Military drafts - male and female

[Slytovhand]

Culturally is another matter entirely. Due to a combination of nonsensical ideas and misguided attitudes, many women in the above situation will, consciously or not, choose to die instead of fight. Fear of guns does more damage to the safety of women in our culture than all the rapists put together.

Please explain.....

[crazylegs]

On a different tangent,

Say only men go to the battlefield, and only 1 in 20 survive (crap odds I know, but stay with me). Once the war is over the depleted male population can impregnate lots of women and regrow the poulation reasonable quickly.

Consider it reversed, population regrowth would take considerable longer.

[BlaqueKatt]

On a different tangent,

Say only men go to the battlefield, and only 1 in 20 survive (crap odds I know, but stay with me). Once the war is over the depleted male population can impregnate lots of women and regrow the poulation reasonable quickly.

Consider it reversed, population regrowth would take considerable longer.

um with over 6 billion people on the planet do we really need to worry about this?

as it stands in the US only 1% of the total population is in the military in one form or another-active duty, national guard, reserve etc. If there was a draft that number might double or triple however it is still an almost negligible number compared to the whole-the argument is a non-issue. Even at 10% a one in twenty survival rate for women would have little effect on the population.

[anriana]

On a different tangent,

Say only men go to the battlefield, and only 1 in 20 survive (crap odds I know, but stay with me). Once the war is over the depleted male population can impregnate lots of women and regrow the poulation reasonable quickly.

Consider it reversed, population regrowth would take considerable longer.

I can't see any democratic country ever implementing a system where surviving male soldiers impregnate 20 (or whatever number) women each to regrow the country's population. Personally I would rather kill myself than allow my goverment to turn me into a breeding animal. (icky BSG/Farscape flashbacks go)

We can grow successful test tube babies anyways so needing women for their reproductive system is no longer relevant.

[AFPheonix]

Well....we can unite sperm and eggs outside the womb, but we still need the womb to gestate the fetus. So no, we're not totally useless yet

[Boozy]

as it stands in the US only 1% of the total population is in the military in one form or another-active duty, national guard, reserve etc.

That's total population, including non-reproducing segments like seniors and children. In the event of a draft, 100% of women drafted would be of reproductive age.

Even at 10% a one in twenty survival rate for women would have little effect on the population.

Casualties are not the primary cause of lowered birth rates in times of war. It's that people are away from home fighting instead of....well, you know.

Removing even 10% of all women of reproductive age from the homefront for one year would have an astonishing ripple effect on population growth.

In this day and age of global overpopulation and immigration, I don't see falling birth rates as a problem for a westernized war economy. But historically, it was a major concern, and certainly factored into why women were never sent to war with the men.

[anriana]

Well....we can unite sperm and eggs outside the womb, but we still need the womb to gestate the fetus. So no, we're not totally useless yet

Gestation is already being outsourced.

[Slytovhand]

Removing even 10% of all women of reproductive age from the homefront for one year would have an astonishing ripple effect on population growth

Although, women are putting off having kids til later anyway, so perhaps not as much as in the past.

Isn't 'western civilisation' having an issue anyway of a lowered rate of birth, and thus we're going to have an increasingly larger aging population for the next couple of decades? "We" (that's obviously the W version...) are having less kids, and at a later age than previously... what used to be 2 or 3 kids (or more - depending on how far back you go) is now only 1 or 2.


Which is fair enough, once they work out how to stop the 'ageing' process, and can regrow our organs and all...


Slyt

[Amethyst Hunter]

Please explain.....

Historically, women have been taught to please men and that this is their only purpose in life. Pleasing men means being quiet, don't make a fuss, always smile, always apologize (even when it isn't your fault), don't ask for anything because you don't deserve it, always Be Nice To Others Or Else No One Will Like You...in short, repress yourself because you aren't a worthy human being.

When you consider how much else we've trained ourselves out of in regards to instinct, it's not hard to see how this cultural brainwashing can override one's natural fight-or-flight response to a threat. Predators against women know this and use it to their advantage; Gavin de Becker talks about a technique in his book The Gift Of Fear called "forced teaming" - a rapist will approach a victim and talk about a scenario, without asking consent, like "We'd better get these groceries in before the rain comes" in order to get his victim to trust him. Women, not wanting to be seen as rude and therefore Bad, will go along with this despite a gut feeling that something's wrong, and the scumbag is able to carry out his evil that much easier.

So yes, sadly, there are some women who have had this kind of mindset so ingrained in them by the culture/their family/their peers/etc. that they literally find it -impossible- to resist, and often end up irreparably damaged and/or dead for it.

[AFPheonix]

Gestation is already being outsourced.

To other wombs, yes, but to the best of my knowledge they have not yet created an artificial one yet.

[Slytovhand]

Historically, women have been taught....

Okies, thanks.

But, wouldn't you see military service as a good thing to help overcome this ingraining? All the training etc should give them a better sense of self-worth, or at least a stronger willingness to fight back against that sort of thing...???

[Vagabond]

Personally, me, as an individual, believe that a system similar to Israel's would be a good thing. A system where all able-bodied persons (men and women) should serve at least 2 years in the military.

I, personally, would not advocate putting women on front-line or battle units due to the physical aspect (reason 1). However, if the female in question can prove that she can and is able, more power to her, although I would still be leery of doing that. For this reason - average male weighs about 200 lbs., average female usually weighs around 160 lbs. There are more females I have seen that I wouldn't trust to be able to carry me if I was injured. Granted there are some males that I would question their ability as well.

Reason 2: There is a somewhat cultural training as well. I do not speak for everyone, but i was taught to look out and take care of females. So I naturally tend to help them, and in a fire fight situation, I may accidentally endanger the unit by trying to take care the female.

But, there are plenty of other jobs in the military that do not involve getting near the front lines. So, I am all for everyone, all able-bodied people, spending some time in the military. That way, if need be, you could recall an entire countries' worth of people to mobilize against an enemy, much like Finnish military.

[Tanasi]

I'm very courious how many here have served in a military branch and of those how many have been in actual combat?
I raise my hand on both counts.

[Boozy]

In that case, I hope that your fellow Americans have thanked you for your service. However, I'm not sure what point you are trying to make?

[Tanasi]

In that case, I hope that your fellow Americans have thanked you for your service. However, I'm not sure what point you are trying to make?

Very few have done so and when I returned the first time I was called a baby killer but only spit upon once (that guy is gumming his food somewhere today.) I didn't go when asked to receive any gratitude from anyone, I expected the same respect that I gave but didn't get it.

At this time I'm not trying to make a point just asking.