Gender Obsession Continues

Excerpted from the Associated Press on March 9:

CAMP SALERNO, Afghanistan - A 19-year-old medic from Texas will become the first woman (so?) in Afghanistan and only the second woman (so?) since World War II to receive the Silver Star, the nation's third-highest medal for valor.

Army Spc. Monica Lin Brown saved the lives of fellow soldiers after a roadside bomb tore through a convoy of Humvees in the eastern Paktia province in April 2007, the military said.

After the explosion, which wounded five soldiers in her unit, Brown ran through insurgent gunfire and used her body to shield wounded comrades as mortars fell less than 100 yards away, the military said. (End of excerpt.)

Gender is simply not relevant to anything I bolded above. Woman can run. Women can use their body to shield. Why the need to notice gender?

For those who want to read the entire story of Spc. Brown's heroic actions, here is the link:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23547346/

Spc. Brown is a hero, plain and simple.

There is absolutely nothing in the link regarding Spc. Brown's heroic actions that make it necessary to know she's female. Well, unless you're a sexist and thought females were incapable of such heroic action. Or, unless you're a sexist and are now surprised to learn a female performed such heroic action.

I saw another story over the weekend that recently ousted American Idol contestant Danny Noriega could have been the victim of homophobia; how else to explain a "suspected" homosexual getting voted off? It couldn't possibly be because he was 13th best. Mr. Noriega has not acknowledged he is a homosexual and instead has been very stoic and gracious in declining to answer the dehumanizing and personal questions. I cannot find any mention of or speculation about the sexual orientation of the final 12 on American Idol; I'm not aware any of the 12 have been asked embarrassing questions about their sexual orientation.