Sexualities in State Militaries

Abstract

The regulation and role of sexuality within state militaries has been a major concern for gender scholars. Militaries remain important national institutions which reproduce and reinforce social norms and hierarchies around gender, race and sexuality and as Paul Higate (2003b: 209) has argued ‘the inscription of heterosexuality into all aspects of culture… is deeply bound up with the… [combat masculine warrior] ethic.’ Moreover the regulation of sexuality within state militaries is not just an issue of equal opportunities for sexual minorities serving within them. Gendered logics shape the politics of war in liberal democratic states and societies because they ‘help to define the objects and subjects of war – who fights, who dies, who or what should be defended, and to what ends’ (Basham 2013: 7). The official regulation and everyday performances of sexuality and sexual identity within state militaries shape, and are shaped by, the need to legitimise state sanctioned violence. [...]