Dismembering the Male: Men's Bodies, Britain, and the Great WarSome historians contend that femininity was "disrupted, constructed and reconstructed" during World War I, but what happened to masculinity? Using the evidence of letters, diaries, and oral histories of members of the military and of civilians, as well as contemporary photographs and government propoganda, Dismembering the Male explores the impact of the First World War on the male body. Each chapter explores a different facet of the war and masculinity in depth. Joanna Bourke discovers that those who were dismembered and disabled by the war were not viewed as passive or weak, like their civilian counterparts, but were the focus of much government and public sentiment. Those suffering from disease were viewed differently, often finding themselves accused of malingering. Joanna Bourke argues convincingly that military experiences led to a greater sharing of gender identities between men of different classes and ages. Dismembering the Male concludes that ultimately, attempts to reconstruct a new type of masculinity failed as the threat of another war, and with it the sacrifice of a new generation of men, intensified. |
Contents
Acknowledgements | 7 |
One Mutilating | 31 |
Two Malingering | 76 |
Three Bonding | 124 |
Four Inspecting | 171 |
Five ReMembering | 210 |
References | 253 |
Photographic Acknowledgements | 330 |
Other editions - View all
Dismembering the Male: Men's Bodies, Britain and the Great War Joanna Bourke No preview available - 1996 |
Common terms and phrases
Amputation armed forces Army Arthur Marwick artificial limbs Basil Liddell Hart bereaved Birmingham Birmingham City Archive Board of Education Bristol Record Office Britain British cent Centre for Military chapter CMAC CMAC RAMC Committee on Workmen's comradeship Corps Cripples dead death Departmental Committee Diary disabled civilians discipline doctors dress reformers employers Front Gameson Health History Hospital Ibid illus industrial IWM Con Shelf John Journal July to 9th Kitchener Kitchener's Labour letter Liddell Hart Centre Limbless London Lord Kitchener male body male bonding malingerers malingering Manchester manly masculinity medical officer Memoirs men's bodies mental Military Archives Ministry of Pensions Minutes of Evidence MRC MSS mutilated National neurasthenia November October Papers physical training punishment RAMC Regiment Report Revd Rowarth schools September Service servicemen sexual shell-shock Society soldiers T. E. Lawrence Trades Union Congress trenches Unknown Warrior War Office wartime experiences women workers Workmen's Compensation World wounded wrote young