RECRUITING FOR DIFFERENCE AND DIVERSITY IN THE U.S. MILITARY by JEREMIAH B. FAVARA A DISSERTATION Presented to the School of Journalism and Communication and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2017 DISSERTATION APPROVAL PAGE Student: Jeremiah B. Favara Title: Recruiting for Difference and Diversity in the U.S. Military This dissertation has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in the School of Journalism and Communication by: Carol Stabile Chair Gretchen Soderlund Core Member Christopher Chávez Core Member Dan HoSang Core Member CJ Pascoe Institutional Representative and Sara D. Hodges Interim Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded September 2017. ii © 2017 Jeremiah B. Favara iii DISSERTATION ABSTRACT Jeremiah B. Favara Doctor of Philosophy School of Journalism and Communication September 2017 Title: Recruiting for Difference and Diversity in the U.S. Military After shifting to an all-volunteer force (AVF) in 1973, the U.S. military was forced to expand recruiting efforts beyond the ideal figure of the white male soldier in order to meet personnel needs. Shaped by the economic realities of the AVF, such recruiting efforts sought to show individuals historically excluded from military service, namely women and people of color, that there was a place for them in the military. The presence of women and people of color in recruitment materials contributes to ideals of citizenship and articulates understanding of gender, race, sexuality, and class in relation to military inclusion. Focusing on recruitment advertisements published in three consumer magazines—Sports Illustrated, Ebony, and Cosmopolitan—from January 1973 to December 2014, this dissertation argues that the project of military inclusion is driven by a need to recruit bodies in maintenance of the military institution and obfuscates class inequalities critical to recruiting, reconfigures ideas about military masculinity, promotes ideologies of colorblindness, and regulates ideas about gender and sexuality. iv CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Jeremiah B. Favara GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene London School of Economics and Political Science, London Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana DEGREES AWARDED: Doctor of Philosophy, Media Studies, 2017, University of Oregon Master of Science, Gender, Development, and Globalisation, 2011, London School of Economics and Political Science Bachelor of Science, Montana State University, 2005 GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS: Outstanding Service to Community Award, LGBT Education and Support Services, University of Oregon, 2016 Lorey I. Lokey Scholarship, School of Journalism and Communication, University of Oregon, 2016 Miller Family Scholarship, Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Oregon, 2016 John Furr Fellowship for J. Walter Thompson Research, Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising, and Marketing History, Duke University, 2016 Warren C. Price Award for Best Graduate Paper in Media History, University of Oregon, 2015 Center for the Study of Women in Society Graduate Research Grant, University of Oregon, 2015 PUBLICATIONS: Favara, Jeremiah and Caitlyn Kawamura. “Let’s Be Abominable Feminists: Yeti: Campus Stories and Sexism in the Digital College Party Scene.” Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media, and Technology 10 (2016): Doi: 10.7264/N3SF2TGJ. v Favara, Jeremiah. “Gods and Freaks, Soldiers and Men: Gender and Technology in The Avengers.” In Marvel Comics Into Film, 177-88. McFarland Press, 2016. Favara, Jeremiah. “A Maternal Heart: Angelina Jolie, Choices of Maternity, and Hegemonic Femininity in People Magazine.” Feminist Media Studies 14, no. 4 (2015): 626-42. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I owe a great deal to my committee members—Drs. Gretchen Soderlund, Christopher Chávez, Dan HoSang, and CJ Pascoe—and my advisor, Dr. Carol Stabile, for their assistance and guidance with this dissertation. Their expertise, advice, mentorship, and generosity have helped guide me through the process of writing a dissertation. Their consistent support has been invaluable and I am grateful for the intellectual, political, and personal guidance they have provided. Thanks to the various centers, departments, and institutions that have supported my research including the Center for the Study of Women in Society, the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, and the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon. Thanks also to the Summer Doctoral Institute on Diversity in Media and Culture at the Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California and the Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising, and Marketing History at Duke University. The archival research for this dissertation would not have been possible without the dedicated and ever-helpful librarians and staff at the Hartman Center, the Multnomah County Public Library, the Eugene Public Library, and the Knight Library at the University of Oregon. A special thanks to friends who have provided support, read drafts, talked ideas, and helped me through this process: Thea Chroman, Teri Del Rosso, Jolene Fisher, Patrick Jones, Laura Strait, Bryce Peake, Matt Pittman, and Lauren Stewart. Finally, thank you to my partner, Angela Rovak, and my parents, Blaise Favara and Cynthia Favara, whose love and support has kept me going. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................1 Conceptualizing Diversity, Inclusion, and Difference in the Military .....................4 Military Recruiting, Advertising, and Public Relations ...........................................7 The All-Volunteer Force and the Military Advertising Industry ...........................13 Consumer Magazines and Military Recruitment Advertising ...............................21 Collecting and Analyzing Recruitment Advertisements ........................................27 Organization of the Dissertation ...........................................................................34 II. INCLUSION, DIVERSITY, AND DIFFERENCE IN THE MILITARY ....................38 Diversity, Maneuvering, and Intersectionality .......................................................40 Ideal Soldiers, Military Inclusion, and Citizenship ...............................................47 Histories of Regulating Difference in the Military ................................................52 Recruiting for Difference .......................................................................................65 III. TARGETING DIFFERENCE: STRATEGIES OF VISUAL INCLUSION ...............67 Visual Inclusion in Recruiting Ads ........................................................................69 Targeting Recruits and Strategies of Military Advertising ....................................72 Meet Today’s Army Reserve: Colorizing Recruiting Ads ....................................81 Visions of a Rainbow Military ...............................................................................93 The Limits of Visual Inclusion ............................................................................103 IV. THE GUNS AND OPPORTUNITIES ARE REAL: CLASS, MOBILITY, AND MASCULINITY ........................................................................................................105 Masculinity, Class, and Military Service .............................................................107 Representing Men and Class in Recruiting Ads ..................................................112 Pay & Benefits: $307 a Month Isn’t Everything .................................................118 viii Chapter Page Educational Opportunities: This Ad Could Put Someone in College ..................127 Vocational Opportunities: Prepare Yourself for the Working World ..................138 Inclusion, Mobility, and Institutional Masculinity ..............................................149 V. YOU CAN BE BLACK AND NAVY TOO: BLACKNESS AND INCLUSION .....152 Representing Blackness in a Colorblind Military ................................................154 Defending Against Perceptions of Racial Inequality ...........................................156 The New Navy: Racial Progress in the Military Institution ................................162 Revising the Spirit of ’75 ....................................................................................165 The Tuskegee Airmen and Black Success in the Air Force .................................169 Black Exceptionalism and the Marines of Montford Point .................................176 Race, Recruiting, Colorblindness, and Military Service ......................................182 VI. THE BEST MAN DOESN’T ALWAYS GET THE JOB: SEXUALITY, GENDER, AND CONSTRUCTING MILITARY FEMININITY ..............................................187 Regulating Gender and Sexuality in the Military ................................................190 Constructing the Straight Military Man ..............................................................196 Constructing the Straight Military Woman ..........................................................205 Crafting Military Femininity and a Gender Equitable Army ...............................214 Military Femininity and Opportunities for