Women and War

I was thinking last night about women and war. Mostly, I was thinking about how great of a general I would be. Well, I would have been a good general during the 1700s or the 1800s or even the early 1900s. Not now. All romantic wars are over because we have too much technology now. Today, the world is too small for war. But I digress. I know I would have been a cunning victor because as a woman, I know how to manipulate. I am always thinking three steps ahead of any man.

I question whether there are innate differences between men and women or whether gender is solely something we preform. You wear the blue hat. I'll wear the pink hat. From what I can tell, the core difference in gender behavior is immediacy. A guy has an itch. He scratches it. A guy feels hunger. He eats. A guy thinks a thought. He says it. This is not how most women operate. How a woman responds to any given situation is far more complicated.

Imagine my surprise when I saw this editorial on CNN's website this morning. To summarize, some guy with a few fancy schmancy history credentials thinks men are wired for war. He treads carefully, any blatant sexism will make his editorial too sensational, and commends women for being capable of fighting. But when it comes down to it, men have always needed to test themselves through war. I imagine him saying this with a wink, a deep elbow nudge to the ribs and a lighting of his pipe.

I would be very interested to know what relationships the author has with women, if any. It's painfully obvious that he doesn't understand women.

He writes: Indeed, women may respond to the test of their essential identity in a less macho fashion then men.

What he means to say, and doesn't know it, is that few women feel the need to shoot an elephant (reference George Orwell's short story Shooting an Elephant). Women cannot be emasculated because we cannot earn masculinity. The worst thing a man can be is feminine, and men have used war as a life-time certificate of authentic manhood. Congratulations.

Women start wars because we want something. Maybe not always wars with guns, bombs and tanks. But we are combative too. If a woman wants something badly enough, she will find a way to get it. If a man wants to win a war out of pride, then a woman wants to win a war out of possession. Being "wired for war" is human nature. I'm sorry a man with so many accolades doesn't know that.