L'uniforme militaire au XIXe siècle : une fabrique du masculin

During the nineteenth century, wearing the uniform became a component of military identity, particularly in France where military service had gradually universalized up until the eve of First World War. As a physical object endowed with symbolic functions, the uniform was at the heart of a social environment, which is one of the laboratories of masculinity. Described, criticized, and amended by the medical officers concerned with functionality and comfort, the uniform provided a homogenized, ideal body to look at, but the fabric covered a reality much less ideal. Offered to the gaze of others, that of women particularly, the uniform constructed a masculine identity in search of recognition and was located therefore at the heart of the construction process of the gender difference.