
This is an archive page for December 99.
Where reader comments are of interest or where they raise significant points I will publish my response in dialogue pages such as this one. Reader comment excerpts are in black and my replies in red. | |
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From: Mark.McMenamin@argis.com Subject: Feminist influence of the Military Date: Fri, Dec 24, 1999 No where has the feminist fight with the male power model been more apparent than in the U.S. Military. The Military has and will continue to be most appropriate target for feminist rage, because it is the icon of male power. All of the services are now so entirely committed to providing a place for females in every facet of military operations that it has entirely forgotten common sense. The best example of this phenomenon is the death of a Navy female fighter pilot while attempting to land on an aircraft carrier a few years ago. The Navy fighter pilot is considered the macho of the macho, the men of men. Watch the movie Top Gun (which is one of the few movies that came close to an accurate view of this type of lifestyle). These are arrogant, self centered, macho men and the Navy wants them that way. It was therefore fitting that having a female fighter pilot would naturally be high on the checklist of feminists wanting to break down "barriers of male power". The cost, unfortunately was the death of a female and the loss of a 20 million dollar aircraft. The woman had absolutely no business being in the cockpit (sounds powerfully male doesn't it? cockpit?) of that aircraft. She was in that cockpit because the Navy was told that they had better get them a female fighter pilot, but quick, to prove that the Navy was committed to equal opportunity. Now, there are those that would ask "couldn't she have become qualified on her own, because she was a god pilot?? This might have been true but I seriously doubt it. The Navy pilot program is a hard fraternity to break into. Landing an aircraft on a carrier at sea has got to rank as one of the most difficult occupations anywhere. All of the candidates must undergo an extensive training program that is specifically designed to get rid of the majority of candidates in order to select only the top people. The fighter pilot is at the top of the top of the list. The "wash-out" rate is very high. Lets say you take 100 white males. By the time basic flight in Pensacola is complete, the list is down to 50. By Advanced flight school the number drops to about 40. OF these 40 only about 10 will be picked to fly fighters (as opposed to bombers, helicopters, transport planes etc) Once out of school, more are dropped from the program for various reasons. Some cannot take the stress of long deployments. The number may in many cases get down to 6 actual fighter pilots out of the original 100. Now, if 94 white male candidates could not become qualified as a fighter pilot, what are the chances of a female candidate, who makes up less than 1% of the 100 original candidates, of becoming qualified all the way through the program. Pretty slim I would say. There are just too many dis-qualifiers. I submit that this female had help and lots of it. This is where the military has lost the ball. The standards would have had to be lowered and strings pulled for this lady to succeed in the way the Navy wanted her to succeed. This is what is dangerous. There many other examples of this too numerous to go into now. My point is that fear by the military brass of feminism, coupled with the news media's naturally liberal animosity towards it, has driven it to make bad decisions all in the name of equality for women. But, by God, the barriers of male power are coming down!!!! Lets celebrate!!!
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However the case that you mention of the woman that died also leaves some questions. Was she genuinely less qualified than male pilots. You provide no actual evidence to support the claim though I am sympathetic to the possibility. However ultimately, what position do you want to take about female participation in the military? While women may generally be weaker than men and be relatively unsuited to hand-to-hand combat, they would seem to be, in the long run, quite suited to being pilots and operating machinery of mass destruction or performing engineering tasks. However I agree that the fanatical devotion to obtaining symbolic results has put women into positions, at times, for which they were not sufficiently competent. Victims of the war. From: Rowena s323363@student.uq.edu.au Date: Fri, Dec 17, 1999 I've spent a bit of time exploring your webpage and I have to say that your comments are fair minded and objective, as well as being entertaining. The only objection I have is that you put a link to the 'Caveman's Corner' with the following description: The chauvenist corner for real men Appears to be a good natured satirical site with a very long list of items. This man believes that women should not be allowed to vote, and his website is a fallacious, dishonest and sexist attack on women as a group, not just feminists. I say it is an attack on women, even though he does not believe it is, because he wishes to limit the freedom, rights and educational opportunities of women. Well, I have a website, although it is not as well done or as extensive as yours. It touches on some instances of feminist lunacy at the University of Queensland. If you ever get the chance to pick up Semper Floreat you will realise just how crazy they are. http://student.uq.edu.au/~s323363
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There are other sites which are similarly dubious. Some of the sites run
usually by males in this case may seen like an honest critique of feminism
on the surface but under that veneer is often a screwed up individual who is
running off the rails. I don't mind giving them some space, but I make a
point of not developing an alliance. From: Sandy sciccolini@digitalmedical.com Date: Thu, Dec 9, 1999, 2:58 AM Male biology is not only accepted by society, it's expected, encouraged and celebrated. Pornography, strip clubs, beer ads, sitcoms, supermodels, Victoria Secret catalogs (and on and on and on), all address what we've come to know as "red-blooded maleness". "Normal" maleness. Male biological imperative is stated as obvious, and it is obvious. No one can argue with it. There is no equivalent acceptance of biological imperative for women, because the society can't face its implications. Until a few decades ago, "society" didn't even believe such a thing as a female orgasm existed. And this is what I'm adressing. How society twists logic and reason to fit a sexist agenda. To illustrate that, I offered the reality that women not only also have a biological imperative, they have an even more urgent one, since their opportunities for passing on their genes are far more limited than man's. An ancient, mid-eastern tome is titled "Nine Parts of Desire". The premise is that God created desire in 10 parts. One he gave to men, but nine parts he gave to women. This (virtually banned) book accepts the biological reality that since women have a far, FAR heavier investment in furthering the species, they are required to have a comensurate amount of sexual desire. That's another reality our sexist society cannot accept. We tell ourselves that men are the constantly randy ones, that men are the "sex beasts", when if you think just for a minute, it's obvious that can't be true. it doesn't make biological sense. Humans can be illogical, but biology cannot. When once accepts that the sex drive is a biological drive that is there specifically to serve procreation, (and that women are the procreators), the irrationality of the sexism of organized society becomes painfully obvious. And what sexism serves also becomes painfully obvious. Margaret Mead saw it, the creators of virtually all organized religions and all societies saw it. And they all address it by limiting female sexual autonomy, varying only in method and degree. Bind their feet. Slice off their genitals. Rape them. Beat them. Ostracize them. Stigmatize them. Ignore them. Elevate male sexuality to ludicrous proportions to diminish the impression of women's, by comparison. Limit female survival opportunites. Deny them education. Deny them work. Deny them equal pay. All serve to "hide" the biological realities of women and give men the illusion of control over women, life, the world. Indeed, the last 2 days on Howard Stern supported this. Yesterday Howard raved about how the vagina was the best thing in the world. And it is. There is nothing more special than a woman. Nothing. Today a male caller said he was "keepin' the bitches down'". And Howard grunted in agreement. We are "the greatest thing in the world" THEREFORE we must be "kept down". I reiterate. We ARE your gods. That's the fruit of the tree of knowledge - the fruit women readily eat. Knowledge. Logic. Truth. Women hunger for it and accept it. Men hide from it. They warn each other, "thou shalt not eat". But with female economic freedom, the cat is being let out of the bag. The illusions men have clung to are crumbling. Or, as Yeats so brilliantly said, "the center cannot hold. Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world... and what rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?" It is woman.
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