I read in the Washington Post that Army Spc. Monica Brown received the silver star because she dove into live fire to save three men. Then she was pulled from her troop and sent back to base because she was female and laws prevent females in combat operations.
I read about Spc. Brown in the Post and I felt proud. No, it wasn't me doing the heroics, indeed I think I'd drop to the ground and quiver if someone shot at me. But reading about what she did, saving men's lives, covering them while mortar shells blew over head, helping to carry them to the truck and stabilizing them for evacuation - well I felt a surge. I felt like - if I chose I could do that. And it made me wonder if that is something women have been missing. The male role model varies extremely from person to person - but in any high stress situation, they can picture themselves as warriors. They have GI Joe hanging over their heads, and they, in their heart of hearts, think - I could do that. In the right situation, if I chose. But women have been the face that launched the ship, not the commander of the ship. How do you empower women if there are no powerful role models? Sure, there are leaders - intelligent women who hold high positions. But the human brain is more primitive than that. We look for heroes, not leaders, to force ourselves to be brave. And for thousands of years the female has been told that we are not brave, we don't have any choice, we don't have anyone to look to other than our heroic males. But things are changing. No, I don't want to go into combat. But Spc. Brown makes me want to charge out in front of a bus and save a child. She makes me want to be like her - in that primitive, inner monkey brain that craves a heroic figure to set my path.
I can see why dominant males want to prevent this. Military personnel are asking for change, want to be able to assign female medics to all male troops in combat sites. But the congressmen over them, the old male club, don't want it. Because heroes are dangerous things, hard to control. They make people want to be more than the roles assigned to them. And Republicans (and patriarchal figures, who sadly aren't just Republicans) are all about molds and set roles and knowing the place people want you to be in. But as women learn more about power, as they begin to take their true place in society - this will be harder and harder to control. In the '50s women sci. fi. writers changed their names to get published. Publishers didn't think women heroic fiction would sell. But it has - very briskly and now some of the best of the best in sci. fi. and fantasy are female, as women solve their craving for a heroic role model with the only women who are permitted to be heroic - characters in a future world (or fantasy world) in a place far, far away.
Thursday, May 01, 2008
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3 comments:
GREAT post!
Shadow/J
Found this documentary from the Tribeca Film Festival and thought of your post here:
Lioness
Love,
Shameless
What a great post, Ipsi. How many times does that scene replay itself because of some archane law? Your observation about women living their heroic lives in other ways is astute. Yet, when it's in a fantasy setting, I think it's more acceptable to men, who objectify and idolize those characters or their creators. Unfortunately, when confronted with strong, brave, smart women in real life, I think a lot of men feel threatened rather than themselves emboldened by such a companion.
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