“Tanks, Tracks, Troopers”: Military Masculinity in Digital Space

Jester, Natalie ORCID: 0000-0002-7995-3028 (2024) “Tanks, Tracks, Troopers”: Military Masculinity in Digital Space. In: Gender and Security: Persistent and New Issues. Edward Elgar. (In Press)

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Abstract

This chapter updates my own recent work examining hegemonic military masculinity, which argues that US and the UK military recruitment video advertisements are less hegemonically masculine than one might expect, featuring a moderate number of women. The chapter first explores extant literature on military masculinity and considers how this might function on the internet, which exposes a wider public to gendered constructions of the military. Analysis focuses upon twelve videos on the official British Army YouTube channel (in the “Watch this” section). The videos construct a masculinity centring upon “Big boys’ toys” (Higate 2003: 34) such as tanks, with a clear focus upon readiness to tackle future threats, and a desire to foster relations with allies. This contrasts with my past analysis as there is less focus in these videos on physical and mental strength, and they feature many fewer women, portraying masculinity as an almost exclusively male preserve.

Item Type:	Book Section
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Masculinity; Military; Britain; Social media; Representations; Visual analysis
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HM Sociology J Political Science > JZ International relations
Divisions:	Schools and Research Institutes > School of Business, Computing and Social Sciences
Research Priority Areas:	Society and Learning
Depositing User:	Natalie Jester
Date Deposited:	15 May 2024 12:26
Last Modified:	15 May 2024 12:30
URI:	https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/14092

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