Citizenship Rites: Feminist Soldiers and Feminist Antimilitarists

301 Pages·2000·1.86 MB·English

by  Ilene Feinman

Citizenship Rites

Ilene Rose Feinman
CITIZENSHIP
RITES
FEMINIST SOLDIERS
AND FEMINIST
ANTIMILITARISTS
a
New York University Press
New York and London
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York and London
© 2000 by New York University
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Feinman, Ilene Rose, 1959–
Citizenship rites : feminist soldiers and feminist
antimilitarists / Ilene Rose Feinman.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-8147-2688-7 (cloth:acid-free paper)
ISBN 0-8147-2689-5 (paper :acid-free paper)
1. United States—Armed Forces—Women. 2. Women soldiers—
United States. 3. Women and the military—United States.
4. Feminism—United States. 5. Militarism—United States. I. Title
UB418.W65 F45 1999
355'.0082'0973—dc21 99-6784
CIP
New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper,
and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability.
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Bessie, Rose, Jean, and Judith
women of power who taught me well
For Ben and Maia to a future of justice and peace

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
ONE
Feminist Antimilitarism/Feminist Egalitarian Militarism 11
TWO
The Soldier in the State 44
THREE
Martial Service and Military (Masculine) Citizenship:
The Challenge 87
FOUR
Legislating Equality: The Equal Rights Amendment, the Courts,
and the All Volunteer Armed Forces 111
FIVE
Women’s Actions and Womanpause 131
SIX
Mothers and Others for Peace Meet Women Soldiers 153
SEVEN
Can Women Kill? 174
EIGHT
Citizenship Rites 198
Notes 213
Bibliography 243
Index 277
About the Author 286
| vii |

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book is a product of deep and abiding commitments, long engaged
conversation, substantial field work and thus community input, and the
often seemingly invisible support of my life companions. My first debt
and gratitude, then, is really a collective one. Without my community,
political and social, this book would not exist. With them, it will hope-
fully have meaning and contribute to our collective endeavors for justice
and peace.
My community began with my parents, Judith and Lewis Feinman,
who first taught me to think about justice and peace by living in just ways
and yearning for peace, and who always supported me unfailingly
through everything I have ever done. I thank them for all that they gave
me and continue to give. I hope this book gives some small token in re-
turn.
Many people helped to shape my thinking and hone my intuitions for
this project. My first debts in this regard are to the activist communities
through which I learned my politics. This work grows directly out of my
activism for justice and peace. Without a community of activists and a
commitment to that yearning there would be no inspiration to engage
these questions; therefore, I owe the most to that vision and to the peo-
ple who keep the magic alive. In the early 1970s I was introduced to an-
timilitarism in Coconut Grove, Florida by Cindi Carmichael, a school-
mate, Scott Herrick of the American Friends Service Committee, and a
wonderful group of activist teenagers. I have had many friends and asso-
ciations in the Santa Cruz political community where I cut my teeth as
an organizer and developed the commitment for this work. I thank them
all, but especially Éva Brunner, Dan Hirsch, Deena Hurwitz, Scott
Kennedy, Julie Litwin, Peter Lumsdaine, Bill Pratt, T.V. Reed, Adrienne
Rich, Ted Rico, Shelly Sella, Noël Sturgeon, Katherine Weddingdress,
and all the people who participated with me in nonviolence preparations
and actions to bring about a just peace. Especially important to me were
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