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Sexism at the Naval Academy nee to be dealt with just as the military an
Women at USNA: Miles to go .. .
The U. S. Naval Academy is one of the country’s last strongholds of male domination. As such, it was predictable that integrating women into the brigade of midshipmen beginning in 1976 would meet its share of difficulties. While many people still debate whether women should be at the service academies, most know that women are there to stay. After 12 years, female midshipmen can no longer be considered an experiment. Yet they are still not fully integrated.
Of the many problems women face at the Naval Academy, the largest stem from ignorance about the female midshipmen themselves. Few really know how most of the women feel. Although * I cannot speak for them all, I know many have encountered situations similar to mine.
During high school and before, being a female was never a factor in assessing my competence. Plebe summer, however, marked a rude awakening to a male chauvinistic system. Many upperclassmen and fellow plebes made it clear they believe that women are less intelligent than men and that our ideas are out of sync with the military, because of our gender. These attitudes only worsened with the return of the brigade. Soon, many of the male plebes were acclimated to feeling superior—some referring to female plebes as “WUBAs” (a term for the working uniform, which degenerated into a nickname to describe overweight female mids or those who supposedly have had encounters with male midshipmen).
Although 1 had always been outspoken, 1 soon became more circumspect and developed a tendency to say only those things 1 was sure would not annoy anyone. This was especially true in classes. When 1 had questions, I usually left them unasked. Still, I hoped that the stifled part of me would bounce back after plebe year.
Instead, scrambling (the random reassignment of all midshipmen to a different company for their last three years) found me in a new, virtually alien company. Scrambling is difficult for everyone, but in my case, I wound up in a company that had a reputation for disliking female midshipmen. The
company commander was a notorious ringleader of malicious pranks against his female classmates, and his small group of friends within the company was also renowned for giving female mids a hard time. It was an awkward situation.
During the semester, I had countless “discussions” with some of the guys about the logic of having women at the service academies and in the military generally. I was willing to admit the drawbacks, but the men would seldom admit the advantages. These talks usually left me frustrated, angry, and even bitter. Most of all, I was tired of feeling that I had to prove repeatedly that I was competent. I also didn’t like the feeling that I had to defend the rest of the females in the brigade at the same time.
Each woman deals with these problems differently, but the outcome seems to be the same. Some confront the mistreatment directly and are criticized for it. Some try to become one of the guys and end up not fitting in with either the men—who feel invaded—or the women—who feel betrayed. Some pour themselves completely into their academics or sports. Still others deal with the stress by flirting and letting themselves be used; these few perpetuate and strengthen the argument for not having women at the academies. With great perseverance, many of the female midshipmen do eventually feel accepted and successful. This success is reflected in the steady rise of women’s grades over the course of their four years at the Academy.
In general, though, female midshipmen have a tough time maintaining their self-esteem and remembering why they entered the Naval Academy in the first place. The men constantly question our reasons for attending. Admittedly, not all of the prying is malicious; some men are just curious as to why we have put ourselves in such an “abnormal” situation. Still, many women lose sight of their initial goals under this stress, and the accompanying insecurity often produces other personality problems. For example, one Academy psychologist reported that many female midshipmen have eating disorders ranging from compulsive eating and exercising to anorexia and bulemia. The men are not sympathetic to female weight gain—nor for that matter are the cooks or the tailors.
The attrition rate for female midship' men, classes 1980-87, has averaged 35.1%, as compared to 22.9% for the men, and the women’s attrition rate has been rising. Perhaps this is because the first women expected the road to be difficult, and they were more prepared and more carefully selected. Because 0 this rising attrition, the Academy no* recruits women heavily. Yet some recruiters have not been giving these women the total picture of life at the Academy. Consequently, many recruits grow quickly disillusioned and quit- The October 1987 study by the Women Midshipmen Study Group (se0 “Women in the Brigade,” April 198° Proceedings, pages 103-108) has recommended measures to attract better prepared women through more realist'0 odds that female recruits will stay. ln addition to forewarning candidates, something needs to be done to keep women at the Academy. That something is to fully integrate female mid' shipmen into the brigade.
The first step is to define the ferns’0 mid’s role clearly. We need to understand it, and so do the men. Women attend the Academy because they wlS to serve—not just because Congress passed a bill to allow us to do so. A1*1 tudes to the contrary must change.
Even when such attitudes change, there need to be support systems to help female midshipmen retain their self-esteem. This should involve addressing problems such as weight control, eating disorders, and stresshandling in general. Adding more female officers to the Academy staff can serve as positive role models can facilitate this. Moreover, easily access' ble information on women’s career op tions should be made available; this's something the newly formed Women s Professional Club has started to do.
the working world meet racism—-wid1 zero tolerance.
Midshipman Schollaert is majoring in oceanogra phy and hopes to pursue a Navy career in ocean ography or intelligence. She will graduate in ' and is working this summer on a research pr°Je at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
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Proceedings / August