World War 1 Gender Roles Essay

This takes place while Rivers is relaxing in the bath. He contemplates the war’s effect on the masculinity of the combatants and the way in which it has almost ‘unmanned’ them. He also considers his own position as a parental figure to his patients, a role that is often compared to that of the father but which had once been said to be that of a “male mother” and the connotations that this descriptions has. When looking at this scene we must first discuss gender roles and the ways in which they are portrayed nowadays and back in the First World War. Gender roles are the social and behavioural norms that generally govern what is appropriate for either a man or woman to do in a societal or interpersonal context. When we consider the prevailing view of male gender roles in western …show more content…
The effect of the war itself on how the fighters acted and its effect on their own gender roles is also explored in this scene. We are told that “The war that had promised so much in the way of ‘manly’ activity had actually delivered ‘feminine’ passivity on a scale that their mothers and sisters had scarcely known.” This highlights the power of The First World War‘s effect on the male gender role and subsequent effect on male behaviour. The First World War came during a period of belief in the glory of war and the adventure that it offered. The pomp and circumstance of the preceding conflicts and the glamour of the army, especially in Britain where it offered access to the exotic lands of the Empire, helped to instil in the minds of the public the idea that war was as a chance to take glory, protect our lands, conquer new territories and have an adventure. All of these appeal to the traditional characteristics of the male gender role and as such the cause was taken up with abandon by much of the male youth of Britain at the time. This attitude may have worked throughout the preceding conflicts, which were often much more dynamic, with pitched battles and deciding