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Manipulating masculinity : war and gender in modern British and American literature / Kathy J. Phillips.

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Van Pelt Library PR478.W37 P48 2006
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Format:
Book
Author/Creator:
Phillips, Kathy J., 1950-
Language:
English
Subjects (All):
English literature--20th century--History and criticism.
English literature.
War in literature.
Masculinity in literature.
American literature--20th century--History and criticism.
American literature.
World War, 1914-1918--Literature and the war.
World War, 1914-1918.
World War, 1939-1945--Literature and the war.
World War, 1939-1945.
Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Literature and the war.
Vietnam War, 1961-1975.
War and society.
Women and war.
Sex role.
Physical Description:
227 pages ; 22 cm
Edition:
First edition.
Place of Publication:
New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.
Summary:
"Manipulating Masculinity" uses literature from World War I, World War II, the Vietnam War, and the Iraq wars to argue that when a society labels broadly human traits "feminine," that society can more easily manipulate men to war. All men are bound to detect some of those traits in themselves--and then fear that they have strayed into a feminine, inferior realm. If a society convinces men that fighting is essentially manly, it entices men to war simply to prove that they are not their sisters (sissy, wimp, wuss). Western cultural attitudes toward sex also fuel wars by encouraging the displacement of sexuality into violence, by fostering titillation in combination with guilt and its accompanying need for self-punishment (which war abundantly supplies), and by defining sexual orientations so as to provoke self-doubt in everyone.
Contents:
Chapter 1 Background: Sexuality and War 19
Chapter 2 World War I: No Half-Men at the Front 41
Chapter 3 World War II: No Lace on His Drawers 85
Chapter 4 The Vietnam War: Out from Under Momma's Apron 131
Epilogue: The Wars against Iraq: Red Alert on Girly Men 191.
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages [211]-223) and index.
ISBN:
1403971951
OCLC:
62533954

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