Conscription as discrimination

It is sometimes said, that if only women were leaders of the world, there would be no war. This of course ignores that, this must be because women must have selected violent men, and maybe they still do: Serial killer Peter Lundin, who killed his mother, girlfriend and two kids, have always been lucky with the ladies.

It also ignores, that even if men starts the wars, it's also men who fights the wars. They are forced both legally and socially.

Men face a legal discrimination, which makes the claimed discrimination against women seem like a small issue: Men are forced to be soldiers.

This discrimination is defended in several ways. One is that women carry children. This is a non-starter: Being pregnant is not equal to fighting a war. If it is, I say ban pregnancy now! It is also a private and free choice: Though society needs children, women are not forced to become pregnant. The state owns men's bodies, but a woman's body is her own.

Another argument is that only men are fit to be soldiers. If this were true, there should at least be a fair and very large compensation for men. But it's probably not true.

Men also face a social discrimination: Men and women may look down upon them, for not wanting to be soldiers. “Soldiers are real men”, it is said. Men are expected to be violent, not pacifists. They have to accept that they are forced to kill others, and be killed themselves.

Another problem with conscription is the fact, that those fighting the war are not the ones fighting it. Women have a right to vote for politicians who start a war, but they will not be asked to fight in it. Ultimately war have often been decided by old rich men and women. It's easy for these people to talk of “sacrifice”, when the fighting is really being done by poor young men. This is not only a gender and age issue. The problem is basically: Is it ethical that some people can force other people to kill and be killed?

It's a shame, that mainstream feminists have never really cared to attack male conscription. Probably because most feminists are not really interested in carrying the same burdens as men, but only have the same rights. In fact the debate on this issue have been perverted. The feminists have succeeded to turn the issue around: They see the fact that men fight the wars, as a discrimination and exclusion of women!

And because a lot of men agree
that only men should be soldiers. This doesn't make it any more right though, in the light of the equality ideology.