The Socjournal A new media journal of sociology and societyThe US Special Forces is a bizarrely gendered world, as I found out when I joined it to write a book about war. This all-male bastion is sexualized in a truly perverted way, particularly in its methods for turning young men into killers on command.
Being the epitome of patriarchy, the military creates soldiers by forcing them into the role of the lowliest creatures in patriarchy: women.The recruits’ sense of personal power is stripped away, and they are required to obey commands from the men higher in the hierarchy and do the military’s “housework”: scrubbing and waxing floors, dusting windowsills, washing dishes, cleaning toilets to meet the standards of the commanders. They are forced to be obsessed with their appearance and to stand passively at attention while the older, more powerful men inspect them from a few inches away about how closely they’ve shaved, how neat their hair looks, how correctly they are dressed, often insulting them, calling them pussies and queers.
This intimate domination stirs homosexual feelings and at the same time represses them, creating psychological conflicts that are then channeled into aggression. A confused inner rage is generated in the young men, then given an outlet: the enemy.
A favorite ritual involves the distinction between guns and rifles. The word “gun” is reserved for the big cannons that kill dozens of people with one shot. “Rifle” is the smaller weapon that kills only one person at a time. If a recruit mistakenly calls his rifle a gun, he is ordered to stand in front of the group, point to his rifle, and shout, “This is my rifle,” then point to his crotch and shout, “This is my gun.” Then back to his rifle, “This is for fighting,” back to his crotch, “This is for fun!”
Their phallus is symbolically turned into a weapon. Instead of something loving that brings you closer to another person and can create new life, their sexuality becomes a tool for death, for destroying life. The military flips sexuality into its opposite.
This sexualization of violence is profoundly sick, but it’s just an extension of a pathology that permeates our society. It’s further proof that we have to dismantle patriarchy before we can have peace.
Murder made sexy: The US Special Forces is a bizarrely gendered world, as I found out when I joined… http://t.co/lYrYqqzmwa #sociology
Dear Mr. Hathaway,
My oh my.
The tricks of submission and obedience enforced by the Special Forces ‘elite’ were also used on the common Basic Trainee at Lackland AFB. I am familiar with that militant poem about the gun and the rifle. There was another one that compared the male dress flight cap in reference to a female body part in order to get the ‘men’ to wear it properly. What I found uncanny was in your description of that environment I was reminded of the environment with a recent company where I had worked. The female to male ratio was roughly 30/2 respectively. There was an unwritten code of conduct within that environment where if it was not adhered to you would be considered ‘not normal’ . The acceptable norms of discussion fell well into your description of feminity, “…sense of personal power is stripped away, and they are required to obey commands from the men higher in the hierarchy and do the military’s “housework”: scrubbing and waxing floors, dusting windowsills, washing dishes, cleaning toilets…” in addition to these topics were hair-do’s, clothing, Pintrist and wedding plans with satin sashes in penk, shopping, baby showers and so on. There was a group activity of going to a Yoga class at lunch that ate into the afternoon hours that came across as more of a competition than personal emprovement. I found little interest with engagement of these activities and found myself unemployed as ‘not a good fit’. Although I needed the labor exchange, I would have agreed that I wasn’t a ‘fit’ for that social environment but rather a good fit for the work needed to be done. Anyone NOT adhering to the ‘norm’ of that office space was subject to ridicule via cruel innuendo or blatant insults such as ‘bizarre’ or ‘she’s NOT normal’. The lesson would be much like Pavlov’s conditioning in a bad way. Beat them down until they conform to something you woldn’t wish upon an enemy. My point being that just because some behaviors are accepted as norms in a particular community does not mean that it is conducive to a healthy environment that supports the livelihood of individuals. Marketing, Commercialism, and PR are more concerned with profit making than supporting healthy societies, and environments; well only if it raises the numbers in profitability. Conform or starve and be homeless, right? We will see about that-