Masculinity and its Discontents: The Effect of Masculine Identities on Service Culture in Elite Units

Among the most celebrated qualities of serving in the armed forces is the community a
soldier acquires, the “brotherhood” established by service to country shared only by those
who have also committed their lives to their nation. The concept of manliness associated with military services is used in sometimes abusive or stereotypical ways, with
the elevation of service branches and particular roles or divisions via testifying to the elite
masculinity of its members, or with gender or racial tropes being associated with
diminished manhood or femininity. This panel uses both the training of historians and real-life military experience to attest to the use and harm of masculinity as a defining quality and as a cudgel.

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