Hommes et femmes dans la France en guerre (1914-1945)

Because the World Wars led all of French society into rapid and intense changes, men and women were compelled to forever reappraise their representations of femininity and masculinity. This is the thesis of this book, which proposes another reading of these two capital events of the twentieth century. Exploring the means used to mobilize and control the two sexes in the preparation and the unrolling of the war, the book focuses equally on the lived experience of men and women, and of modifications of identity that took place. Finally, it shows that the post-wars, despite an affirmed will to the contrary, did not result in a return to the pre-war situations. In both 1914-18 and 1939-45, war left its imprint, that of a profound change in the relations between men and women. The analysis of this mutation allows us to better understand the evolution of relations between sexes as we perceive it today.