Imagined Masculinity: Body, sexuality, and family among Israeli military reserves

Liora Sion*, Eyal Ben-Ari

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

37 Scopus citations

Abstract

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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)21-43
Number of pages23
JournalSymbolic Interaction
Volume32
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2009

Keywords

  • Humor
  • Israel
  • Masculinity
  • Middle class
  • Reserve soldiers

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