1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910156231203321

Autore

Crouthamel J

Titolo

An Intimate History of the Front [[electronic resource] ] : Masculinity, Sexuality, and German Soldiers in the First World War / / by J. Crouthamel

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York : , : Palgrave Macmillan US : , : Imprint : Palgrave Macmillan, , 2014

ISBN

1-349-47785-0

1-137-37693-7

1-137-37692-9

Edizione

[1st ed. 2014.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (248 p.)

Disciplina

940.40943

Soggetti

Sociology

Social history

Europe, Central—History

World War, 1939-1945

Europe—History

History, Modern

Gender Studies

Social History

History of Germany and Central Europe

History of World War II and the Holocaust

European History

Modern History

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

An Intimate History of the Front: Masculinity, Sexuality, and German Soldiers in the First World War; Contents; Acknowledgments; Abbreviations; Introduction; Uncovering the Private Worlds of Front Soldiers; Hegemonic Masculinity versus Spectrums of Masculinities; Love and Other Emotions in the Trenches; Male Sexuality and the Great War; CHAPTER 1: The Ideal Man Goes to War; Hegemonic Masculinity in Imperial Germany; The "Good Comrade" Goes to War; Mutual



Comrades: Idealized Relationships between Men and Women at War

The Campaign for Sexual Abstinence: The Home Front Mobilizes to Monitor Their HeroesThe Home Front under Siege: Sexually Damaged Men Return to the Heimat; Conclusion; CHAPTER 2: Masculinity in Crisis: Sexual Crime, Dislocation, and Deprivation; Soldiers' Responses to the VD Crisis; Sex Crimes Committed by Soldiers on Leave; Sexual Excitement, Emotional Numbness, and the Front Experience; Sexual Deprivation and Frontline Homosexuality; Conclusion; CHAPTER 3: "Don't Think I'm Soft": The Masculine Image Presented to the Home Front in Soldiers' Letters

"Great Joy!"- Letters as a Lifeline to Loved Ones"The Hard Truth": Soldiers Struggle to Convey the Trench Experience to Loved Ones; Feldpostbriefe as a Space for Emotional Intimacy; Avoiding "Bad" Girls: Sex and Foreign Women in Soldiers' Letters; Conclusion; CHAPTER 4: "I Wish I Were a Girl!": Escaping the Masculine Ideal in Front Newspapers; "Heroic Masculinity" under Fire: Expressing Emotions in Front Newspapers; Fears and Fantasies: Sexual and Emotional Isolation in Front Newspapers; Cross-Dressing for the Fatherland: Experimenting with Gender Boundaries and Behavior; Conclusion

CHAPTER 5: "We Need Real Men": The Impact of the Front Experience on Homosexual Front SoldiersGermany's Homosexual Emancipation Movement: Divisions and Theories on Sexuality; The Persecution of Homosexual Soldiers in the Imperial German Army; Comradeship and Homosexuality: The Great War's Impact on Homosexual Men and the Homosexual Emancipation Movement; The New Battle against Homophobia in Weimar Germany; The War against the Effeminate Homosexual Image; Conclusion; CHAPTER 6: Coming Home: Postwar Sexual Chaos, Disillusionment, and Battles over Masculinity; The Hedonists Return Home

Disappointing HomecomingsPoliticized Masculinities: Categorizing and Controlling Manliness; Conclusion; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index

Sommario/riassunto

This eye-opening study gives a nuanced, provocative account of how German soldiers in the Great War experienced and enacted masculinity. Drawing on an array of relevant narratives and media, it explores the ways that both heterosexual and homosexual soldiers expressed emotion, understood romantic ideals, and approached intimacy and sexuality.