The myth of the warrior and the social construction of an "eternal masculinity" after the war

Modern wars entail transference between masculinity and femininity, especially as a result of the moral, economic and military mobilization of women. These wars correspond in effect to moments of crisis in masculine identity that lead men to cling to warlike activity in so far as it is perceived as the major attribute of masculinity. With reference to France in the period between 1944 and 1946, the author observes that post-war periods are moments of masculine reaction during which men consolidate their identity by appropriating and generalizing as masculine the image of the warrior, whilst minimizing the role of women during the conflict. Thus it is in so far as based on the myths of the warrior and of femininity reduced to maternity that masculinity is reconstructed in post-war imagination.