Damn the Torpedoes, Full Speed Ahead: The Argument for Total Sex Integration in the Armed Services
![handle is hein.journals/conlr28 and id is 631 raw text is: DAMN THE TORPEDOES,
FULL SPEED AHEAD:
THE ARGUMENT FOR TOTAL SEX
INTEGRATION IN THE ARMED SERVICES
Michael J. Frevold
I. INTRODUCTION
Throughout American history, society's view has been that, in time
of war, men go off to do the fighting while women are relegated to
keep[ing] the home fires burning.' The armed forces traditionally
have been one of the last true citadels of male domination,2 a boys
club whose qualification requirements, albeit sometimes necessitating
the ultimate sacrifice, have been considered worth the price for its
exclusive membership.' The armed forces' outdated practice of exclud-
* Lieutenant, United States Naval Reserve A.B., Duke University;, J.D., with distinctlion,
Hofstra University School of Law, Member, New York, New Jersey and Florida Bars. The
author is an associate attorney with the admiralty law firm of Tomaselli & Co., New York.
New York. Lieutenant Frevola is a veteran of Operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield, hav-
ing served in that theater of operations while onboard the U.S.S. Santa Barbara. an ammunition
ship manned by a mixed crew.
The author would like to thank Professor Robin D. Charlow, A.B., J.D.. Professor of Law,
Hofstra University School of Law, for her assistance in making this article a reality, and his
parents, for their support.
1. United States v. Saint Clair, 291 F. Supp. 122, 125 (S.D.N.Y. 1968).
2. See, e.g., Elaine T. May, Women in the Wild Blue Yonder, N.Y. TINMES, Aug. 7, 1991, at
A21 (noting that opening combat positions to women marks the invasion of women into one
of the few remaining bastions of masculinity.)
3. See Kenneth L. Karst, The Pursuit of Manhood and the Desegregation of the Armed
Forces, 38 UCLA L. REV. 499, 534 (1991).
War is man's work. Biological convergence on the battlefield would not only be dis-
satisfying in terms of what women could do, but it would be an enormous psycho-
logical distraction for the male who wants to think that he's fighting for that woman
somewhere behind, not up there in the same foxhole with him. It tramples the male
ego. When you get right down to it, you have to protect the manliness of war.
Ik (quoting Wright, The Marine Corps Faces the Future, N.Y. TMEs, June 20. 1982, (Maga-](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/conlr28&div=32&collection=journals&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Damn the Torpedoes, Full Speed Ahead: The Argument for Total Sex Integration in the Armed Services
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