I once had a friend unthinkingly remark, “I don’t know why she’d want to keep her father’s name instead of taking mine.”

Really? Are you saying that men are conditioned to feel that their (men’s) lives are expendable? Is this a thing? I never thought of it that way, but I suppose that could be the flip side to chivalry and valor? Hmm... If that’s true, it devalues men and infantilizes women. I think people are correct when they point…

Then you need to get new friends.

I have a feeling that when these guys think of women, they only think in terms of the type of woman they’re attracted to. The rest of us normal schmo women don’t really count.

So, do you think that when they say they’re opening up the special ops to women, they mean the women from 10th grade gym who were always on their periods? OBVIOUSLY women will have to pass the same fitness standard. If you’re so confident, why not just wait and see how many women pass? If it’s only two or three but…

This comment needs ALL THE STARS, especially for this:

I understand your concerns, given that the military is a field where mistakes are paid with human lives. But I truly think you are underestimating the abilities of specific highly-gifted and highly-trained individuals who are women.

I’m fat, asthmatic, nearsighted and 38, so there’s no personal risk for me, but of course women should be drafted as well as men. Why do antifeminist types always bring this up as if it’s a “gotcha”? Equality means equal risks, too. Women already know this, and we can deal with it.

I completely agree - most men are incapable of treating women as peers.

“but because (many) men are unaccustomed to working with women” . So you mean many men are unemployable?

As a guy, I can never understand how guys can think that affairs/relationships are inflicted upon them, rather than something they can just not have anything to do with if they are in possession of at least one or two dozen brain cells.

I’d predict it happening in a few stages:

Some of us went through BCT at 25, and maxed the APFT on the male 18-25 scale. It doesn’t help. It only creates nasty, vicious rumors, which, at the time, could have been used to force me out. (I was in during the DADT era...)

I spent three HORRIBLE years in a Combat Arms Unit (Engineers) who had only opened their ranks to female soldiers two years prior to my arrival. If you are able to meet their physical capabilities, and are competent in your MOS, the absolute HATE and derision you go through can be utterly career-destroying.

You mean the study that put females into new unfamiliar roles and compared the results to well practiced male squads? In case you aren’t sure, it would also be the same study that simply pulled general injury reports and extrapolated data from it as opposed to what actually took place in the test. ...is that the study…

I heard from a reputable source that their periods attract bears.

Also 99% of men couldn’t do what you’re talking about.

Yes, but if the women have passed all the same physical requirement and other tests, there’s no reason having them there should in any way hinder the men. If people are focused on doing their job I don’t see why them having an innie or an outie should matter one way or the other. I mean, women aren’t bitching that the…

They see women only in terms of how women exist in relationship to them (wives, mothers, sisters, sex objects, mistresses, victims) rather than as separate human beings. Not surprisingly, so do most men. That’s my theory anyways. And the root of a lot of the problems surrounding the victimization of women.

I also doubt a women training for the hardest, most grueling positions in the US military would weigh 130 pounds - a friend who is only a bit taller than me (and I’m a super short dude) weighs 176 pounds because she’s a rower and works out a shitload; she isn’t overweight, its pretty significant gym use. I imagine…