S2E4: Forever Wars: Embedded Feminism from the Middle East to the Marvel Cinematic Universe

As female soldiers get elevated from object to equal, they become both the army’s greatest PR asset, and greatest PR liability.

—

A production of BRINK

Website: thisispropaganda.show

Instagram: instagram.com/thisispropagandashow

Email: propaganda@brink.com

—

CREDITS

Written, Produced, and Hosted by Malcolm Critcher and Joshua Belhumeur

Co-Producer: Reed Chandler

__

Some dialogue and quotations have been condensed, paraphrased, or reconstructed based on contemporaneous accounts, interviews, and other source material.

All archival clips from film and television used under fair use, for educational purposes only.

REFERENCES

Radio Address by Mrs. Bush, Crawford, TX, Nov. 17, 2001 — official transcript: georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/11/20011117.html. Quote matches near-verbatim (official text: “world-wide,” “al-Qaida”). Per CNN (Nov. 17, 2001), the first time a First Lady delivered the president's weekly radio address in its entirety: edition.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/11/17/bush.radio/

June 2025: Israel's “Twelve-Day War”; US joined June 21–22, 2025 (Operation Midnight Hammer — B-2 strikes on Fordow, Natanz, Isfahan); ceasefire June 24, 2025. A far larger US-Israeli war began Feb. 28, 2026; its ceasefire collapsed in early July 2026 and strikes resumed mid-July. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_United_States_strikes_on_Iranian_nuclear_sites and britannica.com/event/2026-Iran-war

“Glittering generalities” is one of the seven propaganda devices catalogued by the Institute for Propaganda Analysis, “How to Detect Propaganda,” Propaganda Analysis 1:2 (1937).

Taliban captured Kabul Sept. 1996 (movement emerged near Kandahar, 1994). Via Operation Cyclone (1979–92) the CIA channeled ~$3B through Pakistan's ISI, which favored hardline Islamist factions; many Taliban emerged from that war's networks and madrassas. The US never directly funded the Taliban itself. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Cyclone; Craner testimony, Oct. 31, 2001, avalon.law.yale.edu/sept11/craner_001.asp

Human Rights Watch, “Afghanistan: Humanity Denied — Systematic Violations of Women's Rights,” Oct. 2001: hrw.org/reports/2001/afghan3/afgwrd1001.pdf (employment/education bans, burqa and mahram rules, public beatings, floggings, executions — incl. the filmed 1999 execution of Zarmeena).

“Report on the Taliban's War Against Women,” State Dept. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, released Nov. 17, 2001, same day as the radio address: 2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/c4804.htm; CNN called it a coordinated “second volley”: edition.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/11/17/bush.radio/

Gallup: 88% approved of US military action (Oct. 2001); 80% favored ground troops (Oct. 19–21, 2001); support ~8 in 10 through early 2002. news.gallup.com/poll/5029/eight-americans-support-ground-war-afghanistan.aspx

Clinton: “New Hope for Afghanistan's Women,” Time, Nov. 24, 2001 (time.com/archive/6913613/). Albright: CNN interview, Sept. 28, 2001. Steinem: see comment — she called for a bombing halt (CNN chat, Dec. 27, 2001: edition.cnn.com/2001/COMMUNITY/12/27/steinem.cnna/).

“A Coalition of Hope,” Ms., Spring 2002 (Feminist Majority Foundation). Critique: Elizabeth Miller, “An Open Letter to the Editors of Ms. Magazine,” Apr. 2002, rawa.org/tours/elizabeth_miller_letter.htm; “bombs to the feminist toolkit” phrasing: Rafia Zakaria, Against White Feminism (2021), excerpted at thenation.com/article/world/white-feminists-wanted-to-invade/

Krista Hunt, “‘Embedded Feminism' and the War on Terror,” in Hunt & Rygiel (eds.), (En)Gendering the War on Terror (Ashgate, 2006), pp. 51–71.

RAWA's Oct. 11, 2001 statement opposed the invasion from day one (“this invasion will shed the blood of numerous women, men, children…”; the Taliban “should be overthrown by the uprising of Afghan nation”): rawa.org/us-strikes.htm

Army Center for Army Lessons Learned, Commander's Guide to Female Engagement Teams (2011) (“third gender”); Marine Corps Gazette (2011) (“there to help versus there to fight”); both quoted in Jennifer Greenburg, “Women's secret war,” The Conversation, 2023: theconversation.com/womens-secret-war-the-inside-story-of-how-the-us-military-sent-female-soldiers-on-covert-combat-missions-to-afghanistan-205669. Term origin: expat aid-worker usage, e.g. Azarbaijani-Moghaddam, CMI Working Paper 2014:1.

Jennifer Greenburg, At War with Women: Military Humanitarianism and Imperial Feminism in an Era of Permanent War (Cornell UP, 2023) — CST members describe public affairs officers photographing them at medical clinics and orphanages while day-to-day work was intelligence collection.

