So much for stop-loss
Recruitment is down, tours get extended, and the military continues to discharge perfectly good servicemembers under Don't Ask, Don't Tell. And a disproportionate number of those servicemembers are dykes. Today's NYT reports that women make up just 14% of the Army, but 46% of those discharged under DADT. There's no explanation of why that's happening, but I have a few guesses:
1. Lots of the women serving in the military are dykes. That wouldn't surprise me at all, since dykes have always been the pioneers in nontraditional careers for women (see To Believe in Women by Lillian Faderman, which you should see anyway because it's a really good read). Of course, because of DADT, I assume it would be impossible for anyone to get anything close to an accurate count of queers in the military.
2. Women in the military suffer hugely from hazing, harassment, and assault, and DADT has become a vehicle for the harassment of women. The first clause of that statement is 100% true, and the second clause is my educated guess. Strong women in any field get dyke-baited, and when dyke-baiting can help you get rid of an annoyingly strong woman forever, the temptation must be irresistible for a lot of men (and maybe for some evil straight women as well).
3. Women are more likely to get caught under DADT than men are. Not sure why that would be, since women are less likely than men to do dumb stuff like public sex and anonymous sex, but being in the closet kills brain cells, so who knows?
4. The overwhelmingly male command protects gay male soldiers from being outed, but not lesbians. See #2.
Any other thoughts?
1. Lots of the women serving in the military are dykes. That wouldn't surprise me at all, since dykes have always been the pioneers in nontraditional careers for women (see To Believe in Women by Lillian Faderman, which you should see anyway because it's a really good read). Of course, because of DADT, I assume it would be impossible for anyone to get anything close to an accurate count of queers in the military.
2. Women in the military suffer hugely from hazing, harassment, and assault, and DADT has become a vehicle for the harassment of women. The first clause of that statement is 100% true, and the second clause is my educated guess. Strong women in any field get dyke-baited, and when dyke-baiting can help you get rid of an annoyingly strong woman forever, the temptation must be irresistible for a lot of men (and maybe for some evil straight women as well).
3. Women are more likely to get caught under DADT than men are. Not sure why that would be, since women are less likely than men to do dumb stuff like public sex and anonymous sex, but being in the closet kills brain cells, so who knows?
4. The overwhelmingly male command protects gay male soldiers from being outed, but not lesbians. See #2.
Any other thoughts?