Women in combat/the military : an analysis of feminist and anti-feminist rhetoric

This thesis is a rhetorical analysis of the arguments of anti-feminists and feminists concerning the participation of women in the U.S. military and/or combat from 1972-1991. Sociologists increasingly are employing rhetorical analysis to document the ideological struggles of social movements and their countermovements. Rhetoric is a medium for such struggles. Successful signification of an issue, and establishment of the arena of debate, determine and reflect ideological power. This study attempts to establish what, if any, changes occurred in the type and frequency of the rhetoric employed in the debate over women in combat/the military. Using content analysis techniques, articles from special interest publications during the twenty year time period were analyzed. The coding categories were developed from those used in the rhetoric and debate field, previous research on feminist and anti-feminist rhetoric, and analysis of general readership magazine articles from the period. Changes in type and frequency of the rhetoric were found. The early anti-feminist rhetoric relied on tradition and biology and was a successful approach. The feminist rhetoric relied on pragmatic and educational approaches; they were not successful in defining the arena of the debate. Parallels also were discovered between the rhetoric of this time period and the rhetoric of the women's suffrage movement from the turn of the century.