When boys will be jarheads

My latest from In These Times compares "Jarhead" the movie and "Jarhead" the book to make this argument about the connection between masculinity and violence:

The antiwar left’s well-founded argument about the connection between class and military recruiting does not acknowledge the other, equally compelling reason why young men sucuumb to the military’s allure. These boys enlist for the same reason their peers join street gangs: for the heady cocktail of violence, intense camraderie and sexual aggression that makes them feel like a man. From a poor inner city kid’s point of view, there isn’t that much difference between becoming a jarhead or a gang member; it’s a matter of ducking bullets in the Sunni Triangle or in your backyard. More importantly, fighting in Iraq may actually be the safer option.