WOMEN IN UNIFORM: A PHILOSOPHICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE TRANSFORMATION OF FEMININITY THROUGH THE PRISM OF WAR

The article examines and analyses the possibility for women to participate in military activities and evaluates this perspective at different historical periods. From the ancient cults of bloodthirsty and monstrous goddesses, personifying horror and death, to the legendary and mythological women warriors recognized by society, to the medieval total ban on the participation of the Fair Ladies in military acts and accusations of heresy, through changing into men’s clothes and loss of femininity and identity, and the gradual return of this right through logistics and medical services. But it is only in the 20th century that women regain full right to serve in the army, on an equal footing with men. But what, then, was military activity: merely a mechanism and the possibility of emancipation and self-determination, or the woman’s unreserved desire to fulfill her duty in defense of the fatherland? What are the prerequisites for recognizing women soldiers as legitimate participants in war, on an equal basis with men? And what role the 20th century wars played in this issue and how their participants influenced the solution of this problem. The aim of the study is a philosophical-anthropological analysis of women’s perceptions and a change in their ontological, anthropological and ethical foundations to enable them to become full participants in military events and overcome those gender and sex stereotypes, formed in the public consciousness. The main methods of research are hermeneutic and phenomenological, as well as anthropological reduction method.