"Patriotism is Neither Masculine nor Feminine": Gender and the Work of War

Title"Patriotism is Neither Masculine nor Feminine": Gender and the Work of War
Publication TypeBook Chapter
Year of Publication2018
AuthorsThreat, Charissa
EditorVuic, Kara Dixon
Book TitleThe Routledge History of Gender, War, and the U.S. Military
Pagination233-246
PublisherRoutledge
CityNew York
Abstract

A 1940 editorial on war work posits that “patriotism is neither masculine nor feminine. It is human emotion”; however, the work of war in the United States, as with many places throughout the world, has historically been gendered. Gender, the socially constructed masculine and feminine traits that are associated with the biological sex of males and females, has determined the roles and responsibilities of men and women in relation to war. Historically, Americans concluded that patriotism meant that soldiering was the obligation of male citizens, while support roles were the concern of female citizens. Nevertheless, since colonial times, war in America, as in other places, often worked to undermine these gendered divisions of labor. By the late twentieth century, ideas about gender and war challenged historical assumptions about patriotism, and scholars increasingly examined how the nature of warfare and the work of war—or martial responsibilities in the broadest sense—consistently blurred the lines between feminine and masculine duties in defending and supporting the nation. [Author]

URLhttps://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.4324/9781315697185.ch15
Entry by GWC Assistants / Work by GWC Assistants : 
BH

Type of Literature:

Time Period:

Countries:

Library Location: 
Call Number: 
1096514685

Library: