“The Army, Navy, and Coast Guard effectively de-emphasize gender”
This Daily Mail story has gone viral, but it buries the lede in a very big way.
US Marines may soon stop using the words ‘sir’ and ‘ma’am’ to address their senior officers, a new report has revealed – as part of a sweeping effort to avoid ‘misgendering’ drill instructors.
The recommendation came in a recently completed academic report from the University of Pittsburgh, which was commissioned by the Corps in 2020.
Completed this year, the report offers a detailed independent study on gender-integration at boot camp, and suggests measures Marines should take to make both genders feel more at ease when hearing responses from aspiring privates.
The Marines are actually not happy with this proposal that comes from a university report. A $2M report.
University of Pittsburgh’s Neuromuscular Research Laboratory and Warrior Human Performance Research Center was tasked, under a $2 million contract, to “analyze combinations of gender-integrated training and make recommendations for models that integrate genders to the greatest extent possible while continuing to train Marines to established standards,”
The underlying logic continues the usual stuff about “centering” and gender norms.
The University of Pittsburgh report highlights a number of ways ― subtle and not-so-subtle ― that Marine Corps boot camp centers male recruits and makes male Marines the standard. Three of the five sections of service history taught at boot camp contain no explicit mention of female Marines, and “core values” guided discussions exclusively highlight the stories of male Marines and sailors when giving examples of real-world heroism and leadership.
That would be because the Marine Corps has been around for a long time and heroism and leadership has generally involved men rushing into combat or holding their positions to fight the enemy or save lives.
Wokeness is creating a European military, focused on self-esteem and representation, not on winning.
The Marine Corps is generally the most traditional and the most resistant to the culture war. That’s the buried lede.
“The Army, Navy, and Coast Guard effectively de-emphasize gender in an integrated environment,” the report states. “Instead of saying ‘ma’am’ or ‘sir,’ recruits in these Services refer to their drill instructors using their ranks or roles followed by their last names. Gendered identifiers prime recruits to think about or visually search for a drill instructor’s gender first, before their rank or role.”
While I’ve spoken out against woke brass before, the root of this nonsense is actually coming from Congress which mandated gender-integrated Marine Corps training, a bad idea, and then, of course, activists began complaining about sexism and gendered language. They’re not going to stop until the Marine Corps, like the rest of the military, consists of a bunch of useless social justice keyboard warriors, but Congress can make them stop.
When Republicans dominate the House Armed Services Committee, they can reverse forced gender integration and a lot of the woke madness.
The question is will they? I doubt it unless they hear from a lot of conservatives.
Article posted with permission from Daniel Greenfield
