Sexing the Soldier

Download or read book Sexing the Soldier written by Rachel Woodward and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2007-08-07 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.