+THE POLL QUESTION IS: Do you think it's sexist that men in the military have to shave their heads, while women don't?+
I just joined the Corps of Cadets at my university in the hopes of straightening out my life, getting in shape, build confidence, etc. And around the third day of what my school calls FOW (picture military rush week) and that was the day we shaved our heads and essentially lost our individuality as a person and became fish (seriously my first name is now fish). Once a couple of male cadets got shaved (my brother, who is my superior, shaved my head in order to get a good shot for out old man) I noticed that the female cadets never got in the chair, they were never even called or looked at. At time of writing we're officially in day 2 of actual school and all any female cadets have to do in uniform is put their hair in a bun or ponytail. And I'm standing there thinking," wait, so I get my head shaved, and not only do they get to keep their but all they do is put their hair in a bun in uniform?" Does this not seem unfair to anyone else? I mean if the point of shaving our head was to destroy our individuality or keep the hair out of our eyes, wouldn't it be practical to apply it to both genders? On average women do have more hair then men, and if shaved that only creates less sense of individuality because now they lack sexual gender.
I'm just saying that this doesn't seem to be fair on terms of males and females. now before anyone starts: yes, this a man's world and has a lot of bias towards men being on top, and as of late women are becoming more prominent and even equal to men in many areas (Hell a Cadet from my school went on to contract in the military and won a Silver Star medal in combat, a female mind you) but there are still areas in the world where women receive more leniency than men.
IMPORTANT NOTE: This forum is meant STRICTLY for the discussion of female military personnel's grooming and the military dress code and the inequality between men and women in some aspect in this, not about women in the military, female bosses, sexuality, or anything else. I have no offense with those who wish to discuss these topics but I don't want this forum to turn into a massive war (hehe, get it?) where several people say something they didn't mean to because they didn't stop and think and end up getting banned. Please THINK and then post.
This is very off topic, but this has made me want to ask something. Why do you want to join a group that makes you a fish? Why sign away your individuality to such a large degree?
For a couple of reasons: 1) The school where I attend has one of the best degree programs fo even meet ther computer animation in the country (I want to do game design) 2) I have been lacking in areas such as discipline, time management, physical wellness, and the ability to follow through on my assignments; the Corps teaches these things, regardless of being contracted or not 3) My brother is the XO in charge of my outfit, I typically don't do well under pressure so having him near by is sort of comforting, knowing that I can go and ask him academic questions or help with Corps life in general 4) Most employers look favorably upon those with military backgrounds or training, in shows the employee has great assets and leadership potential and 5) The most common thing said regarding the fish class in the Corps is that everyone in your fish outfit will become your best friends, as the Commandant said,"These are the people that will marry and bury you," and not making a lot friends in high school, I was hoping that I could make some life long friends here maybe meet the girl of my dreams and most importantly 6) The corps is shown to post higher GPAs than that of a regualr student.
I'm doing this for all the right reasons, yes it sucks on so many unparalleled levels, from getting yelled at in the morning at 5:45 for not taking your trash out and being told that is "insubordination," to having upperclassmen breathing down my neck all the time when I'm in my room, but hopefully at the end of it all it will be worth it. I don't what this will do to me or how much it will change me, I can only hope that at the end of it all I can retain who I have always been and come out a much better me.
Some times you need to put yourself through Hell before you can get to the gifts in Heaven.
adjective
1. pertaining to, involving, or fostering sexism: a sexist remark; sexist advertising.
noun
2. a person with sexist attitudes or behavior.
OK, so what's "sexism" ?
Quite simply:
"Discrimination on the basis of sex."
SO, therefore, if men have to shave their heads and women do not it is, by definition, sexist. Yes. I see no reason why military women should be allowed to keep any shred of their individuality that men aren't. Heck, it's sexist to women to ALLOW them to keep their hair, it's like we're saying they couldn't handle it.
Well actually I'm trying to say that the sexism and unfairness is directed toward make military personnel in that they have to give up a piece of their identity that can almost never grow back while women are allowed to keep it. When male soldiers go home, many things set them apart from regular people but the shaved head is arguably the most prominent (besides things like dress, posture, or even physical ability). A male soldiers in regular clothing sticks out, but female soldiers can let their hair down and just go back to living their lives and looking like normal people, they can go back to being who they were. That is unfair, it one of the very few things that is sexually biased against men and for woman in the world, but it's still unfair. I'm the kind of feminist (I'm a dude before you say anything) that says equality for all, meaning making everything fair.
