Morality and Careers
Jul. 11th, 2012 02:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aciesanimaSometimes I feel really uncertain about my [planned] career choice.
Things that kept coming up over my school years were a strong sense of social justice, compassion and empathetic reasoning. I always felt drawn to the forces, namely the Defence or the Police, but in some ways I am frankly scared to pursue my planned careers within those respective forces.
Why? Well, not just that I'm a physically smaller female [only 5'2] looking to go into forces traditionally dominated by physically imposing males, but the amount of 'hate' they both get. I understand where the hate comes from- honestly, I really do. It's what causes the criticism that worries me: do I risk my own integrity to pursue something I feel dedicated to?
I feel as if by going into these forces that I run the risk of being tainted by their internal failures. I fear loosing myself to a greater framework that contradicts my own base morality.
Within the Defence force, there's a lot of secretive rape culture and very strong sexist inclinations. I can take sexist BS until it crosses a line because I'm frankly used to sexist slurs every day, it's just a part of society sadly. But they are often small and not intended by the user. The line is crossed when they are used with intent- then you've opened the court and it's game on. Then the rape culture: half the problem is the victims being shamed into silence. That alone is bad, but the further idea that my CO's wouldn't take an incident seriously disrupts my entire operational capability. If I can't trust my CO, if I can't respect them, then I will have serious issues following their orders and likely act of my own decisions.
There's much of the same within the Police, but a more serious threat of falling into a subconscious god-complex over the civilian populace. Being a cop does not mean you're above the rest of the community- it means you are, in fact, almost below them in the sense to support them and protect them. But the ongoing claims of police taking law, becoming fanatics and distorting it into their own purpose and acting accordingly is a dangerous risk to me. In that instance, the officer becomes the criminal.
I'm also afraid of stereotyping: the butch female cop or the try-hard chick with the dog to compensate for her small stature.
I want to be a cop because I want to protect and serve the community around me- I don't want to bust skulls or take names. If being in the RFS* has taught me anything is that I love being involved with the community despite not being an overly social person, I love working to keep it safe and to help people.
I want to be a MWD** handler because I like to work with dogs, I have a good understanding of how they think and frankly I'd be happy to stay just an LAW*** and never get promoted if I spent my days training and working with a dog. I'm not doing it to compensate for anything, I'm doing it to utilize what I'm good at to do what I feel drawn to: I work well with animals, I understand them, so why not use that to work towards protecting and serving?
It's going to be a difficult decision to make just to choose a force, but the more pressing one is if I'm strong enough within myself to withstand the internal faults of each respective system. I don't know yet, and perhaps I won't know until I'm in there. It's a big leap.
-Ales
*Rural Fire Service. Often referred to as just 'brigade'.
** Military Working Dog. Not bomb dogs in my case, actual security and guard dogs used to protect the bases themselves, control crowds, etc.
***Leading Aircraft Woman. Second lowest rank in the RAAF. MWD handlers rarely get past Sergeant.
Things that kept coming up over my school years were a strong sense of social justice, compassion and empathetic reasoning. I always felt drawn to the forces, namely the Defence or the Police, but in some ways I am frankly scared to pursue my planned careers within those respective forces.
Why? Well, not just that I'm a physically smaller female [only 5'2] looking to go into forces traditionally dominated by physically imposing males, but the amount of 'hate' they both get. I understand where the hate comes from- honestly, I really do. It's what causes the criticism that worries me: do I risk my own integrity to pursue something I feel dedicated to?
I feel as if by going into these forces that I run the risk of being tainted by their internal failures. I fear loosing myself to a greater framework that contradicts my own base morality.
Within the Defence force, there's a lot of secretive rape culture and very strong sexist inclinations. I can take sexist BS until it crosses a line because I'm frankly used to sexist slurs every day, it's just a part of society sadly. But they are often small and not intended by the user. The line is crossed when they are used with intent- then you've opened the court and it's game on. Then the rape culture: half the problem is the victims being shamed into silence. That alone is bad, but the further idea that my CO's wouldn't take an incident seriously disrupts my entire operational capability. If I can't trust my CO, if I can't respect them, then I will have serious issues following their orders and likely act of my own decisions.
There's much of the same within the Police, but a more serious threat of falling into a subconscious god-complex over the civilian populace. Being a cop does not mean you're above the rest of the community- it means you are, in fact, almost below them in the sense to support them and protect them. But the ongoing claims of police taking law, becoming fanatics and distorting it into their own purpose and acting accordingly is a dangerous risk to me. In that instance, the officer becomes the criminal.
I'm also afraid of stereotyping: the butch female cop or the try-hard chick with the dog to compensate for her small stature.
I want to be a cop because I want to protect and serve the community around me- I don't want to bust skulls or take names. If being in the RFS* has taught me anything is that I love being involved with the community despite not being an overly social person, I love working to keep it safe and to help people.
I want to be a MWD** handler because I like to work with dogs, I have a good understanding of how they think and frankly I'd be happy to stay just an LAW*** and never get promoted if I spent my days training and working with a dog. I'm not doing it to compensate for anything, I'm doing it to utilize what I'm good at to do what I feel drawn to: I work well with animals, I understand them, so why not use that to work towards protecting and serving?
It's going to be a difficult decision to make just to choose a force, but the more pressing one is if I'm strong enough within myself to withstand the internal faults of each respective system. I don't know yet, and perhaps I won't know until I'm in there. It's a big leap.
-Ales
*Rural Fire Service. Often referred to as just 'brigade'.
** Military Working Dog. Not bomb dogs in my case, actual security and guard dogs used to protect the bases themselves, control crowds, etc.
***Leading Aircraft Woman. Second lowest rank in the RAAF. MWD handlers rarely get past Sergeant.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-11 06:27 am (UTC)I'm surrounded by a lot of people in varying Forces. My father is a senior sargeant detective, and my cousin is a police officer (she is a young, petite, blonde holding her own), and we've also got military in the family. Having seen what's happened to them, I know it's very easy to get locked into the culture and lose track of original values. My cousin will be leaving as a result, though she doesn't know what she's going to do, since - I think similarly to you - she has a strong desire to work in some form of societally protective force.
It's definitely a tough issue. As you say though; you likely won't know until you're there, and it's different for everyone in the sense that... what others crumble under, some will hold up strongly. But the rape culture throughout the military is still horrible, and not a great deal of advance has been made in that arena. :/ I know too many women who have been raped by their own colleagues to ever think that's a safe space where women can trust who they work with.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-11 06:54 am (UTC)This~!
no subject
Date: 2012-07-12 01:50 pm (UTC)I too have seen what loosing one's self to the internals of a force can do- that's why I'm showing more hesitancy then some others my age heading into the forces; though that being said, most of them are males and don't have to fear quite the same amount of issues I do. It really is a balancing act over what I'm drawn to do and the compromises I may have to make- I'm also kind of afraid of the issues would arise when my integrity butts heads with the framework of my potential forces. I won't question authority or rules but should they contradict my morality then I've been known to throw off their guidelines. Such 'insubordination' would not be acceptable.
Yes, though I can get close to that experience by seeking out females in the positions I'm trying for and talking to them hopefully candidly. Once again, there have been small developments within the RAAF that give me a flicker of hope but honestly, it's going to take seriously dedicated, sincere interest from the forces themselves and a few decades until that development turns into results.