However, the second group disagrees and argues that women have a much more significant role in their societies, such as taking care of their children and families. They also claim that women were and still fighting for peace and because of that they cannot be part of destroying and killing other countries, which I as a feminist strongly agree with. Women weren’t born to kill and fight, our physical and emotional abilities aren’t same as men and will never be no matter how masculine our bodies can get.
Browne, Kingsley R. "Military sex scandals from Tailhook to the present: The cure can be worse than the disease." Duke Journal of Gender Law & Policy14.2 (2007): 749-789.
Kasinsky, Renee Goldsmith. "Tailhook and the Construction of Sexual Harassment in the Media “Rowdy Navy Boys” and Women Who Made a Difference." Violence Against Women 4.1 (1998): 81-99.
Kelly, Ursula A., et al. "More than military sexual trauma: interpersonal violence, PTSD, and mental health in women veterans." Research in nursing & health 34.6 (2011): 457-467.
Rimalt, Noya. "WHEN A FEMINIST STRUGGLE BECOMES A SYMBOL OF THE AGENDA AS A WHOLE: THE EXAMPLE OF WOMEN IN THE MILITARY*." Nashim.6 (2003): 148-64. ProQuest. Web. 9 May 2016.
USA. USCCR. U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. USCCR.GOV. N.p., 24 Sept. 2013. Web. 9 May 2016. <http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/09242013_Statutory_Enforcement_Report_Sexual_Assault_in_the_Military.pdf>.
Valente, Sharon, and Callie Wight. "Military sexual trauma: Violence and sexual abuse." Military medicine 172.3 (2007): 259-265.
Williams, Irene, and Kunsook Bernstein. "Military sexual trauma among US female veterans." Archives of psychiatric nursing 25.2 (2011): 138-147.
Woolf, Virginia. Three Guineas. New York: Quality Paperback Book Club, 1992. Adelaide. Adelaid.edu.au, 27 Mar. 2016. Web. 9 May 2016. <https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/w/woolf/virginia/w91tg/chapter1.html>.
This post was written by @sarah89, and she wanted me to feature her work in steemit for her. She has a lot of research that she want to expose to a big audience than herself.
If you like your work as well to be feature in my account, contact me via email:[email protected] or in steemitchat (tell me in a comment and I will add you to the group)
If only the human body could handle trauma as well as biotechnology stocks do.
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