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Sexing the Soldier

The Politics of Gender and the Contemporary British Army

By Rachel Woodward, Trish Winter

Published July 5th 2007 by Routledge – 148 pages

Series: Transformations

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Description

Sexing the Soldier takes a critical look at how gender - what it means to be a man or a woman - is understood within the contemporary British Army, and the political and practical consequences of this. Drawing on original research, this informaive volume looks at:

  • the history and structure of the British Army as a masculine institution
  • personnel policies which deal with gender issues
  • the construction of ideas about military masculinities and femininities within the Army
  • media representations of the figure of the soldier.

Using case studies ranging from the exclusion of women from direct combat posts, to the issues surrounding bullying, this book argues that we need a fuller, more nuanced assessment of gender issues in the military that moves beyond the simplistic ideas about women's and men's 'natural' capacities for soldiering.

Contents

1. Gender and the British Army: Military, Civilian and Conceptual Issues 2. Patterns and Histories of Gender in the British Army 3. British Army Personnel Policies and the Politics of Female Difference 4. Masculinities and the British Army 5. Gender and the Soldier in the British Media and Popular Culture 6. The Politics of Gender and the Contemporary British Army

Author Bio

Rachel Woodward is Reader in Critical Geography at Newcastle University. She is the author of Military Geographies (2004) and of numerous scholarly articles on military geographical and sociological issues.

Trish Winter is Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at the University of Sunderland. She is the author of a number of articles on military representation and gender issues in the Armed Forces.

Name: Sexing the Soldier: The Politics of Gender and the Contemporary British Army (Hardback) – Routledge 
Description: By Rachel Woodward, Trish Winter. Sexing the Soldier takes a critical look at how gender - what it means to be a man or a woman - is understood within the contemporary British Army, and the political and practical consequences of this. Drawing on original research, this informaive volume...
Categories: Media & Communications, Gender Politics, Military Sociology