When the news media discusses 'our men and women' in the armed forces, why do they never mention the 'sacrifice asymmetry' between the genders?

arktikosN · 2009-09-13T01:02:26+00:00

But I get the sense that some commentators go out of their way to use that glorious conjunction "and" when they say "the men and women serving our country" in order to suggest some sort of gender equality when it comes to sacrificing for our country.

Since when does the word "and" suggest that two things are equal? They could (and do) say other things like "soldiers," but people prefer not to use the same phrase repetitively, so "men and women" gets thrown in there. There are far more men in the military than women (and that's not exactly a secret), but there are still a quarter of a million women in the military (according to WikiAnswers, anyway), and "men" isn't the best way to refer to a group that includes 250,000 women.
(edited to fix formatting error)

brunt2 · 2009-09-13T01:35:57+00:00

[permanently deleted]

2009-09-13T01:36:00+00:00

They never mention the age asymmetry either. A lot more young kids get shot up than old men. Now I'm sure there's a valid statistical reason for that, if we think hard enough about it.

And come to think of it, I haven't seen them mention that enlisted vs officer asymmetry either.

Rich vs Poor? Hmm. Sounds like there's a serious conspiracy going on.

Title	When the news media discusses 'our men and women' in the armed forces, why do they never mention the 'sacrifice asymmetry' between the genders?
Author	PierceHarlan
Upvotes	14
Comments	8
Date	September 12, 2009 10:02 PM UTC (16 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/9jyci/when_the_news_media_discusses_our_men_and_women/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/when-the-news-media-discusses-our-men-and-women-in.1052920 https://theredarchive.com/post/1052920

Comments