Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for February 11, 2010

love!

Eh, I’m sure the CSM’s real interested in taking ahold of himself.

15 Year Army Veteran, 2 Combat Tours in Iraq.

We call them desert queens.

The issue with women in combat isn’t with the women necessarily (although having separate standards undermines their credibility). It’s with the men. Women are too much of a distractor for our Soldiers. I don’t care what the command does or tries to do, you put a bunch of 19-20 year old men in an austere combat environment, then throw in one woman for every hundred of them and the hormones take over. The best we can do is enforce basic discipline, but all the men are doing is looking is this case, sorry if I don’t see an issue. The command would step in if any inappropriate physical gestures were made, or if the ladies were verbally accosted. If she feels she being assaulted again every time a man looks at her she’s a danger to herself, and the men she’s serving with.

Well put, Caesar. Trudeau’s patronizing disdain for the military is plain old annoying.

Desert Storm vet here. In fact, I enlisted 24 years ago today. Served 6 years, volunteered for combat but they weren’t sending women in those days.

As the protectors of our freedoms our military should be the first place those freedoms are respected. Women should be free to serve without being harassed. If men can’t control themselves they shouldn’t be trusted with our national security. What a travesty that men are willing to kill and die to protect our nation but they can’t extend that desire to their own comrades in arms simply because the plumbing is different.

Incidentally the term “Desert Queen” or “Desert Fox” is a pejorative. It infers that a woman can get positive interest from the men even if she’s not good looking, just because she’s the only game in town. If the ratios were better nothing would be improved because the attitude toward women in the military as mere camp followers is systemic, and over the last two decades it’s only gotten worse.

Retired Army Colonel Ann Wright worked with Rep. Jane Harman to bring about legislation to address the fact that a woman is more likely to be raped by someone in her command than shot by the enemy. One in three women in the US military are raped. This is a sickening statistic and Trudeau’s got the military 100% dead to rights on this one. It was bad when I was in but never THAT bad. If a trend can change for the worse it can also be changed for the better. I am grateful to Trudeau for addressing this issue in a way that most of the mainstream media lacks the courage to do.

And if you DON’T act like you want to bed your female comrades-in-arms, someone will probably assume you’re gay… in which case the consequences can be even worse, unless you wanted out of the service anyhow.

Hey Randgrithr, let’s not forget of the women raped by contracters, especially that poor woman in Halliburton.

using woman in a demeaning way in every advertisement is not the way to teach men respect for woman or even respect for themselves. A case of “not my sister” but the lesson just does not carry over to all women. To many ads, songs, etc that use put downs and to many men that think snarky remarks at woman is just really ok.

when men can’t see the harm, that is the true problem.

Potrzebie - I NEVER forget the contractors.

When I volunteered to deploy to HQ USAFE’s intelligence unit in Ankara during Desert Storm, it was a Sterling Software contractor who said to me, and I quote: “Well, you seem to know what you’re doing with the system… but I’m going to recommend that you aren’t sent, because I believe that you should be home baking cookies for your man.”

To this day I regret not breaking the bastard’s jaw. In retrospect, the correctional custody would have been worth it.

Repost from yesterday: If men are not civilized enough to treat their fellow women respectfully, then we should spend some energy civilizing them, instead of keeping women away from them. Otherwise it will end like in Saudi Arabia (and similar countries). Also, it’s not fair to deny women job opportunities, just because men can’t be bothered to behave themselves like civilized beings. By the way, that’s exactly the argument men used for centuries to keep women away from work and their own money: they should be glad they don’t have to work! Well, we’re not. You can’t expect to gain any control over procedures that concern you if you’re not involved in them.

“sorry if I don’t see an issue.”

S’o.k., Caesar….. Let’s see. Imagine you’ve just been raped in prison, and you’re feeling kind of defensive about your masculinity. You’d love to have a girlfriend, but you’re both angry, vulnerable, and having these annoying ptsd flashbacks to boot.. You sign up for service, and the Branch of Service is mostly women, both your superiors and your peers. You take a lot of hazing both from the men and women over your (a) looks (b) masculinity and (c) ability to get it up, work-wise and sex-wise. You’re in the cafeteria with one other guy, and you are the “handsome one”. You get up to return your tray with a boner you can’t control, and all the women, save your Command, are looking at your pants. You start to blush involuntarily….

na…..forget it. Even horny women who have been sex-objected or rejected all their lives, one would hope, would have enough grace to keep custody of their eyes.

Rose: What are we ladies? What are we? We are waitresses at the banquet of life! Get into that kitchen and rattle them pots and pans - and you better look pretty good doin’ it too, ‘else you gonna lose you good thang. And why do we do that, I’ll tell you why we do that? We do that to find love - Oh I love to be in love - don’t you love to be in love? Rose: Ain’t it just grand layin’ there late at night in your bed, waitin’ for your man to show up? And when he finally does, at oh about 4 o’clock in the mornin’, with whiskey on his breath, and the smell of another woman on his person… Oh honey, I can smell another woman at 500 paces. That’s a easy one to catch. [crowd gets really noisy] Rose: Oh, the women are getting nasty. So what do you do when he comes home with the smell of another woman on him? Do you say, “Oh honey, let me open up my loving arms and my loving legs. Dive right in, baby, the water is fine”? Is that what you say, girls? [the women in the crowd scream “No!”] Rose: Or do you say, “Fock this sheet! I’ve had enough of you, you arsshole! Pack your bags. I’m putting on my little waitress cap and my fancy high-heeled shoes, I’m gonna go find me a real man. A good man, a true man

But shouldn’t soldiers be especially protective of their own group? It’s all about groups, isn’t it? Protect your own, kill the others. Why are women still ‘the others’, even more than the enemy?

