A Modest Proposal: Drafting Men But Not Women Is Discrimination

[McCamy Taylor]

As I understand it, young men are already required to register with Selective Services but young women are not. This strikes me as wrong and possibly illegal. Same goes if they try to reinstate the draft.

Now, we all know that the GOP base is going to s**t bricks if their angel is forced to trade her ballet slippers for a pair of combats boots. But that is just too bad. They voted for this war. War is good for business. They can invest their son AND their daughter in it.

Isnt it time we go to court to argue that Selective Service registration and the Draft, if reinstated, should apply to both genders, so as not to discriminate unnecessarily against men, there being plenty of military jobs which women can do?

[7th_Sephiroth]

1. *dons asbestos undies*

your right

[Robbien]

2. But paying Women less than Men for Social Security isn't?

Our congresscritters and judges are making proposals left and right which will turn women into second class citizens and now you want them to be drafted into wars for that priviledge.

[MuseRider]

4. My argument exactly.

If we can't be guaranteed same pay for same work and they are considering the Social Security change then they can't draft us. Want equal rights? Fine, provide them then they can consider this.

[physioex]

3. Agreed....

Start with Jenna and Barbera.

[Taxloss]

5. Ug. NO. Men Make Fight! Women Make Babies.

Ug! Woman Fight LIBERAL idea. Ug. Men hunt and gather, and also tend barebecue. Men also better drivers and vote Republican.

Where does all this shit come from?

[TreasonousBastard]

6. It's been done, and the Supreme Court said NO...

http://www.oyez.org/oyez/resource/case/336/

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=453&invol=57


But, plans are on the table to draft women, should Congress be talked into it:

http://www.skiff.tcu.edu/2004/spring/issues/01/30/draftwomen.htm
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/171522_draft01.html

http://www.willthomas.net/Convergence/Weekly/US_Military_Draft_2005.htm

[DURHAM D]

7. If you can get congress and 2/3's of the state's to pass the equal

rights amendment I think women should indeed be drafted. It has only been 82 years since it was first introduced.

[ChairOne]

9. Thought Congress did pass it & it's been waiting 4 the states since? /eom

[DURHAM D]

10. No, the repugs put a time limit on the number of years the

states could take to pass it - think it was 8 years. Believe it was the first constitutional amendment with an expiration date.

[ChairOne]

22. Hm - ok - is the flag burning one still live? /eom

[ChairOne]

8. I guess I'm a neanderthal.....

... I think that the average boy makes a better fighter than the average girl... but yah, at it's most literal, it *is* discrimination...

But then, I suppose my above is really only an argument for not putting women in certain sorts of combat positions - not for not drafting them at all...

[Book Lover]

14. "God made man, Colonel Colt made them equal"

What else levels the playing field so clearly between a 120-lb woman and a 210-lb intruder? Or 120-lb man for that matter? In my own view, any soldier that can handle the job should get to do the job.

on edit: Having said that, let me reiterate my position against the draft, wholesale, no arguements. The draft is an improper reach of authority by the federal goverment. We already ended slavery and involuntary servitude in this nation; let's not start up again.

[ChairOne]

21. LOL - I heard it was Smith & Wesson (sp?)

What if the one person is too exhausted from humping a 50lb pack all day to aim well? What if the *average* person of either gender has that characteristic? How even is that playing field?

There's more involved in infantry than shooting a gun under perfect conditions. And I tried to clearly and prominently use the word "average".

[ClassicDem]

11. No one should have to register with the Selective Services period.

There should never be a draft if a war is just then people will enlist on their own free will. If a war is unjust then the Government will realize this when they have no volunteers to fight and die.

[thinkingwoman]

12. I've been saying this for months

Men should sue. They have to register in order to get financial aid, but women do not. What more do they need to prove discrimination?

[Hippo_Tron]

13. A Modest Proposal: NO DRAFT

With the modern military that we have there should be no legitimate need for one. Oh yea and BTW if we do happen to elect a crazy fascist president who likes wars, there should be a law saying that Republicans go first.

