Norwegian military moving to co-ed sleeping quarters

[The Bread Guy]

The Norwegian Army has started making women soldiers share unisex bedrooms with their male colleagues in a bold, some might say dangerous, experiment. Surprisingly though, the women so far report a cut in sexual harassment.

According to Ulla-Britt Lilleaas, co-author of the report "The Army: the vanguard, rear guard and battlefield of equality”, the women reported that sharing a room helped make them "one of the boys".

"To them there was nothing strange about the unisex rooms," she wrote. "They had entered a common mode where gender stereotypes had disappeared, or at least they were less obvious."

One woman soldier, who had purchased especially large underwear to minimize her sex-appeal, was surprised to find that rather than accentuate gender differences, sharing a room helped make them less relevant.

“You have to be a team here, and then you have to live together in order to be able to trust in one another”, said one of the women, who concluded the rooms were a “damn good idea”.

The move is the latest trail-blazing initiative from the Norwegian armed forces. In November, the forces announced that they would now serve soldiers vegetarian-only food one day a week in an effort to combat climate change.

In August they announced that male recruits would be permitted to grow their hair long, so long as they kept it in pony-tails or braids, as is required for female recruits ....

The Local (Norway), 24 Mar 14

 

[Zoomie]

We had unisex rooms on my QL3 - SC52 Mattawa Plains - summer of 1994.

 

[Remius]

Unisex weather havens on a DP1 I taught on in 09 in Meaford.  No issues.

 

[Goose15]

I can honestly say I am not surprised in the outcome. The over-sensitivity to gender/sex roles in North America can lead to exacerbated levels of harassment or views of inequality. Placing everyone on the same level does just that; making these [sometimes] excessive differences we see/create here much more minimal and/or depending on the circumstances or situation non-existent.

 

[Nfld Sapper]

Mixed tents in Tent City CFSME RETS for decades no issues....

 

[McG]

The western world has, for years, been ready for this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unisex_public_toilet

I suspect the Starship Trooper showers are the only thing we will stop short of reaching any time soon.

 

[The_Falcon]

I suspect the Starship Trooper showers are the only thing we will stop short of reaching any time soon.

And probably a good thing too.....until PT vastly improves in the forces, I doubt either gender wants to see the other nude, in large numbers.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Some of the Scandinavian militaries already shower together.

 

[armyvern]

Some of the Scandinavian militaries already shower together.

Hmmmm, I wonder if they accept Canadians into their midst as cross-overs.  Sounds like my kinda post-PT round up.

 

[Crispy Bacon]

Slept next to a female during DP1 in the weatherhavens at Meaford - no issues there (although there was with another female candidate, but we won't go there).

 

[Jarnhamar]

But what if I'm in an AFV and it's on fire how is the woman going to pull me out?  Or if a woman gets shot, men will just rush out and get shot trying to save them?

Wait wrong strawman.

 

[MPHopeful13]

But what if I'm in an AFV and it's on fire how is the woman going to pull me out?

Probably in a fashion similar to how this guy http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7C-MIAns-e8/TVeZM7E4S-I/AAAAAAAABhQ/0g73Kp1N9zA/s400/us-army-military-demotivational-poster-1242443008.jpg (or his Canadian counterparts, we know they`re out there) would be able to. FORCE institutes uniform physical req`s - there`s going to be women who can perform better in this situation compared to some male soldiers.

 

[vonGarvin]

FORCE institutes uniform physical req`s - there`s going to be women who can perform better in this situation compared to some male soldiers.

Just because there's one standard for all doesn't mean that the standard is worth the paper it's printed on.  More likely, it's a low standard so that we can make sure that people won't have heart attacks in the meal line while waiting for their seconds.

 

[Jarnhamar]

Probably in a fashion similar to how this guy http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7C-MIAns-e8/TVeZM7E4S-I/AAAAAAAABhQ/0g73Kp1N9zA/s400/us-army-military-demotivational-poster-1242443008.jpg (or his Canadian counterparts, we know they`re out there) would be able to. FORCE institutes uniform physical req`s - there`s going to be women who can perform better in this situation compared to some male soldiers.

I was purposley pointing out a strawman argument suggesting there are similarities between it and the misperceptions about males and females sharing living spaces.

 

[The_Falcon]

Keep it on point folks....there are already plenty of threads regarding fitness or lack thereof and how it relates to gender roles and stereotypes.