To have said that women should be drafted equally to men??

[Pukkajones]

Chatting to a group of friends about the state of the world etc and while in theory I’m against conscription and forced national military service I did say that I think it’s right that there is more equality in girls/women being treated the same as boys/men in the countries that have service.
One friend who has 3 teen girls really had a go at me and got very upset. I have a teen boy and teen girl. While I hate the idea of EITHER being forced to enter the military I think they should be treated equally ( roles allowing - ie some combat roles aren’t open to women) if it came to it. ‘it’ being an actual war with Russia and/or its allies.

it got VERY heated, even though I and another friend pointed out that there are many non-combat roles in the military. And that if we did end up in a World War we’d likely have a role in it regardless of sex or age.

YABU - only men should be drafted
YANBU - in the modern world both sexes should serve in the military.

The OP needs to read ' Rape what war does to womens bodies' and think again.

I agree. I am not in favour of conscription, but it should apply equally to men and women.

Yes, but there should be a pacifist option for both sexes as well.

Both of my parents were conscripted in WW2. The roles they played were completely different (mum worked in the RAF post office entirely in the UK, wheras dad was shipped abroad, captured, and spent most of the war as a Japanese POW). but conscription was there for both.
In the event of another European land war, while I'd expect the lines between what was suitable work for women and men to be drawn differently now, I don't see why the overall approach should be any different.

Look up the history of the women pilots, or code breakers in WW2.
And yes of course there were exemptions to conscription in WW2.

Rape is terrible but I'm not sure it's worse than being killed. And not fighting wars certainly doesn't stop women being raped in them.

YANBU.

I agree with you OP, and I also have a girl and or boy (although way too young to be directly impacted by this for a long time).

The only caveat I would put is that the military has to adapt to having both males and females, and I'm not sure it's really there yet. Pushing young girls in an environment and system built for men isn't fair.

I think this is a fair point and I think given the worrying rates of sexual violence in war it would be concerning that women may have to fear the people they are fighting alongside. I also think there's concern around whether women would be given the same opportunities and the same respect as male counterparts.

My main concern actually is how the country remains sustainable should all our young or capable men and women be drafted. Previously women held the fort at home and were also then ready to hold the trauma for those coming home. If everyone is conscripted then who is left behind?

Yep, someone needs to keep the lights on and everything moving at home. Plus children should not be placed in a position where they could easily lose both parents and be orphaned.

This is a very good point about children as well.

This is quite interesting as one of my grandfather's was in a reserved occupation and wasn't conscripted and one of my grandmother's was conscripted to some sort of auxiliary service. She was in the uk.

It's not always front line infantry stuff.

Rape is a form of torture. So is it better to be tortured then killed, or just killed?

Please read the book!

Men get raped in war. Russians have been assaulting Ukrainian men too and cutting their testicles off.

Based on what? Do you know SF men personally?

I don't think drafting would ever work again. The social contract is broken. the only way it would work is it the UK was being attacked rather than fighting a war overseas (like in WW2). It would also have to be everyone - so men and women and very few exemptions (neurodiversity etc..) otherwise no one would do it. The veterans still alive all universally state that war is pointless and never worth it. I am against conscription 100% and war. It just causes more war and suffering.

Men are also tortured and killed in war, sometimes even raped.

Rape as a weapon of war is far less likely to be used against men by a massive margin. Don't be so daft! Men are also equals in strength and more likely to be able to fight their attacker off. Women don't stand a bloody chance!!!

It is now, if you want it to be. Just don't marry a chump.

Sadly they very much do get raped. It's one of the things my brother was told to expect if his company got captured during his tour of Iraq II. They usually choose the youngest in the company and make sure the other men know what's happening to him. It's a known technique to destroy morale and has been used by many armies.

It's utterly diabolical, sadly men are just as vulnerable as women in war time.

As a proportion of men, it's very slim pickings, unfortunately. And some don't show their true colours until children come along.

But I agree that women need to wise up about this upfront and start as they mean to go on - if you're living with him and he's not pulling his weight, don't marry him until he is. And if he doesn't - leave.

But more broadly, society can't have it both ways. Want us to fight? Fine, equalise our pay and opportunities and then we can talk. Until then? Nah.

We sent women to Afghanistan to defuse IEDs. I knew one who didn’t come back.

Why on earth are you having “very heated” conversation about something entirely theoretical? YABU and find something better to worry about.

Captain Lisa Head? Bomb dissosals officer, killed on operations in Afghanistan, 2011. I think she was the first?

Yes. I was standing at a bar next to her a matter of weeks before it happened. She was so excited at the prospect of doing the job she’d trained so hard for. She was a brave, brave woman.