Suspended Selves: Between Female and the Warrior Bond

This article explores abjection as a normative construct — a tool of punishment and persuasion that, in military contexts, leaves women ‘hanging’ outside proper subjectivity. Moving through an analysis of Kayla Williams’ 2005 memoir of military service, Love My Rifle More Than You, and touching on Anthony Swofford’s Jarhead, the article explores the uses of shunning and ‘penetrability’ in consolidating group warrior bonds at the expense of ‘the female.’ Finally, it is suggested that the omnipresence of bonding as an interest behind gender creation in military spheres may open a new space for political acts.