Women (and Men) in the Military: DADT

Women were dismissed from the military for being gay at a greater rate than men last year, according to new statistics obtained by a California research group.
-CNN

Being a woman in the military is a tough gig. Not only are you reminded daily that you are substandard, though policy, standard operating procedure, attitudes of male members and the general public but being a woman in the military is a lot like being a lighthouse. You have a big light on your head that gets brighter and brighter with the preconceived expectations of your chain of command and your fellow service members.

The Pentagon will not go on the record about why the data has rolled out this way. So, I will have to go out on a limb and make a guess. I can think of two reasons that military women are disproportionately harmed by DADT:

1) The military attracts women who are not classified by society as feminine.
2) If a female member rejects a man's advances, she must be gay.

This reminds me of that old "joke"...a slut will screw everyone, a bitch will screw everyone but you. We can just add a little to the end, and a lesbian won't screw anyone.

The only traditions of the Royal Navy are rum, sodomy and the lash.
-Quote falsely attributed to Winston Churchill

The ironic thing is that even if the military were successful at eradicating GLBT and female service members from its midst it would still not eradicate so-called homosexual acts. Look at prisons, sodomy is rampant, homosexuality is rare. Take a peek at Afghanistan, homosexuality is forbidden in Islam and punishable by death however sodomizing boys and young men is a-okay (and I am not equating homosexuality with pedophilia). I agree that these men are not homosexual, they are merely using other men and boys as objects for sexual release whether the recipients consent or not (just as women have also been used since the arrival of human beings on the planet). It is simply a fact that anytime men live in close quarters for extended periods of time (or in the case of Afghanistan, women are inaccessible) both consensual and non-consensual sexual acts occur. So, to get back to the irony of DADT...DADT is directed at homosexual acts and (supposedly) not directed at service members who identify as homosexual (as long as they keep it to themselves) but in practice it actually attacks service members who identify or are perceived as homosexual and does nothing to curtail the, gasp, feared and reviled homosexual acts.

The presence in the armed forces of persons who demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability.
-§ 654. Policy concerning homosexuality in the armed forces

The problem is, as I have not very eloquently and probably not inoffensively illustrated above, straight men are just as likely (if not more likely) to engage in homosexual acts. So, while the military is kicking out qualified patriots they are keeping assholes who are merely looking for an object with which to relieve themselves...the world would be so much better if they just used a freaking toilet.

DADT is stupid, discriminatory and, yes, even dangerous. There have been homosexual acts for as long as there has been a military. That is probably only surprising to homophobic macho men but I think that the more homophobic and macho a man is the more likely he is to participate in rape regardless of his victim's gender. DADT also works to deter reports of sexual assault by victims, how can a young man report a sexual assault committed by another man if he fears he will be labeled as "homosexual" and discharged from the military? He cannot and thus he is denied justice and treatment. How many times has DADT been used to coerce a woman into unwanted sex? Once is too many times.

Some resources to learn more about sexuality and homosexual acts in the military:

Boys at Sea: Sodomy, Indecency, and Courts Martial in Nelson's Navy
Gay Men and Lesbians in The Military
"Rum, sodomy, and the lash": what the military thrives on and how it affects legal recruitment and law schools