The whole privacy issue is a big one. You’re right insofar as other countries not being involved in combat situations to the extent that we are. The idea of women in certain situations—on submarines for example, is disconcerting if the issue is privacy.
I’m not qualified to wear the Dolphins.
But yes, I have spent some time sleeping on top of a Mk48 torpedo. As a civilian contractor doing work on subs for the Royal Australian Navy. (see .sig)
The last work I did on subs was at Haifa Naval Base in Israel a couple of years ago.
You just have to remember to check your maidenly modesty at the torpedo hatch when you go on board. It’s not a big deal. On board a sub, everyone’s lives depend on every person on board Not Screwing Up. Even seariders know that if they just get in the way by not moving fast enough when things are going pear-shaped, everyone could die.
Our new subs have co-ed facilities, female-only sleeping accommodation, but in my day, they didn’t. And submariners wives were far more concerned that the female engineers do their job and help keep their husbands safe than that they’d indulge in hanky-panky. There is NO privacy on board a donk. (Diesel sub).
I realise that for cultural reasons the US may be a little scared about the issue. Just because the rest of the anglosphere considers your customs a little odd doesn’t mean you have to change them.