Not Just Weapons of the Weak: Gender Harassment as a Form of Protest for Army Men
Author(s)
Miller, Laura L.
Abstract
Structural analyses describe men as the dominant gender in the military: yet some Army men use strategies against women similar to the “weapons of the weak” described in the resistance literature. Social psychology sheds light on this behavior because of its emphasis on perceptions of power. Some Army men actually believe that women are the powerful gender within the military, and thus act as an oppressed group on the basis of those perceptions. Structural analyses that divide the population into the powerful and the powerless are further limited because they do not account for coexisting multiple hierarchies of power. Individuals can simultaneously enjoy privilege and face disadvantages according to race, gender, age, occupation, and position within an organization. Although the Army apparently has made some headway in deterring overt sexual harassment, some men still may resort to covert gender harassment to express their disapproval of women’s participation in the military.
