果冻传媒

Conclusions: An All-Inclusive Military?

In the final seminar, we'll think about the relationship between the armed forces and American society at a time of profound ideological fracture. Our final discussion will range widely over material we've studied throughout the term, but it will also touch on two particularly contentious issues much in the spotlight over the last decade: women and the draft, and transgender people in the armed forces. I've assigned only one (very short!) reading in recognition of the fact that your policy papers are also due this week. But there are still participation points to be earned! So, do please come to this final session to share some concluding reflections on what we've individually and collectively learnt from the module.

Indicative seminar questions

• Of all the issues relating to gender and sexuality navigated by the US military, why has transgender service arguably proven the most contentious and unresolved?
• Has the US military led or lagged behind civil society in effecting more inclusive policies with regard to gender identity and sexuality?
• Why do conservatives decry what they regard as attempts to use the military as a 'social experiment'?
• Should women be subject to Selective Service (the draft) along with male citizens?
• What are the most striking and/or surprising things that you've learnt by taking this module?

Seminar slidesLink opens in a new window

Required reading:

Jacqueline E Whitt and Elizabeth A Perazzo, 鈥�The Military as Social Experiment: Challenging a TropeLink opens in a new window Parameters 48, 2 (Summer 2018): 5-11

Further reading:

On women and the draft:

Elizabeth Farrington, 'Gender-Selective Service: The History and Future of Women and the Draft,' University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review 39 (2016-17)

Andrew J Haile, 鈥楻edrafting the Selective Service Act: Women and the Military Draft鈥�, Elon University Law Legal Studies Research Paper (Aug. 2020)

Kara Dixon & Jacqueline Whitt, 鈥楾he Gander and the Goose: Women and Selective Service Registration鈥�, War Room, US Army War College podcast

Kara Dixon Vuic, 鈥楢 Faulty Court Precedent on Selective Service Leaves the Last Legal Sex Discrimination in Place鈥�, History News Network, July 4, 2021

On transgender service: 

White House, 'Executive Order on Enabling All Qualified Americans to Serve Their Country in Uniform', Jan. 25, 2021,

Michelle Dietert and Dianne Dentice, 'The Transgender Military Experience: Their Battle for Workplace Rights,' Journal of Workplace Rights (April-June 2015): 1-12

M Elders et al., 鈥楳edical Aspects of Transgender Military Service鈥�, Armed Forces & Society 41, 2 (Apr. 2015): 199-220

Male Embser-Herbert, With Honor and Integrity: Transgender Troops In Their Own Words (2021) e-book

Morton G Ender, David E Rohall and Michael D Matthews, 'Cadet and Civilian Undergraduate Attitudes towards Transgender People: A Research Note', Armed Forces & Society 42, 2 (2016): 427-35

Matthew J Lang, 鈥楨xamining the Trump Administration's Transgender Service Ban through an International Human Rights Law Framework鈥�, Duke Journal of Gender Law & Policy 25, 2 (2017): 249-70

Daniel C Lewis et al, 鈥楶ublic Attitudes on Transgender Military Service: The Role of Gender鈥�, Armed Forces & Society 47, 2 (2021): 276-297

Victoria Manuel, 鈥楾rump鈥檚 Transgender Military Ban: Policy, Law and Litigation鈥�, Tulane Journal of Law & Sexuality 75 (2020): 75-91

James E Parco, David A Levy & Sarah R Spears, 鈥楾ransgender Military Personnel in the Post-DADT Repeal Era: A Phenomenological 果冻传媒鈥�, Armed Forces & Society 41, 2 (Apr. 2015): 221-242

Agnes Gereben Schaefer et al,  (RAND corporation, 2016)

Adam F Yerke and Valory Mitchell, 'Transgender People in the Military: Don't Ask? Don't Tell? Don't Enlist!,' Journal of Homosexuality 60, 2-3 (2013): 436-57