It's Done.

I wanted to finish the first part of this before too much time passed.

As of last Friday --

The Thinking Housewife: The Sun Sets on Masculinity
She has a photo which says it all.

US CentCom:

DoD Gender-Based Rules Changing:
Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, announced yesterday that the 1994 Direct Ground Combat Definition and Assignment Rule for women will change, as the Department of Defense plans to remove gender-based barriers to service.
“In life, as we all know, there are no guarantees of success,” Panetta said. “Not everyone is going to be able to be a combat Soldier. But everyone is entitled to a chance. By committing ourselves to that principle, we are renewing our commitment to the American values our service members fight and die to defend.” (U.S. Air Force graphic)

Defense Department Rescinds Direct Combat Exclusion Rule

Just one post so far at On the Square and one at First Thoughts. There has been a comment at FPR, along with CHT and Chronicles. Dalrock. The Spearhead.

Paleos, tradcons, and writers in the androsphere have all written about this. Not all are so expansive in their critique of the decision - some responses may be more aligned with a "socon" or conservative feminist viewpoint - "let's protect our daughters and their privileged place in society." Others are more consonant with a fuller, traditional understanding of patriarchy.

Will we get any comments from the U.S. Catholic Bishops? From Catholic bloggers, other than the traddies and paleos? There hasn't been anything written about it at AmCon, either, which is rather disappointing. I can't think of anyone at AmCon who is explicitly anti-feminist; I know of at least one contributor who holds that stance, but maybe TPTB at the magazine have decided that they can't be too "regressive" as they believe they have a mission to appeal to as wide an audience as possible.

As for Catholics - I believe the silence of the bishops, prominent and not-so-prominent Catholic intellectuals, writers, and bloggers is another indicator of how they have succumbed to feminism. All the optimism about the renewal of the American Church is unfounded - it has failed in the small things.

Lydia McGrew asks what should be done if selective service is expanded to include women, as would be logically entailed by this change in DoD policy. I think feminists and women who have cooperated with them, accepting the benefits of feminism and refusing to fight the injustices that have harmed men, should lie in the bed they have made. But I am doubtful that women will actually be required to register with Selective Service - resistance from the feminists in the National Government would be too great, and it seems that the socons in SCOTUS would also aid in preventing this from happening. Even if women were compelled to register, this might not be enough to force them to turn against feminism, no matter how much they may recoil to actually being required to live up to the responsibilities of a man in a way that puts their lives at risk.