I would like to thank Eugene again for inviting me to guest-blog and the readers who have provided thoughtful comments. In these posts, I have touched upon some of the problems created by sexual integration of combat forces. There are many others that I cover in my book, including the tendency of men to protect […]
Author Archive | Kingsley Browne
Co-ed Combat – Responses to Comments:
In my last post, I said that my next post would be my concluding one. However, I thought that it might be worthwhile separately addressing a few recurring points from the comments. THE RACE ANALOGY: Several commenters suggested that the arguments made in my posts are illegitimate if they would be unacceptable if “race” were […]
Co-ed Combat — Pregnancy and Single Motherhood
I’ve discussed so far a variety of differences between men and women that affect their relative aptitude for combat roles. Another distinction between men and women that has significant effects on military readiness is that only women can become pregnant. Approximately ten percent of military women are pregnant at any one time. During the Gulf […]
Co-ed Combat – Cohesion and Trust:
It is a truism that individuals don’t fight wars; groups do. That’s one reason that the Army’s “Army of One” campaign was so controversial. A group can be more or less than the sum of its parts, and the way members of groups interact can be at least as important as the traits of individual […]
Co-ed Combat — Combat Motivation:
With Eugene’s assistance, I have attempted to link all of these related posts together. We’ll see if I have been successful. My last post discussed some average psychological differences between the sexes. This post will discuss potential effects of these and other differences. The “free rider” problem is potentially huge in combat. It is entirely […]
Co-ed Combat – Some Responses to Comments:
Many of the issues raised in the comments were thoroughly explored in the give-and-take there, so I will respond only to a few comments. Several comments dealt with the issue of endurance, and it is an important one. One commenter cited a study purporting to show a female advantage at ultra-long distances. I do not […]
Co-ed Combat – Psychological Sex Differences:
Yesterday’s post dealt with physical differences between the sexes. It produced a lot of good comments that I will try to get to today or tomorrow. This morning’s post will look at a number of psychological differences. Although measurable sex differences in most psychological traits related to combat tend to be smaller than physical differences […]
Co-ed Combat – Physical Sex Differences and Their Continued Importance:
I appreciate the many thoughtful and enlightening comments to my earlier post. Many of the issues raised are matters I am writing about in this post or in subsequent ones. Advocates of integration of women into combat forces often downplay the sex difference in physical capacity, correctly pointing out that some women are stronger than […]
Co-ed Combat – Overview:
Many thanks to Eugene for inviting me to guest-blog about my new book Co-ed Combat (Sentinel (Penguin USA)). Today, I am going to provide an overview of the book, and subsequent entries will discuss specific issues in greater depth. I obviously cannot cover all of the issues raised in my book, but many that I […]