If women are not fit for frontline infantry, then how do you explain that in ancient times you had females fighting alongside men in war? A time where warfare was far more physical and bloody than it is now? During Bodica's time they didn't have guns...only swords, spears, bows and arrows the shield. Yet Bodica was revered as a respected general/warrior even by her enemies.
shareThe same reason women didn't get to vote for a hundred years...and men are still trying to legislate women's rights in 2013.
shareIt's not that females can't do as many push ups or carry the required equipment or any of that B.S. It's the psychological aspect of having a woman in a combat situation. And this movie demonstrates that nicely.
Unless the men are trained to not let it effect them, men (in general I mean, we can always discuss dirtbags and abusers later) tend to want to protect women. That being sad, raping, or torturing a female in front of them will have a lot more effect that raping or tortureing a male in front of them.
It goes back to the whole "women and children first" mentality. Seeing women and children blown to pieces will mess someone up moreso than seeing men blown to pieces. (Even though seeing ANYONE blown to pieces will mess anyone up).
Just like Viggo's character states.. We (men) are the one's that have to change. We (men) have to stop seeing ourselves as better and as protectors.
This I understand, things need to change. In my line of work based in trauma your sex doesn't define how you work. It doesn't matter what you come across you triage as appropriate which is how it should be. I hate people trying to protect me, I was raped as a teenager and god the weeks and months after smothered me. I didn't need a dad or a brother tailing me or going out with me to hold my hand. Yes it's traumatic and it does affect your life in a massive way but you can move on with it and you can live with PTSD and still work trauma in a hospital and attend RTC's. The thing is being here at home doesn't mean that women don't get raped, *beep* happens which meant that unfortunately I never served and never will not because I'm a woman nor because of my PTSD or because of my skills but allergies and bone tumours.
All of those who serve should understand the need for women to integrate more into defence. I wouldn't ask someone to do what I wouldn't and most women don't know their luck that we have never been forced into service.
For reasons such as this:
From the report of the Presidential Commission on the Assignment of Women in the Armed Forces (report date November 15, 1992, published in book form by Brassey's in 1993): "The average female Army recruit is 4.8 inches shorter, 31.7 pounds lighter, has 37.4 fewer pounds of muscle, and 5.7 more pounds of fat than the average male recruit. She has only 55 percent of the upper-body strength and 72 percent of the lower-body strength… An Army study of 124 men and 186 women done in 1988 found that women are more than twice as likely to suffer leg injuries and nearly five times as likely to suffer [stress] fractures as men."
Further: "The Commission heard an abundance of expert testimony about the physical differences between men and women that can be summarized as follows:
"Women's aerobic capacity is significantly lower, meaning they cannot carry as much as far as fast as men, and they are more susceptible to fatigue.
"In terms of physical capability, the upper five percent of women are at the level of the male median. The average 20-to-30 year-old woman has the same aerobic capacity as a 50 year-old man."
From the same report: "Lt Col. William Gregor, United States Army, testified before the Commission regarding a survey he conducted at an Army ROTC Advanced Summer Camp on 623 women and 3540 men. …Evidence Gregor presented to the Commission includes:
"(a) Using the standard Army Physical Fitness Test, he found that the upper quintile of women at West point achieved scores on the test equivalent to the bottom quintile of men.
"(c) Only 21 women out of the initial 623 (3.4%) achieved a score equal to the male mean score of 260.
"(d) On the push-up test, only seven percent of women can meet a score of 60, while 78 percent of men exceed it.
"(e) Adopting a male standard of fitness at West Point would mean 70 percent of the women he studied would be separated as failures at the end of their junior year, only three percent would be eligible for the Recondo badge, and not one would receive the Army Physical Fitness badge…."
Possibly it has to do with there reaction time which IS slower than men. ( this has been provin) The split second can cost lives.
shareNo it isn't, that's just idiocy and being a numpty.
sharethe issue is...it's combat...not a ground of equal opportunity. What benefit could a woman provide to say a SEAL team that a male recruit could not provide? If there is none, then they must be held to the same standards in every way or dismissed.
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