Why are the male spouses of deployed female military personnel often ignored? Upon review of most recent research and collection of testimonials of classmates, who were spouses of deployed military personnel, the three main reasons are: They are outnumbered, they are a unique population, and due to gender and social stereotypes, asking/receiving "help" may not be considered an option. When one typically thinks of a deployed member of the military, he/she will usually think of a man. This is

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... ly due to social conditioning. That is why it is important to have a discussion about traditional gender roles, how these roles are currently changing, and gender role reversal. Male military spouses are an important population that needs to be recognized and understood. Even though they only make up a very small portion of spouses in the military, that does not mean they should be forgotten. The majority of the research done on military spouses has only had female participants. With the lack of participation in research, male military spouses are facing what may be lasting problems.