Movies about strong, bad@$$ women resonate so loudly in my heart, particularly when the women involved don’t necessarily seek out the path they find themselves embarking upon. Released in 1997, GI Jane starring Demi Moore is one such movie. I’d seen it before and remember admiring the main character, Lieutenant Jordan O’Neill’s tenacity, but I didn’t really “get it” until my husband and I recently re-watched the movie.
O’Neill, played by Demi Moore begins the movie as a topographical analyst, completely content in her career, not looking for anything to change. Enter a crusading politician, Texas Senator Lillian DeHaven, pressuring the Navy to begin full gender integration, specifically allowing women into the Navy’s elite SEAL program. O’Neill, based primarily on her feminine appearance, is selected from her Navy portfolio as the sole female candidate.
Truthfully, absolutely no one expects her to succeed, not the pushy politician who started the whole ordeal, or even O’Neill’s love interest, Lieutenant Commander Royce, played by Jason Beghe. After all, the seal training drop-out rate for men is 60%, what chance does a woman have? What no one could have anticipated was O’Neill’s dedication, tenacity, and fortitude.
From the very beginning, O’Neill never asks for, nor expects special treatment simply because she is a woman. She actually gets rather irritated when a teammate who finishes an obstacle slower than her is cut due to time, but she’s allowed to continue based on the “woman’s standard.” Subsequently, she demands to be held to the same standard as her male counterparts.
Although it is not expected, when O’Neill realizes her long hair, while starting the day securely in a bun won’t stay put and interferes with training exercises, shaves her head the same as the men, it’s a very big deal. Women come on; you know that move was huge. I would be emotionally devasted at even the thought of shaving my head.
When her male counterparts begin dropping out of the program while O’Neill remains strong, naysayers on both capitol hill and within the Navy attribute her success to the “woman’s standard.” Imagine their surprise finding out that O’Neill had rejected the woman’s standard within the first week of training and is holding steady with her male counterparts while maintaining their exact standards. No special treatment there.
As quite often happens in life, it turns out the politician pushing for female SEAL inclusion has an ulterior motive and sacrifices O’Neill’s SEAL candidacy in exchange for mitigating base closures in her district. Bad@$$ women have a propensity for standing their ground and true to form, O’Neill doesn’t take this news well. How dare her life’s trajectory to be altered as simply as navigating a chess piece on a board?!?!
Mad as a disturbed hornet, O’Neill shows up at DeHaven’s press conference demanding not only answers but reinstatement into the SEAL program. One might imagine that a bad@$$ woman who can hang with her male counterparts throughout SEAL training is also pretty convincing. Sure enough, O’Neill gets her way and lands back in training just as the team heads out on a training mission that quickly transitions from a simple training exercise to a life-or-death reality.
The trainees end up in Libya, tasked with rescuing a team of Army Rangers. Of course, there’s a lot of gunfire, and stuff blowing up, but all the Americas make it home in one piece. Ironically, O’Neill ends up dragging to safety the injured Master Chief John James Urgayle, played by Viggo Mortensen, who’d once asked her if she was even capable of carrying a full-grown man.
When the movie ended I was in tears, admiring O’Neill’s strength and questioning whether I possess the same grit. The next day as I was absent-mindedly washing my hair, my moment of “AHA!” arrived.
O’Neill was essentially forced to quit the SEAL program, if not for her dogged determination to fight for her rights, she would not have been on the training mission turned real-time rescue. If she’d cowered and allowed circumstances to dictate her outcome rather than fighting for what was right, the Master Chief, the Army Rangers, and quite possibly the SEAL team she led would’ve perished on the Libyan shores.
Sure, my hypothesis is based on a fictional movie, but if you think about it long enough, I believe you’ll come to realize the truth in my observation. Sometimes life throws curve balls our way, seemingly insurmountable circumstances, and we are faced with choices; quit or fight. Quitting may seem easy but what if fighting means other lives are saved in the process? Maybe not literal lives on Libyan shores but people are always watching. Your inability to quit may be just what inspires someone else to continue on. When faced with a choice, always chose to be a bad@$$ woman, always!