Dr. Sara DiazWGST 202: Gender, Difference, and PowerGonzaga University

Women, Militarism, and War

Expanded Definition

Violence is any relation, process, or condition by which an individual or a group violates the physical, social, and/or psychological integrity of another person or group. From this perspective, violence inhibits human growth, negates inherent potential, limits productive living, and causes death.

WAR WAGED ABROAD

Response QuestionResponse Question

• In what ways do wars affect women?

•How is sexual violence related to war and militarism?

•How have feminists worked against systematic forms of violence against women?

Sexual Violence and War

• Rape as a tool of war• Sexual exploitation (eg Subic Rape Case)• Increase in Domestic Violence• Everything from battery and rape to social

control• Increased demand for care work• Traumatized and wounded men and children• Increased difficulty accessing food, water,

shelter

Women and War

• Damage to Infrastructure and Environment• Temporary & Long term• Toxicity, Radiation → Genetic Mutation

• Economic desperation, migration and all the problems associated

• Loss of life• Family structures and economic supports• Injury• Physical, Psychological, Spiritual

EFFECTS OF WAR AT HOME

Discussion QuestionsDiscussion Questions

What does it mean when we say we live in a "militarized" society?

Militarism

• Our militarized society is thought to serve a purpose:• Security and Economy• Depression Era economy salvaged by

WWII• Economy became dependent on war. •What we now have is a system that

requires that we be in a state of constant war.

Militarism and Nuclearism

• Cold War? / Hot War?• https://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8aWgRuVIxs

• Bomb also led to nuclear power• Three Mile Island• Hanford• Chernobyl• Fukushima

Women in the Military

• Combat – Stereotyping• If men can be trained to kill, why can’t

women?• Rank – Equity issues• Open Doors, Doesn’t mean Equal Opportunity

• Rape and sexual harassment• “Chilly Climate”

• Parental Arrangements• Until Recently: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

Reproducing Inequalities

• Education benefits designed to compensate veterans and usher them into middle-class after WWII • Promise of class mobility is used to recruit• Target low income people, communities of color • Class stratification remains entrenched (particularly for

women)• The effects of war on soldiers (PTSD) disproportionately

burdens already struggling low income and communities of color • Prison-industrial complex• Homelessness, mental illness, physical disability

Feminist Critiques

• Spending• Sexism & Racism in the Military• Conflict between feminists about the peace

movement. • Military equity: impact on job opportunities for PoC. • Anti-militarism: broader social change which would

create more job ops outside of military for PoC.• Globalization• Post 9/11 activities (Constant War)• Liberty vs. Security• Sexual Violence & War

Militarism & Objectification

• Recruiting people of color to wage war on other people of color.• The objectification of “the enemy” and the

objectification of soldiers are linked.

Interventions? Resistances?

•How do we work on the problems of war?•How do we work on the problems of

militarism? •What actions can we take at the

micro, meso, and macro levels?