The word I was looking for was ‘comradeship’ (I think, I’m not a native speaker.) Why can’t (a lot of) men feel comradeship toward women? We’re not so different anymore, especially in the army.

hizzonner: You must not read this reqularly or pay much attention. In this storyline, Trudeau is showing disdain only for those individuals within the military that do not treat women as individuals but only as sex objects.

As for Trudeau’s “disdain” for the military? Maybe you need to take a look at The Sandbox. There is a link right on the page with the comic. This is a website Mr. Trudeau set up for our military men and women where they can post the good and bad of military life from right in the middle of the war zone. If giving these folks a place to vent is not providing a positive service to our service men and women, I don’t know what is. Garry Trudeau has always respected the institutions of our nation. It is just some of the folks in them who belong in Institutions (mental or correctional) that he likes to poke fun at.

nighthawks, what’s that your citing?

Randgrithr, thank you for your eloquent and stirring response. And thank you for your service.

ceasar & Hizzoner, As a Desert Storm vet your, I think attitude is shameful and disgusting. If you wife or daughter was raped or sexually harrassed is their fault?

Is it the Womens fault that they are women and Men can’t control themselves?

Thats why Women in afghanistan get stoned to death after getting gang raped. It’s their fault for being women. Maybe if the military weren’t led by cowards like Bush and cheney over the last decade attitudes towords women would be a little better.

Look, boys like girls. Boys like to look at girls. Some girls like to be looked at. Appreciating beauty should not be lumped in with the actions of scum that force themselves onto women.

bradwilliams wrote: ” Look, boys like girls. Boys like to look at girls. Some girls like to be looked at. Appreciating beauty should not be lumped in with the actions of scum that force themselves onto women. ”

Looking at women is one thing. LEERING isn’t looking. INUENDO isn’t looking. DROOLING isn’t looking.

If you make someone uncomfortable, it isn’t looking.

Agreed!

Is it the women’s fault that men can’t control themselves? Says a lot about the men. If men are that weak maybe we should lock them all up at home (for their protection) and women go out to work and enlist in the army. Honesty. Take a cold shower!!!!!

i llike the suggestion by “nagut” that our integrated services could do more to cultivate comradeship. Ever since the days when our high school football team gathered in the locker room, I’ve noticed that young men without sisters can be morbidly curious and uninformed about the female body. Perhaps this is what annoys Mel–the feeling that she’s not among brothers who know how to respect a sister instead of making her a sex object.

Pearlandpeach–I agree that many advertising companies use women in derogatory ways. However, I also believe that one of the best things about America is our general lack of censorship in the media. The women who are in those ads do so of their own free will, and are generally paid very well. As long as there is no obscenity, I do not think the government has the right to tell them not to make the ads. If other private citizens are bothered by the ads, they can boycott the products and hope the message gets through. You can’t blame the ads anymore than you can blame video games. Parents need to teach their male children to respect women. Period. My boyfriend would never behave toward women the way the men in this strip do, because he was raised to be respectful.

nagut–I think camaraderie is the word you are looking for. You were close though. Your English is very good!

Wow so many hostile victims, so many bad men.

I don’t think males are faulty females, I think feminist may be faulty humanist. Their Davorkian tendencies are getting the better the better of them, as they channel their inner Lyndie England.

With so many single mothers raising sons, their hostilities and resentments show through. It makes sense that they would try to do a better job in raising sons to be the men they want them to be. Like Leo’s mom, or would you rather be the son of Melissa?

@nagut, nighthawk was quoting from “the rose”, a movie with bette midler based on janis joplin.

Male leaders like Jesus Christ, Mahatmas Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and MLK have more credibility for non-violent resolution than female leaders like Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir, Margaret Thatcher, or Elizabeth l (she was the “Bitchy Queen of the Pirates” and we’re all impressed with their respect for women and plundered booty) and the list goes on.

…my rebuttal to Susandoublenaught1

I’m afraid I can’t agree with Susan either. Women are not better people, most of them just don’t have enough power to have been corrupted. And they are expected to be civilized, so they are. If we distributed power more evenly and taught our boys to be civilized and respectful, I think they would be. Unfortunately we don’t, and that’s partly the fault of those ads pearlandpeach was talking about. When boys learn that women = sex, then they treat them like that.

…and they learn to reflect the contempt of the angry feminist.

FriscoLou, I’m not sure what you’re saying here, but women have a LOT of reasons to be angry, and the opinions of some of the men posting here are some of them.

Oh man, this rerun is hours old. No need to comment on this since everything has already pretty well been said. I’ll just jump to tomorrow’s strip instead.

Oh man, not another rerun. This has been a really unlucky week. I wonder if Mel would be happier in the Ga Ga platoon? No wonder the Taliban hate us. DADT infidels singin’ it up in Afghanistan must be hard to take.

Pfft. “The military acts a certain way because they kill things.” This comment demeans men. Thank god the modern army is moving to more professionalism.