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comment by Falling_Off
Falling_Off  ·  3435 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Norwegian feminists protest against female conscription

Just because one feminist group supports inequality in this manner doesn't mean that all feminists feel the same on this issue. Why not abolish conscription altogether? There are a wide variety of beliefs that fall under the umbrella of feminism, plenty of which are focused on not just making the world a safer and more equitable place for women, but also in discarding gender roles that hurt both genders. One such gender role is the stereotype that men are more brutal and less nurturing than women which leads to male-only conscription and also stigmatizes men who take on the stay at home father role and while their wives take on the role of primary earner.

That being said, I'm personally undecided on the issue of conscription. While it's great not to force unwilling participants into war, the military seems to prey on the underprivileged in our society. By having an all volunteer military we have much less protesting against the rush to war such as the conflict in Iraq because nobody has to fear getting dragged into it who didn't already sign up for the military in the first place. I think having the draft brought more accountability to the government when it decided to go to war and while it didn't prevent us getting bogged down in nasty conflicts, it did force the government to think harder about the cost of the human lives it was sacrificing. I do think the draft should be equal, personally, in whatever direction it goes in. If we really need people to serve so badly that the draft is reinstated we should pick the best and brightest of 100% of our population, not the best out of 50%. Women may be physically weaker on average but there are many positions where strength doesn't matter such as linguistics, computer security, the medical field, and drone piloting, just to name a few. Aside from that, there are plenty of fit women who can far outperform the out of shape couch potatoes when it does come to physical tasks.





Grendel  ·  3435 days ago  ·  link  ·  

The article states clearly that it wasn't just one group:

    But feminist organizations protested against female conscription, among others the Norwegian Association for Women’s Rights (Norsk Kvinnesaksforening, NKF, the Norwegian Section of the International Alliance of Women, IAW) and the Norwegian Section of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, WILPF.

    One such gender role is the stereotype that men are more brutal and less nurturing than women which leads to male-only conscription

The reason for male-only conscription is that men are better soldiers, and young women can't be sacrificed otherwise the population will collapse in the span of one generation. It's a logistical issue, gender roles have nothing to do with it.

    One such gender role is the stereotype that men are more brutal and less nurturing than women

Feminism actually tries very hard to reinforce this stereotype, by constantly portraying men as the abusers and women as the victims in cases of domestic violence, and by working to devalue the role of fathers in children's life.