Dismembering the Male: Men’s Bodies, Britain and the Great War

It has been contended that femininity was disrupted, constructed and reconstructed during World War I, but what happened to masculinity? Using the evidence of letters, diaries and oral histories of members of the military and of civilians, this book explores the impact of the Great War on the male body. Each chapter offers a detailed examination of a different facet of the war and masculinity, comparing attitudes towards those who were dismembered and disabled by the war with attitudes towards those suffering from diseases such as shell-shock. Joanne Bourke concludes that, although the absence of women encouraged male intimacy, differences of class, religion and ethnicity, together with the constant threat of death, acted as barriers to closeness. Bourke argues that military experiences led to a greater sharing of gender identities between men of different classes and ages, and that, ultimately, attempts to reconstruct a new type of masculinity failed as the threat of another war - and with it the sacrifice of a new generation of men - intensified.