ABSTRACT
The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon on September 11, 2001 prompted a retaliatory response from the United States that has ushered in sweeping changes in the military and society at large. The open-ended invasions and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq continue to necessitate changes to pre-existing gender norms in military culture. More recently, progressive calls for social change along with the United States' ongoing conflicts have led to repealing laws that historically prevented the full inclusion of women and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) personnel in all branches of service, though not without appeals to militarist masculinity and social resistance. This chapter discusses the gendered reactions to 9/11 before turning to women's expanding roles in the military, an expansion plagued by sexual violence and a poorly equipped infrastructure that has often protected assailants and punished victims and that is still being reshaped as of this writing.
