When it comes to war, there seems to be the same subject that always comes up. The women’s role and where do they belong. Men have traditionally always been the ones who fought in the wars while the women were excluded. Being seen as the weaker sex would make war tougher for the men to fight, since they would have to look out for the women who are weaker by nature. While some women may be as tough as men there are still factors that can be distracting. The women who would fight in the war could potentially become the main focus instead of the fight. By looking deeper into All Quiet in the Western Front and Saving Private Ryan, these movies both indirectly and directly show how women would negatively affect the war if they were to join the fight.
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They are too sensitive at times, distracting, and they give birth to the children. These are only a few of the arguments used to justify why women would not be as useful in the army. Men use war to prove how masculine they are and by adding women to the equation it would make it harder for them to do that. Even women being nurses during war wasn’t acceptable at first, until all the male nurses were called to fight in war. (Paul Schue Lecture). By allowing women into the war they were able to achieve honor just like the men. The men who were supposed to be masculine were now being taking care of by women. They were dependent on the nurses to save their lives. Nurses played just as big of a part in the war as the soldiers, but in reality it has toned down. “Inevitably, to represent nursing as a collective female war experience would raise the specter of an alternative feminine war, undermining or even opposing the national war effort” (Darrow Pg.161). Basically the nurses’ roles were put down so that the soldiers in the war could still boast their manhood. If the war was to become more feminine, the men would be less likely to fight. “Misogyny and domination of women, according to some feminists, underlie male soldier’s participation in war.” (Goldstein Pg.6). Men want to be the dominant role in war, and if the war was to become more feminine they would feel more submissive. Female nurses cannot get the …show more content…
Use of emotion is seen as an unnecessary weakness, and is mostly associated with women. In the movie, Saving Private Ryan, Private Caparzo takes it on himself to rescue a little girl, despite being told not to. He explains that the girl reminded him of his niece. By showing his more feminine side by following his emotion, he ends up losing his life. Captain Miller then responds by saying that is why we don’t rescue children. By having a maternal moment during live combat, Caparzo put himself and his fellow soldiers at major risk. By adding women into combat there is a chance that more of these type of moments would happen because women tend to be more emotional than men by nature. The movie All Quiet on The Western Front showcases the same point but in a different way. The character Behn is first soldier to die because he was portrayed to be more feminine by others. He was the only one of his classmates who didn’t want to join the war, and was the first one killed. For Behn it was pressure to either join the war, or to be deemed feminine by all his classmates. Only girly men don’t want to go to war, but a real man would. He let both his emotions and peer pressure to be viewed as manly get to him. Caparzo and Behn were both emotional and ended up losing their lives. Women being in combat would be a bad idea because of how emotional they can get.
They are too sensitive at times, distracting, and they give birth to the children. These are only a few of the arguments used to justify why women would not be as useful in the army. Men use war to prove how masculine they are and by adding women to the equation it would make it harder for them to do that. Even women being nurses during war wasn’t acceptable at first, until all the male nurses were called to fight in war. (Paul Schue Lecture). By allowing women into the war they were able to achieve honor just like the men. The men who were supposed to be masculine were now being taking care of by women. They were dependent on the nurses to save their lives. Nurses played just as big of a part in the war as the soldiers, but in reality it has toned down. “Inevitably, to represent nursing as a collective female war experience would raise the specter of an alternative feminine war, undermining or even opposing the national war effort” (Darrow Pg.161). Basically the nurses’ roles were put down so that the soldiers in the war could still boast their manhood. If the war was to become more feminine, the men would be less likely to fight. “Misogyny and domination of women, according to some feminists, underlie male soldier’s participation in war.” (Goldstein Pg.6). Men want to be the dominant role in war, and if the war was to become more feminine they would feel more submissive. Female nurses cannot get the …show more content…
Use of emotion is seen as an unnecessary weakness, and is mostly associated with women. In the movie, Saving Private Ryan, Private Caparzo takes it on himself to rescue a little girl, despite being told not to. He explains that the girl reminded him of his niece. By showing his more feminine side by following his emotion, he ends up losing his life. Captain Miller then responds by saying that is why we don’t rescue children. By having a maternal moment during live combat, Caparzo put himself and his fellow soldiers at major risk. By adding women into combat there is a chance that more of these type of moments would happen because women tend to be more emotional than men by nature. The movie All Quiet on The Western Front showcases the same point but in a different way. The character Behn is first soldier to die because he was portrayed to be more feminine by others. He was the only one of his classmates who didn’t want to join the war, and was the first one killed. For Behn it was pressure to either join the war, or to be deemed feminine by all his classmates. Only girly men don’t want to go to war, but a real man would. He let both his emotions and peer pressure to be viewed as manly get to him. Caparzo and Behn were both emotional and ended up losing their lives. Women being in combat would be a bad idea because of how emotional they can get.