The country has changed tremendously in fifteen years, and sure, review the policy.

1. It was a very difficult issue…. You had to be there at the time. You had to hear from the troops…. from the academy superintendants who had to try to figure out how to accommodate this in very, very close barracks life… where you tell people who are going to be living with and sleeping in the same room with, you had to hear from the families who were concerned that this was going to affect our whole base life. There was a whole agenda coming in and it was not appropriate for that agenda to be presented to us. You should have heard from our chaplains who were having difficulty with this, so it wasn’t just a matter of a bunch of old generals. It was a difficult issue for us on one of the most fundamental issues of human behavior, sexuality [in] an organization that is designed for applying the force of the state. . . (Colin Powell in 2008)

2. The country has changed tremendously in fifteen years, and sure, review the policy. …but at the same time, I’m not sure we should do away with it. --Colin Powell in 2008

3. "I know that I have served with people who are gay, I know that. They just didn't say it. I didn't ask, and they didn't tell. Okay? Let me also remind you, that the foremost obligation of any president is to preserve the nation's forces, and that's to have the best possible military that you can possibly have, and therefore, policies concerning the military should be tailored to one object and one object only, and that is how we can best secure our nation's security...and improve our nation's defenses.” • This is “not a civil rights issue.” • Senator John McCain, July 2009 Air America Interview

4. “The Time Has Come” In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, General Petraeus said that he supported a review of the military's Don't Ask Don't Tell Policy BUT, Petraeus also said that eliminating DADT could negatively impact military function.

5. retired U.S. general John Sheehan says Dutch troops failed to defend against the 1995 genocide in the Bosnian war because the army was weakened by the inclusion of openly gay soldiers. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/18/john-sheehan-retired-us-g_n_504992.html

6. "Now is the time to write your elected officials and chain of command and express your views. If those of us who are in favor of retaining the current policy do not speak up, there is no chance to retain the current policy.“ • Lt. General Benjamin Mixon, head of U.S. Army Pacific in a letter published in Stars and Stripes

7. Gen. James Conway, commandant of the Marine Corps, told the Senate Armed Services Committee in February that he opposes lifting the ban on openly gay people serving in the military. —most senior military officer to openly express his opposition to repeal. • "I would not ask our Marines to live with someone who is homosexual if we can possibly avoid it. And to me that means we have to build BEQs (bachelor enlisted quarters) and have single rooms." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/26/marine-corps-general-jame_n_515564.html

8. "forced cohabitation" and resulting "sexual tension ... will hurt discipline and morale.” • "People are human, people have sexual feelings and they're not perfect. . . Prejudice is wrong, but feelings about sexuality are different." • if the law were repealed, the number of HIV-positive service members would probably increase.

9. “transgenders in the military.” • gays would spread “HIV positivity” through the ranks. • “inappropriate passive/aggressive actions common in the homosexual community” • “forcible sodomy” and “exotic forms of sexual expression” • “a group of black lesbians who decided to gang-assault” a fellow soldier. • Elaine Donnelly in testimony before House Subcommittee in July 2008

10. Race versus sexuality: • I think that it is a different issue… I think sexuality, and sexual preferences, in the confines of barracks life is a different issue. Will it ultimately be resolved….?

11. What has changed? • What hasn’t? • Are possibilities for military inclusion greater for gays and lesbians and for women than they were seventeen years ago? • Is military inclusion a valid and/or validating aspiration?

12. History of debates about military inclusion • Military culture • Sex-violence-masculinity • Relationship of those concepts to state power as institutionalized in the military • The military has changed: • repeal of DADT seems possible, if not likely • Women occupy more positions in the military • But, women and gays and lesbians is still conditional • sexual harrassment and violence directed at female and homosexual servicemembers continues

13. U.S. Military Today • Fighting two wars • All-volunteer force • Challenges of recruitment and retention • Homosexual discharges have fallen off since 2001 • Women are 15% of U.S. military troops • Who is allowed to serve?

14. DADT Repeal • Rising Reports of Sexual Assault in the Military

15. Theorizing Citizenship • Formal legal status (citizens/aliens) • Different dimensions of belonging, recognition, and participation in the nation state • Social citizenship (TH Marshall) – civil or legal rights, political rights, social rights • Expansion of Marshall’s concept: economic or cultural citizenship, consumer citizenship • Brenda Cossman, Sexual Citizens : The Legal and Cultural Regulation of Sex and Belonging, 2007.

16. Citizenship as political engagement/obligation (implies a normative ideal of citizenship) • Citizenship as gendered, racialized and/or sexualized in nature (exclusionary)

17. Citizenship as a technology of governance • Technologies of citizenship are “modes of constituting and regulating citizens: that is, strategies for governing the very subjects whose problems they seek to redress.” (Cruikshank, 1999, 2). • Explores how different subjects are constituted as members of the polity.

18. Sexual Citizenship • A set of rights to sexual expression and identity (builds on TH Marshall) • Idea of belonging • Privatization of political or democratic engagement (Berlant 1997) • A new politics of intimate or everyday life (Plummer 2001)

19. Citizenship has always been sexed • Scholars of sexuality explore ways in which citizenship has been constituted through the discourses of heteronormativity • Citizenship has long been associated with heterosexuality • With its emphasis on either rights or political participation in the public sphere, citizenship has presupposed a highly privatized, familialized, and heterosexual sexuality

20. “Sexual Strangers” • Shane Phelan: sexual minorities are neither enemies nor friends – they may be neighbors, but they are ‘not like us.’ (Phelan, 29). • This exclusion, this strangeness, this denial of full political citizenship, Phelan argues, is “at the core of contemporary American understandings of common life.” (Phelan, 5)

21. Pitfalls of Inclusion • disciplinary and normalizing nature of inclusion (Berlant) • Normalization is a strategy for inclusion in the prevailing social norms and institutions of family, gender, work, and nation. • neutralizes the significance of sexual difference and sexual identity • “render[s] sexual difference a minor, superficial aspect of a self who in every other way reproduces the ideal of a national citizen.” (Steven Seidman, 1997, 324).

22. Now sexed differently: • once private sphere of intimate life has been politicized • demands for civic inclusion by gays and lesbians, women, and others has led to a revision and expansion of the meaning of citizenship • issues once relegated to the private sphere are themselves the proper subject of political representation

23. Sexual citizenship is changing • [H]eterosexuality no longer acts as a preemptive bar to all forms of citizenship. Gay and lesbian subjects have begun to cross the borders of citizenship, unevenly acquiring some of its rights and responsibilities and performing some of its practices. They are in the process of becoming citizens, a complex and uneven process of crossing borders, reconstituting the terms and subjects of citizenship as well as the borders themselves. 9

24. But sexual citizenship is about more than the process of gays and lesbian subjects becoming citizens. It is also about the process of straight subjects becoming and unbecoming citizens. • How do the sexual politics of the military affect what Phelan calls “the core of contemporary American understandings of common life”?

25. What is the relationship of the military to gender and sexuality? • And specifically, to gender and sexual violence?

26. Military • Military as an exceptional institution • Military as a representative public institution • What is the place of privacy in the military? • What is the place of sexuality? • Relationship of military to civilian life • Relationship to gender difference: protector/protected dynamic • Who is qualified to speak about or regulate military society?

27. Has it changed to reflect increasing acceptance of women and GLBTQ Americans in the broader society, such that discriminatory military policies are anachronistic and ripe for change? • Is it just a few old-timers like John McCain who stand in the way of more just and inclusive military? • Or does It remain a crucial site for the installation and conservation of heterosexual male dominance in American society?

