Thread by @JABell27

And now, PART TWO: MILITARY CULTURE & THE "DEVALUATION" OF WOMEN. A thread. 1/x

https://twitter.com/JABell27/status/1336797363420221441

The American Sociological Assn defines "culture" as "the languages, customs, beliefs, rules, arts, knowledge, and collective identities and memories developed by members of all social groups that make their social environments meaningful." I'd add that culture expresses 2/

what a society considers valuable. In military culture writ large, men (and some women) still do not always consider women valuable members of the team.

Take a look at "language." Language that demeans women is still used, tolerated, & sometimes even encouraged. 3/

(I don't think I need to give examples here. If you've been around the armed forces, you know.) Traits and behaviors that have traditionally been considered "feminine" are considered undesirable—to include asking for help, which has obvious adverse effects on the mental health 4/

of both women & men.

When that language is officially prohibited, those who use it don't always stop; it just crawls under a rock & becomes whispers in the darkness. It may be corrected in the moment as "unprofessional," but there are rarely, if ever, meaningful consequences. 5/

Beyond the trash-talking, there are unhelpful myths. Like the one that women have to shower daily or something bad happens to their (self-cleaning) vaginas. Or that menstruation makes them unable to fly—a common belief in the mid-20th century. 6/

In It's My Country Too, @tracycrow1 & I wrote about three particularly detrimental myths:
1) That women have only recently been "in combat" or "on the front lines," b/c we're a "liability" (go read James Webb's essay "Women Can't Fight," if you need your blood boiled). 7/

2) That integration of women into the armed forces was a "social experiment" imposed on the military by civilian "feminazis," to the detriment of readiness; and

3) That men "allowed" women to integrate into the armed forces. 8/

These are all harmful BS, but I'm not going to try to explain why in 240-character bullets. If you don't know the real history of women's participation in national defense & our integration into the armed forces, you can read our book. 9/

It's available in paperback, and @UnivNebPress has a great holiday special on right now. They have lots of other great books in their catalog, too. Order from them, not from That Big Company That Sells Everything! 10/

That covers some of the harmful "customs & beliefs" that need to find their way to the Great File 13 of History. There are others, ranging from the kinds of mental health diagnoses that led to bad paper discharges for many traumatized survivors of SA to assumptions about 11/

women's motives for joining the armed forces. Sometimes those customs & beliefs, exercised at the deckplate level, lead supervisors (men & women) to do things like pressuring women to return early from maternity leave or disregard medical instructions during pregnancy. 12/

More insidiously, some military leaders' beliefs about women lead them to place blame on women for the problems MEN have with women's integration into new occupational specialties or commands. Saw that at Tailhook in 1991, during the integration of women on 13/

naval combatants & in combat aircraft in the years around 1994, & it is my understanding that it's happening again since full integration in 2015—well, color me surprised, Jack. And there's plenty more.

So what's the fix? 14/

It's not just a military issue. Devaluation of women begins early, outside the military. America is still a toxic soup of sexism. Boy Scouts tend to forget that the driver of the car taking them to camp is an adult with functioning ears; on multiple occasions, 15/

I've had to correct 12yos from very nice families: "We do not refer to girls in yr 7th-grade class as 'bitches' & 'hos,' gentlemen—I do not care WHAT you hear at school, in yr music, & in yr online games." But the interesting thing about military training is that 16/

it's so effective, it can teach 18yos to break that fundamental commandment many are raised with: "Thou shalt not kill." New recruits can even, in theory, be trained to value & respect women & their contributions. It's just gonna take more than lip service & platitudes. 17/

There are lots of smart people doing military training. I bet they can figure out how to do it.

Something else that I think will help: teach the history of women's military service & integration (& that of African Americans, other racial/ethnic minority populations, 18/

& LGBTQ servicemembers) during accession training. One thing Tracy & I have talked a lot about is how different our experience of military service might've been, & what more we might've accomplished if we'd known on whose shoulders we were standing. Representation MATTERS. 19/

(And no, @USMC, it is NOT enough that every Marine knows Opha May Johnson enlisted on 13 August 1918. Nice try, though.) Put books by/about military women on professional reading lists. Seek out their contributions to military professional journals. 20/

(Know why I never wrote for Proceedings on active duty? The hateful, misogynistic comments. Life is short—who needs that? Was dealing w/enough of it in person. I hope that's at least a little better now, & that somebody moderates the letters to the editor & the website.) 21/

Finally, smart people need to look at how women are devalued institutionally in the military, make some recommendations, & improve things. Lots of good people writing on things like family assignment policy, child care, those stupid service jacket photos, uniform policies, 22/

equipment like body armor that's actually designed for women's bodies, to decrease the amount of orthopedic & other damage that wearing stuff that doesn't fit causes. DoD has the right people & the right tools to make all this stuff better, so that women can contribute 23/

most effectively—as they will when they & their contributions are valued as they should be. What has been missing, IMO, is sufficient commitment. 24/end