[Heddi]

15. Men were the ones who decided women weren't fit to serve in combat

....not women.

Ah ha ha. "...so as to not discriminate unncessarily against men...." uh, it's the MEN who made these policies. NOT women.

BTW---
The day I (and millions of other underpaid, overworked women) get our $1.00 to a man's $1.00 in pay is the day I'll happily sign up for Selective Service.

The day that men are forced to undergo counseling, video's, pamphlets and a 24-to-48 hour waiting period to buy condoms is the day I'll happily sign up for Selective Service.

The day that it becomes routine for pharmacists to refuse to fill Viagra Rx's (on moral grounds), is the day that I sign up for Selective Service.

But we can't have the men unncessarily discrminated against, can we (as if to say that women are NECESSARILY discriminated against....)


:puke:

On Edit--even a simple passage of the Equal Rights Amendment would be happy for me.


Give *ME* equal fucking rights for once....seems like men have the upper-hand already and get a bit pissy when they realize "Gee whiz....all this talk about keepin' wimmen down puts US at the disadvantage! Why, weez been diskrimuhnated against...."

Fuck that noise.

Equal rights for me will ensure equal rights for all.....

[Bill McBlueState]

16. discrimination

I wish *everyone* who has experienced discrimination at some point could opt out of selective service registration.

[Heddi]

18. It's more than opting out

And I should state that I'm totally against the draft 100%. I think it's crummy that men have to sign up, and it would be just as crummy if women had to sign up as well...not because of "women", but because of the whole idea of the thing.

This topic comes up on DU every few months. And I'm just amazed...well, not really....how easy it is to scream HA! MEN ARE DISCRIMINATED AGAINST but fail to see that 1) it was MEN who decided that women weren't fit for combat, and who still see fit that women STILL aren't fit for combat
and 2) That Women have been begging for YEARS for an Equal Rights Amendment...which if that were to pass, would put the idea of a female-inclusive draft right up on the table.

But we don't have an equal rights amendment. On the whole, women are discriminated against more than men are (not counting for variables such as sexual preference, religion, race, etc).

I'll be happy to sign up for the draft....I just think that to scream DISCRIMINATION is a bit disingenuous since it was men who put these policies into place to 'protect the wimmen folk from getting pregnant on the field and breaking their pretty nails and getting dirty and stuff' (or whatever lame-ass excuse they use(d)).

Sorry, but I guess I really don't feel a whit of empathy for a man whose ONLY source of discrimination comes via Secret Service. I mean, I'd take that discrimination over the OODLES I get as a woman every day of my life, and throughout my lifetime.

[melnjones]

17. OOoooh...

Good points :toast:

In addition, I don't think the MEN in the armed forces would be anywhere near ready to deal with so many women. I remember reading not too long ago about how little punishment a man in the armed forces got for raping a woman he worked with there. Unbelievable. The officials wanted her to just shut up about the whole thing.

[Heddi]

19. A woman I used to know was in the USAF and she and about 4 of her

coleagues were sexually harassed and 2 of them raped by a senior officer. They all complained, but their complaints fell on deaf ears. My friend finally went higher up in the chain and was told (verbatim, according to her) "What do you women expect when you work in an all-male environment? YOU wanted to work in the military, YOU have to deal with the military. If YOU can't handle this, how could you handle being in a war?" and went on and on about how she and the other women were asking for it by being in the military, how they're only making a big deal out of it because they want to "Get rich on Uncle Sam's Dime"....she left in tears.

Unfortunately, NOTHING happened to the officer who raped/assaulted the women, and in fact he was promoted shortly thereafter. My friend was going to file a lawsuit but was told by the military that her life WOULD become very difficult if she tried to do so, and used past psych evals against her, releasing personal medical information "accidentally" to coworkers, etc.

They were quite unpleasant.

---oh and by the way, the higher-up who was so insulting to my friend---was a woman.

[Undercover Owl]

20. fine I can deal with getting a draft notice...

They can try to draft me...but no f*cking way will I go! They can waste as much paper as they want, and as much hot air until they turn blue, but I'm not serving!