28. Tactical uses of gender and sexual violence • Military academies • Abu Ghraib • DADT • Sexual harrassment on the basis of gender and sexual orientation are rampant in the military • Problems for women reporting sexual assault • Problems for gay men and lesbians

29. Military Inclusion and Civil Rights • Symbolic importance: military as “proving ground” of citizenship and national belonging • Means to attaining civic credibility for various groups • Practically, nation’s largest employer – discrimination allowed or disallowed there impacts many and has consequences for broader society

30. Feminist critique • Liberal, rights-based arguments in favor of military inclusion are misguided • Military is fundamentally masculinist and misogynistic • “The military is characterised by an inflated and coercive masculinity.” (Sheila Jeffreys, 2007)

31. Male soldiers are trained to kill on the basis that they are men and that women are the ‘other’ against whom they can recognize themselves. • Women are also . . . the ‘other’ that male soldiers are to defend and die for. • Even the motherland that they fight for is usually gendered female • Masculinity and the othering of women and homosexuality, gendered female, are used in training as soldiers are insulted with female epithets. (Sheila Jeffreys, 2007)

32. According to a 2003 survey, 28 percent of women using the Veterans Administration health care system experienced at least one sexual assault during military service. • A 2005 study estimates that more than half of women in the reserves and National Guard suffered sexual assault or harassment during their service. • DOD report, released 3/17/2009, found 2,923 sexual assault "reports" in fiscal 2008, which is roughly an 8 percent increase compared to fiscal 2007. • Sexual trauma, combined with combat trauma, makes women more vulnerable to post-traumatic stress disorder. (NPR report, 2007)

33. "I am not focused on numbers right now," said Casey. "We need to create an environment and culture which rejects assault, where someone feels comfortable in coming forward (to report assault)."Casey said he believes by placing more visibility on sexual harassment and assault, the problem will be fixed faster. By using the Army structure in place, training can be pushed down through the ranks."Every leader needs to see sexual assault as fundamentally counter to the warrior ethos," said Casey. "It's all about leadership and leaders setting the right examples."

34. "Sexual assault not only hurts its victims physically and emotionally, it tears at the moral fiber that gives our Army, our team, its strength," said Lt. Gen. Thomas P.Bostick, deputy chief of staff of the Army for personnel, G-1. "The crime of sexual assault is fundamentally against our warrior ethos."

35. Begun in 2008, the SHARP program held its first summit that year, • During the 2009 SHARP summit, former Secretary of the Army Pete Geren explained why the Army is taking steps to reduce the presence of sexual crimes."It's a problem that we in the Army are going to address because in the Army we are different," Geren said last year. "We're going to eradicate sexual assault from the life of our Army, and we are going to do it because we are a values-based organization. That's what sets us apart from the rest of society."

36. U.S. Army: I. A.M. Strong Campaign Soldiers attending the BOSS conference came away understanding that preventing sexual assault is one of the highest priorities of the Army's most senior leadership. Hearing it straight from the Army's top non-commissioned officer served to underscore that point."As the Army moves out front in these efforts, I need you to ask yourself and each other, 'What can we do now to prevent sexual assault?'" said Preston. "It's about bringing the team together, being a leader. Looking out for our fellow Soldiers and taking them under your wing to keep them safe." "Our Army values and the Warriors Ethos should make it a given," said Preston. "But to remind you and all our Army Soldiers, I want to reinforce that it's your duty as a Soldier to:INTERVENE:"When you recognize a threat to a fellow soldier, I expect you to have the personal courage to INTERVENE and prevent sexual assault. As a warrior and a member of a team, you must INTERVENE.ACT:"As a brother, a sister, a fellow Soldier, it is your duty to stand up for your battle buddies, no matter the time or place. Take ACTION. Do what's right. Prevent sexual assault. ACT.MOTIVATE:"We are Soldiers, MOTIVATED to engage and keep our fellow Soldiers safe. It is our mission to prevent sexual assault and to live the Army Values and take care of our fellow Soldiers. We are all MOTIVATED to take action, to promote SAPR programs and become advocates within our communities. We are strongest...together."

37. Women in combat • In the early 1990s, Congress lifted the ban on women flying combat aircraft and serving on combat ships • women may not be assigned to ground combat units. • not allowed to serve in the infantry or as special operations commandos. • But women are serving in support units as truck drivers, gunners, medics, military police, helicopter pilots and more.

