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Journal of Feminist Family TherapyPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wfft20

Women and the Military: SystemicFeminist PerspectivesAnne M. ProutyPublished online: 07 Sep 2011.

To cite this article: Anne M. Prouty (2011) Women and the Military: Systemic Feminist Perspectives,Journal of Feminist Family Therapy, 23:3-4, 161-162, DOI: 10.1080/08952833.2011.608305

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08952833.2011.608305

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Journal of Feminist Family Therapy, 23:161–162, 2011Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLCISSN: 0895-2833 print/1540-4099 onlineDOI: 10.1080/08952833.2011.608305

EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION TO THE SPECIAL ISSUE

Women and the Military: Systemic FeministPerspectives

As my time as Editor of the Journal of Feminist Family Therapy: AnInternational Forum soon draws to its close at the end of 2012, I havedecided that for my final special issue I would shine a light on the livesof women and the military. My own family has a long history of militaryduty and I know how it envelops not just families, but generations. And, Ithink women’s lives are incredibly important and I am always looking forways to learn from them. So, I decided to include scholarship that coveredwomen who were part of militaries and women who were partners withmilitary personnel. We all know there are many times when women areboth. What is the latest research from a systems perspective? How is mil-itary sexual violence and violence witnessed during duty being dealt withclinically? How are feminist family therapists working with women and theirmilitary families?

What we present to you in this special issue are a few feminist per-spectives about (and from) women whose lives have been influenced byand who have influenced the military. We present cutting edge ideas andvoices from Africa and the United States. We hope you find them informativeand useful.

I encourage more feminist clinicians and researchers to write about theirwork with the militaries from around the world. Within the many forms offeminism there is a breadth and depth of wisdom about human dynam-ics. The diverse lenses of feminism bring us important views about culture,gender, power, strength, courage, peace, as well as important perspectivesabout identity development during and after military involvement, violence(it is always personal) of all types, and how we help each other live afterviolence, ways to stop violence, and ways to endure and even to flour-ish after violence. Feminist theorists, clinicians, community activists, healers,strategists, researchers and, yes, feminists in the military: I urge you to shapeour world.

For future issues I have a few requests. We need more internationalfeminist perspectives in these international journals. We need to learn fromeach other. I also hope that feminists submit more scholarship so that we

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hear from civilian women who have been victims of violence from militarypersonnel and about violence prevention and healing after the violence.How can systemic clinicians participate in healing not only as therapistsbut also as systemic thinkers on teams of international negotiations? Familytherapists have important conceptual and intervention skills! Also, are theresystemic feminists out there doing community building after war? Let ushear about it! Finally, how have family therapists infiltrated and collaboratedon healing teams within militaries around the world? Systemic medicine,systemic law, systemic psychotherapy, systemic economics, systemic peacedevelopment: The list is endless because human relationships are endless.

Amelia Earhardt once said, “Courage is the price that life exacts forgranting peace.” May peace grow within each of us until it encompassesus all.

Anne M. ProutyEditor, FFT

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