Abstract
One of the boys…? An investigation of the experience on military masculinity of female cadets from The Royal Danish Military Academy
The Danish Military has for many years been a male dominated organization, even though the number of women joining the army is increasing. There seems to be an assumption that the soldier is male and must meet the expectation of the classic masculine values such as strength, dominance, and aggression. Through observations and semi-structured interviews with female cadets from The Royal Danish Military Academy, this project seeks to investigate how they experience military masculinity and how this experience affects their identity and motivation. The military masculinity was expressed through the language, the way they talk to each other, competition, and in the environment where the education takes place, with the cadet’s physical performance displayed in the classrooms. The project shows that the female cadets is placed in the same ‘category’ based on their gender, followed by a set of expectations based on that category. This interferes with their ‘self-identification’, and it causes the feeling of not belonging. The female cadets show reluctance against being called ’one of the boys’ because it does not fit into their identity as women, and they would much rather be a part of the ‘group’ instead. Furthermore, the project indicates that the motivation of the female cadets primarily is based on the physical demands stated from the academy and the physical differences between men and women. This is shown through an accept of the value of getting stronger for the good of their group or getting stronger and better because their colleagues are getting stronger and better. Lastly, the project suggests that the ‘relatedness’ of the female cadets to their male colleagues is affected by the masculine language, witch consequently makes the female cadets feel misplaced, distanced and that they do not belong in their group. Though, there seem to be an acceptance of this from the female cadets, based on the natural differences between men and women.