![]() ![]() ![]() While many soldiers and civilians reinforced hegemonic gender and sexual paradigms, the total war experience also led many to subvert, appropriate and distort prevailing norms. As historian Christa Hämmerle recently observed, it is difficult to uncover the degree to which hegemonic, militarized conceptions of gender roles were accepted by the majority of soldiers who experienced the Great War. ![]() Ordinary men’s and women’s responses to medical, military and political efforts at control were complex. As a result of this disruption of existing social structures, military and civil authorities in both democratic and authoritarian societies tried to control and monitor the behaviors of both soldiers and civilians, enforcing ideal “ masculine” and “feminine” sexual behaviors in the context of militarization and the nation’s interests. As historian Dagmar Herzog observed, the First World War disrupted traditional social structures and created an environment in which men and women could explore new sexual experiences made possible by mass mobilization and separation from the restrictions imposed by traditional institutions. Historians have recently turned their focus to the effects of the First World War on sexual behavior and perceptions of sexual norms and identities. ![]()
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