38. In Iraq and Afghanistan, US troops are waging war against guerrilla insurgency • Enemy tactics includes use of improvised explosive devices, mortar attacks, suicide bombs and rocket-propelled grenades • unpredictable nature of attacks blurs the distinction between front-line and rear areas

39. The extraction of sexual access to women through superior power, higher status, means which do not involve direct physical force or its threat, should be understood as ‘sexual exploitation’. • Interestingly, one significant form of torture at Abu Ghraib was turning the Iraqi male prisoners into women. One prisoner reported that ‘he was threatened with rape by a U.S. soldier. “He drew a picture of a woman on my back and made me stand in a shameful position holding my buttocks,” he said’ (Langton, 2004). In a workplace culture such as this military prison it is hard to see how women soldiers could achieve equal respect.

40. Lynndie England reported one instance of prisoners being degraded by being treated as women, ‘Iraqi prisoners crawled over broken glass wearing only sanitary towels, shamed soldier Lynndie England said yesterday’(Crerar, 2004). Similar torture techniques, of humiliating Muslim prisoners with the uncleanliness of women, were employed at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba in the same time period. An Australian prisoner, Mamdouh Habib reported that a prostitute was told to stand over him and menstruate on him

41. Of the unrestricted reports, 2,061 involved men assaulting women, up more than 10 percent from 1,864 in 2008. • The number of men reporting assaults by other men also rose, to 173 in 2009 from 123 in 2008, a 40 percent increase. There were 17 reports of women being assaulted by women; there were nine in 2008. Other categories remained little changed: There were 252 reports in 2009 of victims not knowing their assailants' gender, compared with 255 in 2008. In 2009, there were 13 reports of women assaulting men; there were 14 in 2008.

42. Queer Critique • Military enforces a model of citizenship that is at odds with queer identity • relegates sex to the realm of the private • Inclusion runs risk of legitimating certain segments of GLBTQ population (gay men and lesbians) at the expense of transgender and bisexual people

43. Citizenship and Military Obligation • Military service as an important marker of citizenship • Military as nation’s largest employer (fairness and nondiscirmination)

44. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell • “Don't ask, don't tell" passed by Congress in 1993. Under the law, GLBT members are allowed to serve unless they: -- Make a statement of their sexuality , publicly or even to family and friends (and are later turned in)-- Attempt to marry a person of the same sex-- Get caught engaging in a homosexual act Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell at http://hopesvoice.org/?p=1381

45. Since "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" went into effect, roughly 13,000 servicemen and women have left the military because of the rule, reaching a peak of 1,273 in 2001. • The number has fallen as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan increased the demand for troops. Last year, 428 gay men and women left the military, according to Defense Department statistics. • About 80 percent of those came forward themselves and acknowledged they were gay. The remaining 20 percent were brought to the attention of commanders by a third party.

46. The DADT Digital Archive

47. Feminists Theorize the Military • Military as a site for the preservation of heterosexual masculinity • Protector/protected distinction • Sexual dimensions of military culture • Are these kinds of claims still relevant given the current composition of the U.S. Armed Forces?

48. The symbolic power of the U.S. military lies in the ease with which it ties the archetypal and patriarchal role of protector (warrior) to the state (motherland). • Masculinity is foundational to the militarized protection myth. • All military archetypes and actors are implicitly and explicitly measured by their masculinity and their worth determined accordingly. • The dominant military archetype. . . is the warrior hero. • This archetype relies on and glorifies (hyper)masculinity, whiteness, heterosexuality, moral and national superiority, and violence--all of which are sanctioned during times of war. • Not all masculine figures are entitled to be the warrior. • almost exclusively white • men of color can be the combatants but are denied legitimacy as a warrior representing the U.S. state • the warrior hero is the antithesis of that which is feminine.

49. the military is characterized by an inflated and coercive masculinity • this helps to explain why there is a serious problem of sexual violence in the US military from male soldiers towards their female counterparts.

50. Masculinity is central to the basic enterprise of the military… Male soldiers are trained to kill on the basis that they are men and that women are the ‘other’ against whom they can recognize themselves. Women are also offered as the ‘other’ that male soldiers are to defend and die for. Even the motherland that they fight for is usually gendered female (Yuval-Davis, 1997). • Masculinity and the othering of women and homosexuality, gendered female, are used in training as soldiers are insulted with female epithets. • This masculinity is deliberately created by militaries through the provision of prostitution and pornography which enable men to ‘other’ women and understand themselves as masculine.