Human Rights Watch, “Today We Shall All Die: Afghanistan's Strongmen and the Legacy of Impunity” (2015); HRW, “How US-Funded Abuses Led to Failure in Afghanistan” (July 2021).

Direct-death counts: Brown University Costs of War Project ~46,319 Afghan civilians through mid-2021 (costsofwar.watson.brown.edu/costs/human); AP tally 47,245. Indirect deaths (disease, hunger, infrastructure collapse) add substantially more.

UN Women, “Afghanistan: Ten facts about the world's most severe women's rights crisis,” Aug. 2025; OHCHR, Mar. 2026 (“continues to deteriorate dramatically”); UN experts characterize the system as “gender apartheid.”

1994 Direct Ground Combat Definition and Assignment Rule (Aspin memo) barred assignment, not temporary attachment — the loophole used for FET/CST placement with SOF/Ranger units. GAO NSIAD-99-7. Rescinded Jan. 24, 2013 (Panetta/Dempsey).

Roche et al., “The Unseen Patriot,” Journal of Veterans Studies 7:1 (2021): 71.4% of surveyed CST members met Combat Action Badge criteria but were denied recognition, blocking combat-linked VA care and compensation. journal-veterans-studies.org/articles/10.21061/jvs.v7i1.285

Sgt. Greville Clarke, Fort Hood: arrested Oct. 2022 after attacking five women; convicted 2025; details of the Diaz assault and the Army's failure to warn per The Intercept, ibid. Diaz quote (“I abused alcohol in an attempt to forget what happened to me”) ibid.

Vanessa Guillén, murdered at Fort Hood 2020; the independent review found “total disregard and disrespect for female soldiers.” Ana Basaldua Ruiz, 20, died by suicide Mar. 2023 after reporting sexual harassment; Army inquiry cited a “persistently toxic culture permissive of harassment.” Per The Intercept, ibid.

The Intercept, “...Army Women, Death, Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault,” June 30, 2026: theintercept.com/2026/06/30/army-women-death-domestic-violence-sexual-assault/. Analysis of DoD data, 2011–Aug. 2025: 41 Army women dead by homicide (over half killed by fellow service members or veterans; 70%+ of victims knew their killer intimately); 128 by suicide; homicide/suicide rates double civilian women's; active-duty Army women at higher homicide risk than male soldiers (inverse of the national pattern); per capita death rate up 35% (2021–24) to 21 per 100,000; nearly 1 in 4 servicewomen experienced sexual assault (2001–2023).

‍Defense Secretary Hegseth eliminated the 75-year-old Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (Sept. 2025), ordered a review of women in combat roles (Jan.), and blocked women officers' promotions. Per The Intercept, ibid.

VA National Center for PTSD, “Military Sexual Trauma”: about 1 in 3 women (and 1 in 50 men) screened in VA health care report MST. ptsd.va.gov/professional/treat/type/sexual_trauma_military.asp

DoD JAMRS polling presented to DACOWITS, reported Dec. 2024: 60% of young women have not considered military service (multiple reasons); sexual assault/harassment is women's top distinctive safety concern — 53% of women vs. 11% of men. military.com/daily-news/2024/12/10/female-teens-dont-see-themselves-us-military-heres-why-according-pentagon-surveys.html

FOIA'd Air Force documents (Spy Culture, “The US Military's Captain Marvel Documents”): cooperation began summer 2017 — Air Force-sponsored tour for the directors during script development; Brig. Gen. Jeannie Leavitt consulted; Brie Larson visited Nellis AFB Jan. 2018 and flew in an F-16. spyculture.com/the-us-militarys-captain-marvel-documents/

Thunderbirds flyover over Hollywood for the world premiere, Mar. 4, 2019: cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/watch-usaf-thunderbirds-mark-movie-premiere-with-hollywood-flyover/; official USAF b-roll on DVIDS (public domain): dvidshub.net/video/663436

USAF Recruiting Service ad “Origin Story” (agency GSD&M), ran before Captain Marvel screenings and on youth-focused TV, timed to the film and International Women's Day: thedrum.com/news/2019/03/01/us-air-force-promotes-women-pilots-superheroes-recruitment-campaign; taskandpurpose.com/news/captain-marvel-air-force-recruiting/

Military.com, Jan. 5, 2020: women were 31.2% of Air Force Academy applicants for the Class of 2023 — the highest share in five years (vs. 28.6–30.5% prior); the Academy said there was “not… an out of the ordinary increase in female applicants.” military.com/daily-news/2020/01/05/captain-marvel-effect-air-force-academy-sees-most-female-applicants-5-years.html

Top Gun released May 1986 — 33 years before Captain Marvel (2019). The oft-cited “500% jump in naval aviator applications” is unsourced and rated false (AAP FactCheck); Navy enlistments rose ~8.3% in FY1986 and fell the next year. aap.com.au/factcheck/maverick-top-gun-stat-turns-out-to-be-a-real-goose/; news.usni.org/2022/05/27/

FY2025: every service met its goal 3–4 months early. clearancejobs.com (July 8, 2025); defenseone.com (Oct. 2024).

