CANS 406 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Hegemonic Masculinity, Difference Feminism, Liberal Feminism
22 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Who Fights? Gender, Violence and Militarized Masculinities
-Goldstein tells us that historically, less than 1% of warriors have been women – war is fought
largely by men
-Goldstein: though we have a huge diversity of gender roles, and variation in the practice of war,
we still see that gender roles in war are strikingly “consistent across all known human societies”
-Virtually all human societies have faced the possibility of war or have fought it, and in every
case they have struggled to mobilize – they have met this challenge in a gendered way
-Why do we have diversity on the one hand, but huge degrees of homogeneity on the other hand?
-He is influenced by 3 strands of feminist theory: liberal feminism (informs his hypotheses
around sexual discrimination), difference feminism (idea that biologically there may be deep
rooted physical difference between women/men), post modern feminism (ways in which cultural
constructions favoring men/norms of masculinity may be what shapes this puzzle)
-Goldstein develops 20 hypotheses, using empirical data to test them – he wants to move across
different levels of analysis (sociology, anthropology, history, biology, psychology, politics)
-H1: Gender-linked war roles are not in fact cross-culturally consistent (maybe his original
hypothesis is wrong)
-H2: Sexist discrimination exists despite women’s historical success as combatants
-In female combat units, mixed-gender units, as individuals, as military leaders
-H3: Gendered differences in anatomy/physiology (genetics, testosterone levels, size and
strength, brains and cognition, female sex hormones)
-H4: Innate gender differences in group dynamics (exploring questions around male bonding,
ability to work in hierarchies, in-group/out-group psychology, childhood gender segregation)
-H5: Cultural construction of tough men and tender women (hegemonic masculinity)
-Test of manhood as a motivation to fight, feminine reinforcement of soldiers’
masculinity, women’s peace activism
-H6: Men’s sexual and economic domination of women (male sexuality as aggression,
feminization of enemies as symbolic domination, dependence on exploiting female labor)
-Testing H1: he rejects the myth of the Amazons, cases of countries that virtually never go to war
are non-existent cases
-He wants to recognize that gender roles outside of war vary, but they remain consistent
around political leadership, hunting, violence/war, etc.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Goldstein tells us that historically, less than 1% of warriors have been women war is fought largely by men. Goldstein: though we have a huge diversity of gender roles, and variation in the practice of war, we still see that gender roles in war are strikingly consistent across all known human societies . Virtually all human societies have faced the possibility of war or have fought it, and in every case they have struggled to mobilize they have met this challenge in a gendered way. Goldstein develops 20 hypotheses, using empirical data to test them he wants to move across different levels of analysis (sociology, anthropology, history, biology, psychology, politics) H1: gender-linked war roles are not in fact cross-culturally consistent (maybe his original hypothesis is wrong) H2: sexist discrimination exists despite women"s historical success as combatants. In female combat units, mixed-gender units, as individuals, as military leaders.
