In a recent Senate Armed Services committee hearing, both the Army and Marine Corps chiefs publicly stated that women should be required to register for the Selective Service. For those of us who have been actively engaged in a fight for equality in an integrated military, this came as a no-brainer. But opponents of gender-integration saw this as their metaphorical last stand rather than as a natural extension of the removal of the combat exclusion policy.

In attempts to rally the emotions of the American public, the anti-integration crowd has drummed up graphic imagery about war, pandered to a false sense of essential male protectorship, and relied on emotional tropes of “our daughters” going off to fight wars. While these arguments are high on emotion, they are shallow on fact, and deny the reality that including women in the Selective Service is the right move, right now.