Pentagon data reported 2025: female enlistments across all branches rose 16,725 → 23,985 (+~43%) in FY2025 year-to-date vs. the same point in FY2024. foxnews.com/politics/female-recruits-surge-across-all-service-branches

Military.com, “Does the Military Need Social Media Influencers?,” Nov. 26, 2024: “In 2023, veteran-related content on TikTok amassed over 15 billion views.” Hashtag/view aggregate quoted by an interviewee — attribute rather than state as audited fact.

Greenburg, Jennifer. At War with Women: Military Humanitarianism and Imperial Feminism in an Era of Permanent War. Cornell University Press, 2023. Kester, Marissa N. There from the Beginning: Women in the US Air Force. Air University Press, 2021.

Oliver, Kelly. Women as Weapons of War: Iraq, Sex, and the Media. Columbia University Press, 2007.

Desoutter, Morgane. "War, Social Media and Gender: An Analysis of the Use of TikTok by Ukrainian Soldiers." Critical Military Studies, vol. 11, no. 3, 2025, pp. 285–311. Taylor & Francis

Kalnes, Øyvind, and Nina M. Bjørge. "‘So, we have occupied TikTok’: Ukrainian Women in #ParticipativeWar." Media, War & Conflict, vol. 18, no. 2, 2025, pp. 233–250. SAGE Publications

Kuhl, Steven, Anna E. Kosloski, Stephanie Bontrager Ryon, and Astrid Monar. "Masculinity, Organizational Culture, Media Framing and Sexual Violence in the Military." Social Sciences, vol. 7, no. 5, article 80, 15 May 2018. MDPI

Yakushenkov, Serguey N. "Playboy as a 'Soft Power': The Impact of Magazine Content on the Westernization of the Developing Countries." Corpus Mundi, vol. 2, no. 1, 2021, pp. 139–176.

Griese, Florian. Sexual Politics in Israel’s Defense Narrative: The Gendered and Digital Militarism of Israeli Self-Representation. Thesis / Criminology of War Paper, 2024.

Hardister, Mia. Hollywood and the Pentagon: U.S. Military Funding of Popular Cinema in the Post-9/11 Era. Undergraduate Thesis, Department of Cinema Studies and Robert D. Clark Honors College, University of Oregon, May 2023.

Haring, Ellen, Megan MacKenzie, and Chantal de Jonge Oudraat. "Women in Combat: Learning from Cultural Support Teams." Women in International Security (WIIS), Policy Brief, August 2015.

Neimeyer, Charles P., editor. U.S. Marines in Afghanistan, 2001-2009: Anthology and Annotated Bibliography. History Division, United States Marine Corps, 2014. Contains: Watson, Julia L., "Female Engagement Teams: The Case for More Female Civil Affairs Marines" (pp. 305-312).

Schell, Terry L., Matthew Cefalu, Coreen Farris, and Andrew R. Morral. The Relationship Between Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment in the U.S. Military: Findings from the RAND Military Workplace Study. RAND Corporation, Research Report RR-3162, 2021

U.S. Army Center for Army Lessons Learned (CALL). "Commander's Guide to Female Engagement Teams: Observations, Insights, Lessons." Handbook No. 11-38, December 2011.

"Ann-Margret's Most Dangerous Role." United Service Organizations (USO), 2021. Mirrlees, Tanner. "The Militarization of Movies and Television." Consuming War Research Series, Costs of War Project, Watson Institute, Brown University, 25 Feb. 2025.

Ripley, Amanda. "The Untold Story of the Afghan Women Who Hunted the Taliban." POLITICO Magazine, 2021.

Imperialist Feminism: Concept, History, and 21st-Century Deployment by the United States and Israel. Study Report, 2024.

Israeli Combat Cuties: The Long Arc of Gendered Soft Power — From Zionist Postcards to Gal Gadot. Research Profile, 2024.

The "Third Gender": Female Engagement Teams in America's Post-9/11 Wars. Narrative Case Study, 2024.

The Soviet Night Witches: History, Tactics, and Legacy of the 588th Night Bomber Regiment. Historical Profile, 2024.

MUSIC

SAMIZDAT Written and Performed by Joshua Belhumeur

American Dream Written and Performed by Joshua Belhumeur

No Man's Land Written and Performed by Joshua Belhumeur

Arabic Pray Anthony Vega Licensed from Artlist

Mindplay Roza Licensed from Artlist

Gymnopédie no. 1 Romi Kopelman Licensed from Artlist

Mythologica Ofrin Licensed from Artlist

Footprints Ardie Son Licensed from Artlist

A Propagandist Walks into a Piano Bar Written and Performed by Joshua Belhumeur

Beyond the Zero Written and Performed by Joshua Belhumeur