Women at Arms: Does Sexism Still Prevail?

Just about five minutes ago, I discovered a really interesting video on www.nytimes.com about women in the military. Fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, these women are exposed to almost all of the same dangers that men are. Almost.

Check it out! (the website won't let me embed it so you'll just have to click on the link...grrr.)

The video addresses the rules against women's participation in ground combat situations. The news correspondent interviewed a couple of women serving in the military who live under this restriction, and their responses shocked me. Some seemed upset with the seemingly sexist rule, and others supported it by acknowledging the weaknesses of male peers when it comes to women captives.

Personally, if I were a woman in the United States military, I would be outraged at any kind of restriction based on gender. That is not what our country is about, and it's unconstitutional. Having just recently talked about the Constitution in class, I was left asking, What happened to equal rights? Equal opportunities? I'm aware of the dangers surrounding it, but I don't understand how a generalization could be made about an entire gender with no experience to base it off of. Is restricting women from certain military positions unconstitutional or intelligent?

Do You Need a Personal Assistant?

Surfing the web today, I came across an article that I found laughable, but at the same time pretty concerning. The article was about Charley Cooper, a sophomore boy at Georgetown University, and his need for a personal assistant.

Personally, when I think of people that might need personal assistants, I think of movie stars, huge business managers, and CEOs. I never once thought of a student needing one. (Unless it was a joke in a kids' movie or something- you know the ones with the bully and his follower minions? I guess those are kind of like personal assistants...) Anyway, this Charley Cooper kid set up an ad on his university's employment website, advertising his need for a personal assistant to do "some of [his] everyday tasks." These included picking him up and dropping him off at class, putting gas in and providing maintenance for his car, doing his laundry, and scheduling appointments.

Upon reading this, I immediately judged Charley Cooper as an obnoxious rich kid who doesn't want to have to do his own work. But after reading about his background, class load, part-time job and the illness that he's dealing with in his family, I realized that there probably are many students out there who need a personal assistant.

I know from experience that high school (especially here at New Trier) can be an unbelievably competitive and stressful experience. While it can be fun, there are some times when I just want to forget about all of my classes, say "f*** it" to my homework, and go home to get some actual sleep. I'm sure all of you have felt the same way. You're in a four-level class, it's bound to happen. And it's probably even worse at college!

Now think about how much easier your life would be if there was someone there to take care of all of your insignificant tasks; to drive you places, pick up things when you needed them, help you manage your time and your schedules. I would LOVE that. Thinking about this in depth, I have gained a new respect for Charley Cooper. He's not obnoxious, he actually has a really good idea.

Could school be structured in too stressful a way for us to get everything done on our own? Or does Charley Cooper just have too much on his plate? What do you think?

Fighting

Fight Club wasn't about winning or losing. It wasn't about words.

-"Fight Club," 1999.

Before even having the class discussion (I swear that's not the only reason I wrote this post), I found myself very stricken by the fighting scene in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Throughout my whole reading of the book, I admired Douglass for his intelligence, his representative story, and the fact that he never showed any anger towards anything other than the institution of slavery itself. He often even sympathized with slaveholders because he knew that it was slavery's effects on them that made them cruel; "At this very moment, I saw more clearly than ever the brutalizing effects of slavery upon both slave and slaveholder" (27). And it was this understanding of slavery that made Douglass's fight with Covey so shocking to me. I would never have thought of Douglass as the kind of person to solve his problems physically. He understood that it was not his slaveholders' faults, but rather the fault of the institution. In my opinion, this is why he decided to run away to the North in the first place. He could rebel against his slaveholders, but he would never be able to escape the Institution, unless he escaped to the North.

Now I have a lot of guy friends, and I know how obsessed they are with fighting. I didn't think I would EVER understand why, but every guy seems to understand exactly how to solve a problem- with a fight, of course. I have argued with them about it countless times. I told them that fighting doesn't solve anything; when they are all bloodied in the end, their problems would still be there. And they would never agree. "Guys can have a fist fight and shake hands in the end, knowing that the problem is over. Girls go behind each other's backs and gossip and never ever let the problem end," they'd say. And I would always argue back, "Not all guys have the need to fight; I'm sure there are some that can just be peaceful and solve their problems like humans...Like say, Frederick Douglass."

Reading that scene, to me, was like realizing that Santa Clause isn't real. Even Frederick Douglass, a man who I had looked at as so respectable and calm, who took countless thrashings and lived under the power of an institution as cruel as slavery without ever lifting a finger in rage towards an overseer, saw a positive end result in violence. I'll admit, this scene changed my views on fighting entirely. Maybe it does solve problems. It certainly solved the one between Douglass and Covey. This scene opened my mind, and made me see the positive effects that fighting can have on certain specific situations. I can't think of many others in which it would benefit, but I've taken a step in my stubbornness to admit that it worked here.

What do you think?? In what other situations do you think fighting can be helpful?