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Examines women's changing roles in the military in the wake of the Persian Gulf War & the potential impact of these changes for activist-based theories of feminist antimilitarism, including ecofeminism. Conventional theories of feminist antimilitarism have typically endorsed the notion of women as peacekeepers. But as the Persian Gulf War demonstrates, women are beginning to occupy important combat positions in ways that upset the equation of women with peace. This has generated a larger social debate on the place of women in combat, & on women's gender identity in general. It is suggested that this war was framed in the mainstream media as a rebirth of masculinity in the wake of the Vietnam War & as a technicization & domestication of notions of mother & nature. To combat this frame, it is argued that socialist ecofeminist must develop an alternative vision that works from the personal to the international & derives strategies closely connected to the context of their generation. D. M. Smith

It is argued that WWII profoundly transformed US liberalism. A demographic shift occurred in which African Americans moved from the rural South to the urban North & increased their visibility in society. The inclusion of women in the workforce increased their public visibility, as well, & traditional gender roles were questioned, albeit hesitantly. The economic activity of WWII also ended the Great Depression & restored faith in capitalism, disproving the notion that the US economy had reached its full potential. At the same time, a fear of the state & the people or the masses developed, fueled by the writings of liberal intellectuals. The US victory also promoted a faith in the country's ability to rebuild itself, which led to liberal efforts to combat social & racial injustice & poverty that continue to the present day. J. Ferrari