Army recruitment video advertisements in the US and UK since 2002: Challenging ideals of hegemonic military masculinity?

Abstract

This article examines video recruitment advertising for the US and UK armies between 2002 – post 9/11 – and 2018 in order to unpack constructions of gender in a context of what has been called a military recruitment crisis. The findings suggest that the recruitment crisis has made possible some interesting representations of gender in the armies of the respective states. The US constructs its army in less traditionally masculine terms: women and people of colour are frequently present as equal team members and there is a focus on emotional as well as physical strength. In contrast, UK advertising pre-2012 does not feature many women, presenting them in subordinate terms, and focuses on risk-taking and physical strength. After this period, however, there is a marked change and British army advertisements begin to look more like those produced by the US. The author argues that this represents a rejection of hegemonic military masculinity and that such a rejection functions to obscure military violence by presenting armies as progressive.

Militarizing antimilitarism? Exploring the gendered representation of military service in German recruitment videos on social media

“…Feminist research has highlighted the crucial role that understandings of manliness play in the justification of armed forces and the violence committed on behalf of the state (see, for example, Åhäll 2012;Belkin 2012;Enloe 2000Enloe , 2016Goldstein 2001;Hooper 2001;Hutchings 2008;Wibben 2018). A narrower strand of research has zoomed in on the role of masculinity in military recruitment and public relations (see, for example, Brown 2012;Enloe 2015;Jester 2021;Shim and Stengel 2017;Strand 2021).…”

“…First, similar to more recent recruitment advertisements for the British and Swedish armed forces, the representation of military masculinities in DR is not uniform but ambiguous and contradictory. This increases the appeal of military service for more diverse audiences who might be primarily motivated not by a sense of patriotic duty but by other factors, such as self-fulfillment or increased employability in the civilian job market (Jester 2021;Strand and Berndtsson 2015). Second, what distinguishes the construction of military masculinity in DR from other cases is that even the (contingent and context-dependent) hegemonic form of military masculinities within the series (embodied by the instructors) is remarkably civil.…”

“…In recent years, scholars of critical military studies have increasingly focused on military public relations and recruitment as a central site for the production and reproduction of the legitimacy of military forces and violence (Basham 2013;Crilley 2016;Strand and Berndtsson 2015). Feminist scholars have examined the important role that notions of masculinity play in both making military service attractive and legitimating the state and its armed forces (Belkin and Carver 2012;Brown 2012;Enloe 2015;Jester 2021;Strand 2021). Military service (in particular in combat) is often seen as the epitome of masculinity and the soldier as the ideal citizen (Belkin 2012;Cockburn 2010;Enloe 2016;Peterson 2010).…”

“…As in research on military masculinities more generally, studies of military marketing and recruitment have also recently turned their attention to complexity, ambiguity, and contradiction (Brown 2012;Jester 2021;Strand 2021;Strand and Berndtsson 2015;Strand and Kehl 2019). This is due, at least in part, to the AVF's need to broaden their recruitment pool, leading to more diverse and ambiguous recruitment messaging.…”

“…This article complements existing research through an analysis of Germany as a previously understudied case that is particularly interesting for several reasons. First, the majority of studies on military recruitment so far have focused on the Anglosphere and, more recently, Sweden (Beck and Spencer 2021;Brown 2012;Jester 2021;Strand 2021;Strand and Berndtsson 2015;Strand and Kehl 2019). Empirically, this exploration of a new case adds to our understanding of gender and military recruitment.…”