I disagree with anything and everything the army does, so also this!
Never made much sense to me anyway, when you see those dudes that have a shaved head and a fucking ZZ Top beard. How the hell does that work?
The military would, presumably, want everyone to shave their heads for the purpose of uniformity if it was practical. But where it is reasonable to require men to shave their heads, it is unreasonable to require women to, since a shaved head is much more socially acceptable for men than women. So I guess you can argue it's sexist, but if so, the issue is sexism within society at large, not the military.
You are being rational and calm on an escapist forum with "Sexist" in the thread. Prepare to be immolated.
OT: Uh, exactly what this guy said. Society is rather interesting. Considering we associate baldness with manliness, lots of women with short hair/shaved heads are thought of as lesbians. So whilst it makes a man look more manly and aggressive and GRRR AGGRESSION, traits we like within the army, when off base the man will look like... a bloke with short hair. However, the woman, what with being in the peak of physical fitness (Hopefully, they are in the army after all), combine that with short hair and people will think they are lesbians.
Which is not a bad thing, bar all the abuse and whatnot and the social unacceptability. There are far bigger fish to fry with regards to sexism in the army. But as the OP stated he didn't want that sort of real discussion and would rather concentrate on something small, banal and vaguely unequal with regards to how men and women are treated. Great.
I can understand uniform and regulation, perhaps it is just about time we gave up on the whole "Men need a buzz cut" thing. My hair has never slowed me down whilst running, climbing, biking, crawling, caving or any of that shit and its passed shoulder length. As long as hair is manageable there should be no issue. Tie it back (Ponytail is what I rock.) and all shall be fine.
There is an ongoing problem with sexual assault in the U.S. military which has resulted in a series of scandals that have received extensive media coverage. According to a 2011 Newsweek report, women are more likely to be assaulted by a fellow soldier than killed in combat. The Department of Defense estimates there are about 19,000 sexual assaults in the military per year but according to the latest Pentagon statistics (2013), only 1,108 troops filed for an investigation during the most recent yearly reporting period and during that period, only 575 cases were processed. Of the cases processed, only 96 went to court-martial.[1] Another investigation found that only one in five females and one in 15 males in the United States Air Force would report having been sexually assaulted by service members.[2]
Incidents which have been publicized include the Tailhook scandal in 1991, the Aberdeen scandal in 1996 and the 2003 US Air Force Academy sexual assault scandal. In an attempt to deal with this problem the Defense Department has issued the Department of Defense Sexual Assault Response policy. A provision in the fiscal 2004 National Defense Authorization Act required investigation and reporting regarding sexual harassment and assault at the United States military academies. A report was published in the New York Times magazine in March, 2007 which surveyed women soldiers' experience in the Iraq War showing significant incidence of post traumatic stress syndrome resulting from the combination of combat stress and sexual assault.[3] 15% of female veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan who have visited a VA facility have screened positive for military sexual trauma.[4]
The sexism comes in at a structural level (Amount of assaults reported vs taken to court martial) and a general level, higher levels of sexism = higher levels of sexual assault. Or someone could start a debate with me about that. Thing is, I deliberately put this in a spoiler. If you want a discussion about sexual assaults and sexism, start up another thread random person and link me into it so as not to derail this one.
So yes and no. Yes, it is sexist that women are not required to shave their heads, but it is sexism on a structural societal level, not from the military. If society was equal, and it was deemed acceptable for women to have shaved heads, you can bet your balls that the military would require it.
I apologize for stifling your desire to create a real and honest conversation from this topic, I truly am, no one loves a calm and deep introspection on society on its multiple levels, but I don't want this to turn in to something very ugly very fast. Like it or not, sexism is a wildfire topic on the internet, pertaining to bias towards men or women, that can get very heated and way out of control if the right people don't post the right things and all the wrong people post the wrong things (i.e. the guy that spouts random sexism like some frat and leaves the forum after making an MLP joke or something). I would Like to have this sort of debate on women, short hair, and society in the future ( I would love to collaborate this with you) I just don't want things to get out of control.
You and I have both seen what people can post on a relevant topic like this, I just want to make sure it's the right people who post.
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