Gender Trouble in the U.S. Military: Challenges to Regimes of Male Privilege

Product Description

This book investigates challenges to the U.S. military’s gender regime of hetero-male privilege. Examining a broad set of discursive maneuvers in a series of cases as focal points―integration of open homosexuality, the end of the combat ban on women, and the epidemic nature of military sexual assault within its units―Stephanie Szitanyi examines the contemporary link between gender and military service in the United States, and comprehensively analyzes forms of gendering produced by the military as an institution. Using feminist interpretivist methods to analyze an impressive combination of visual, textual, archival, and cultural materials, the book argues that despite policy changes since 2013 that may be positioned as explicit episodes of degendering, military officials have simultaneously moved to counteract them and reinforce the institution’s gender regime of hetero-male privilege. Importantly, these (re)gendering processes continue to prioritize certain forms of service and sacrifice, through which a specific version of masculinity―the masculine warrior―is continuously promoted, preserved, and cemented. 

Review

“Stephanie Szitanyi carefully unpacks the ways in which the gender order of the United States military has been both challenged and reasserted in recent decades. This eminently readable account is rich in empirical detail, and prompts scholars of gender and institutions to re-consider how we understand change: what does it look like, and how is it achieved?” (Aiko Holvikivi, Researcher, Centre for Women, Peace and Security, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK)

“Szitanyi examines how the purported inclusion of women actually re-inscribes masculinity across the military. Excellent work illustrating how, despite claims of gender inclusivity, a regime of cisgender male heterosexual dominance is being reinforced. A critically important volume, even more so as the U.S. military moves backward.” (Máel Embser-Herbert, Professor, Sociology, Hamline University, USA)

From the Back Cover

This book investigates challenges to the U.S. military’s gender regime of hetero-male privilege. Examining a broad set of discursive maneuvers in a series of cases as focal points―integration of open homosexuality, the end of the combat ban on women, and the epidemic nature of military sexual assault within its units―Stephanie Szitanyi examines the contemporary link between gender and military service in the United States, and comprehensively analyzes forms of gendering produced by the military as an institution. Using feminist interpretivist methods to analyze an impressive combination of visual, textual, archival, and cultural materials, the book argues that despite policy changes since 2013 that may be positioned as explicit episodes of degendering, military officials have simultaneously moved to counteract them and reinforce the institution’s gender regime of hetero-male privilege. Importantly, these (re)gendering processes continue to prioritize certain forms of service and sacrifice, through which a specific version of masculinity―the masculine warrior―is continuously promoted, preserved, and cemented. 

Stephanie Szitanyi is Assistant Dean in the Schools of Public Engagement at The New School, USA. Her research focuses on female political representation, gender relations in military institutions, and the militarization of American culture.

About the Author

Stephanie Szitanyi is Assistant Dean in the Schools of Public Engagement at The New School, USA. Her research focuses on female political representation, gender relations in military institutions, and the militarization of American culture.