Sexing the soldier : the politics of gender and the contemporary British Army / Rachel Woodward and Trish Winter.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Woodward, Rachel.

Contributor:

Winter, Trish.

Series:

Transformations.

Transformations, thinking through feminism

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Great Britain. Army--Women.

Great Britain.

Great Britain. Army.

Women and the military--Great Britain.

Women and the military.

Physical Description:

xii, 144 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Routledge, 2007.

Summary:

Sexing the Soldier takes a critical look at the policies and practices that shape gender relations and identities in the contemporary British Army, and the political and practical consequences of this. Drawing on original research, this informative volume discusses how being a soldier in the Army is influenced by discourses on gender that promote specific ideas about what men and women are, what they do and what they can be. The book examines: the history and structure of the British Army as a masculine institution; personnel policies that deal with gender issues; practices through which military gender identities are developed and examined in order to understand how military masculinities are performed, consolidated and reproduced; ways in which popular culture contributes towards a shared understanding of the gender politics of the Army.

Rachel Woodward and Trish Winter argue that civilian and academic interest in military gender issues is necessary because our understanding of such issues contributes to wider debates about gender identities in civilian life, and that there is a need for an informed, constructive debate about men and women's military participation. Written by two experts in the field of gender and military studies, Sexing the Soldier will prove an invaluable resource to students across a range of disciplines such as sociology, media and cultural studies. Relevant modules include cultural politics, gender and military studies.

Contents:

1 Gender and the British Army: military, civilian and conceptual issues 1

2 Patterns and histories of gender in the British Army 15

3 British Army personnel policies and the politics of female difference 39

4 Masculinities and the British Army 61

5 Gender and the soldier in the British media and popular culture 79

6 The politics of gender and the contemporary British Army 99.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [107]-133) and index.

ISBN:

9780415392563

041539256X

9780415392556

0415392551

9780203946251

0203946251

OCLC:

77271132