Imagined Masculinity: Body, Sexuality, and Family among Israeli Military Reserves

This article explores how middle-class Jewish men on reserve duty in the Israel Defense Forces form a "proper" masculinity through humor and jokes. Reserve service creates a fruitful territory for researching four issues that have not been extensively studied in the literature on masculini...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Symbolic interaction 2009, Vol.32 (1), p.21-43
Main Authors: Sion, Liora, Ben-Ari, Eyal
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
Armed Forces
Body
Family
Friendship
Humor
Humour
Israel
Jews
Jokes
Male homosexuality
Masculinity
Men
Middle Class
Military
Military reserves
Military service
Power
reserve soldiers
Sex
Sexuality
Social interaction
Soldiers
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Summary:This article explores how middle-class Jewish men on reserve duty in the Israel Defense Forces form a "proper" masculinity through humor and jokes. Reserve service creates a fruitful territory for researching four issues that have not been extensively studied in the literature on masculinities: the relation between gender and age, the periodic reaffirmation of masculinity along the life course, how women are perceived as sexual objects and how informal social pressure is placed on singles to marry and begin families, and how men not only are motivated by homophobia but use images of women and homosexuals to map and interpret power relations and competition between men.
ISSN:0195-6086
1533-8665
DOI:10.1525/si.2009.32.1.21