Wanted: Dead Female Heroes

March 31, 2002

by Brian W. Peterson

Our society needs more women to die heroically. This sentiment encapsulates the apparent mantra of a few women across America in the wake of September 11. Too many men died heroes’ deaths while women missed out on a grand opportunity to become great American martyrs.

Terese Floren, director for “Women in the Fire Service,” bemoaned the terrible fact that men were hailed for their actions on that dreadful day: “There were all sorts of stories of how men did this, men did that, how all the firefighters killed were men. Somehow that’s being used to prove there shouldn’t be women firefighters. But if this happened almost anywhere else, there might have been 20 or 30 women firefighters killed.”

Oh the bad luck that the terrorists attacked New York City.

For one moment, dear reader, put aside thoughts of whether women should be firefighters. Forget the politics of a profession that sported no women as recently as 1973.

The disgusting aspect of Miss Floren’s attitude is that there are 383 openings in the New York Fire Department, and these openings are not due to retirements. Men died, but she can only think of lost opportunity.

In New York, the physical requirements are such that many men fail to make the grade. But that is not Miss Floren’s problem. Her problem is, had more women found employment with the fire department, we would not have had to hear the discriminatory praise of “men did this, men did that.”

The melancholy whining noted above has not been limited to one woman. FDNY Lt. Brenda Berkman is equally put out because no female firefighters had the opportunity to be crushed to death.

“What was most hurtful was to be so invisible at the funerals and memorial services. The officials giving the eulogies would talk about ‘firemen,’ the ‘brothers,’ the ‘men.’ After 20 years, it was tough to take.”

The poor woman. Imagine her thoughts as the Twin Towers collapsed, knowing that our nation would cry over the male of the species and forget all about her pathetic self and her department sisters.

If only women had died in the line of duty, Berkman and Floren could feel better about their gender. They could sleep at night, knowing that those ruffians known as “men” must share the glory of tragic death.

If only.

The comical aspect of this story is that these women have made themselves look so weak one wonders if they should even be allowed to be firefighters.

Many women want equal opportunities. This is quite understandable, but along the way, society is going to have to learn the lesson that the New York Fire Department has grasped: lowering standards does not benefit the public.

In Minneapolis, the fire department offers special assistance to women for the physical test and considers female applicants who pass the physical test no matter how high the score.

In other words, a woman who passes the test is considered before the men who score higher on the same test. That does not sound like equality.

A spokesman for the International Association of Fire Fighters said it best: “You can’t reduce the standards - if there’s a weak link, you get killed.”

But apparently, getting killed is exactly what Floren and Berkman wish for women. Ah, the glory in death. Bagpipes, eulogies, martyrdom, sainthood. More women firefighters, more dead women - how splendid.

Isn’t that why men go into the fire department? To die and leave behind wives and children? Why can’t women have more opportunities to leave behind husbands and children? Isn’t death for the cause of feminism worth that?

Perhaps these women found September 11 to be a dark day for feminism, but just maybe feminism will die the death for which Floren and Berkman yearn for other women.

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Brian W. Peterson writes a political column for the Antelope Valley Press (circulation approximately 60,000) in Palmdale, California. He is a graduate of Oral Roberts University, where he majored in TV/Film. Brian’s weekly commentary and newspaper columns can be found at www.LifeAndLiberty.com.

Send the author an E mail at Peterson@ConservativeTruth.org.

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