Masculinity at War

The notion of masculinity has been present in society and also in our culture; it’s associated with both positive and adverse events. Based on research it’s clear that the notions of femininity were disrupted during the World War I. When we talk about the gender history a majority of people often equate it to the study of women, masculinity is often left at the periphery; however it has been mentioned as a specific topic of historical research about the war and militarism. What happened to the masculinity? Based on different articles that were derived from letters, diaries and other oral histories will explore the impact of war on masculinity.

Sonya Rose: Which People’s War?

In her book, Sonya Rose gives us a provoking depiction of femininity and masculinity. This chapter shows how the servicemen in specific occupations or those in positions where they could not serve in the combat were able to consider themselves masculine while outside the armed forces.  It was challenging to balance and also explain how there were so many men in their homes who were listed as home guards who had uniforms, which helped them to legitimize their support for the ongoing war. This was the case because during the world war for the men to the considered masculine, and respectable one had to be part of the military (Rose 2003). Not only had they have to be in the military, but they were required to depict traits of bravery, heroism, and also have strength.

During World War II, Britain sent the masculine subjects for the war; this was referred to as the temperate masculinity. However, it was really challenging to combine humor, kindness, and heroism all together and also bravery, which resulted in an unstable mix. For the men to be considered as respectable and good citizens, they had to demonstrate their virtues by being part of the military, which was when the components of masculinity would cohere. All those men who would not adhere to this idealism were never considered to real men by society. This is why a majority of the men who worked in the home fronts liked to battle the heroes while trying to prove that their contribution to the society is equivalent to that of the men in the armed forces[1].

Serving in the military was usually associated with masculinity because people associated the soldiers with rough tasks. There was a narrative about this boy who was always considered conservative and sheltered, and he was never used to the many things that most men had gone through during his first week of the army. However, he is said to have become a man by tolerating all the tough times while in the army from his comrades. Such a stereotype was of the “roughness” was associated with men in the army.

Alan Allport: Demobbed, Coming Home after the Second World War

Alan Allport’s book demonstrates the experiences that the British troops experienced once they were back from the World War II zone. This text depicts the experiences that soldiers go through all across the world who have returned from their war battlefields. Allan describes these experiences with humor, sympathy, and grace which makes it powerful and becomes clear, reading this shows that things have not changed much since the 1900s. He brings to light what men specifically experience when they come back (Allport 2009). While at work and at home, men had challenges adopting the new world which they were not used to. “Recreating happiness was so difficult and required a lot of patience and the willingness”[2]. We see some of these people go to an extreme of divorcing their partners since they can’t understand each other because both had changed allot during the war.

There was a disconnection between the servicemen and the other civilians which they carried home. A majority of these servicemen when they appeared in their houses, mostly abruptly due to the communication and transport challenges. Their expectations when they arrived at their house and the reality created issues. This is because men expected to be treated in a certain way, which never happened as women taken over the roles of the men in the house as soon as their husbands left for the war. The men expected a domestic bliss treatment, which involved a comfortable and warm home. However, the reality was way too different. Therefore this and the challenges of renewing their relationships with wives did not make things easier for the men. “Both partners had gone through changes over the period of the war, this leads to many couples being completely mysterious to one another[3].

World War II changed the lives of both men and women in various ways. Due to the increased labor demand in the war, this, in return, also increased the domestic hardships and responsibilities, especially for the women left behind. This resulted in people changing to the social and cultural traditions in order for them to survive. In other words, this changed the traditional idea of gender roles, how men and women should behave, and what roles they should assume in their families, and the rest of the communities. Alan gives an example of a man who was used to his wife being a housewife before he left, now coming back, his wife was fully employed, and the fact that she enjoyed working and being financially independent bothered him a lot, and he did not like the idea at all. He points out that men were resented with the fact that women were being independent as they felt as if this was demeaning their masculinity[4].

Another aspect that bothered servicemen is the fact that they were strangers to their children. Being away for that long time, some felt as if their strangers in their children’s lives since they knew nothing about them. There were children who would even hide from their birth fathers since they did not know them. They knew they had a father for, but they could not remember how they looked like.

Joanna Bourke: Dismembering the Male

There are people considered having mutilated limbs as a sign of masculinity, which proved that one was brave or even some sort of a trophy. Bourke mentions the sentimentalization of the war-wounded, the sentimentalized often referred to as the amputees during the war. This representation of the heroic fortitude combined with the soldier’s denial of pain indicated that men who had missing limbs represented their sacrifice for the nation while they are at the battlefield. Joanna argues that these military experiences resulted in men sharing gender identities with other men from different classes and ages.

Also, there was the case of the public’s rhetoric judgment that the soldier’s mutilation acted as the badges of their courage and also a sign for their hallmark for their good job at the battlefield, and this was a representation of the patriotism. It is written that a majority of women found this very attractive and they had the tendency of fall in love with this wounded men[5].

In the beginning, being amputation made men feel less masculine; however, with time being limbless was normalized. Before, men who had lost their legs which were being collected in hospitals used to feel ashamed about themselves, but now as a lady described that she could see these men on their fronts and piers, one could also see some getting by their activities with their crutches. Having amputated limbs ceased affecting most men in the society. The war also had changes in which jobs were considered appropriate for the disabled folks. According to John Galsworthy, the disabled have the option of just sitting and passing the time, however, this would result in a country with a lame foot as these people could also involve themselves in other productive activities. The disabled ex-soldiers were engaged in curative work; this was meant to prepare them to return to other types of productive labor.

This article mainly focuses on the idea of male heterosexuality and disability in the Great War. In the past years, there were worries about how the young men who were disabled in the war were going to be reintegrated back into society. For masculinity purposes, only the mutilated men were allowed to join a non-disabled age group through sexuality within marriage (Bourke 1996). This also helped to reinforce the role of women as nurturing and empathetic partners. However, the challenge was how these men were going to facilitate reproduction. This arranged marriage of the broken heroes was an attempt to pair up respectable women with disabled men.

Conclusion

Masculinity during the wars is gathered from the letters, wartime diaries, and also letters of condolences well as those from the disabled men and some post-war memoir. All these materials depict the experiences which were used to define men in relation to other men and also women. In all the experiences that are used to define a man’s masculinity, there always fall into two categories, either the domestic or the heroic men. Both these identities were central to the social description of masculinity during and also after the war. The creation of these identities in the different definitions always included the different ways the addressed audience were impacted.

Endurance was one of the qualities used to describe a soldier at war; this endurance notion as a masculine element was described as a product of being at war. With war came a growing economy and also an increased demand for soldiers who facilitated the possibilities for men to assume their masculine functions of being the breadwinner and also being a serviceman.

Bibliography

Allport, Alan. 2009. Demobbed: Coming Home After the Second World War. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Bourke, Joanna. 1996. Dismembering the Male: Men’s Bodies, Britain and the Great War. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Rose, Sonya O., 2003. Which People’s War? National Identity and Citizenship in Britain 1939-1945. New York: Oxford University Press.

[1] Sonya O. Rose, Which People’s War: National Identity and Citizenship in Britain (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003),196

[2] Alan Allport, Demobbed: Coming Home after the Second World War (New Haven: Yale University Press.

,2009),80

[3] Alan Allport, Demobbed: Coming Home after the Second World War (New Haven: Yale University Press.

,2009),61

[4] Alan Allport, Demobbed: Coming Home after the Second World War (New Haven: Yale University Press.

,2009),62

[5] Joanna Bourke, Dismembering the Male: Men’s Bodies, Britain and the Great War (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press,1996),56