Women are not fit for front line combat!

[binary solo]

Lawlight said:

binary solo said:

Yes, but that's because of a deeply rooted, cultural sexism that the men don't even realise influences their thinking. They want to save and protect the women in their squads because their subconscious says the women are weak, helpless and incapable of looking after themselves. If the men can overcome that misconception then they won't take those extra risks. But the only way for the men to overcome that misconception is for competent women to be part of their squads and show that they don't need extra care or protection over and above what a squad should ordinarily do to look out for each other.

Cultural sexism or, you know, biology. Could be the higher testosterone levels.

Clearly not. If men take fewer risks without women in the squad and take more risks when women are in the squad and in danger it's not biology that is driving the behaviour. It's the stupid hero, white knight complex. Call it a "protective instinct" for a euphemism if you like, but the origin is a culturally sexist attitude that women are in need of male protection. These guys aren't to blame for that affecting their decision-making, and indeed having a strong protective instinct is a good thing in general. But when you have to make life and death decisions on the battlefield every soldier needs to be seen as genderless in order to make the right decisions for the squad. If your thnking is being influenced by the fact that the soldier on your right is a woman and the soldier on the left is a man, and you are influenced by a subconscious belief that owmen need your protection more than men, then you are not making proper battlefield decisions.

That's not an argument for keeping women off the battlefield, that is an argument for fundamentally changning the way we think.