Texans, War Fever, and the Absence of the Female

Abstract

Developments since the terrorist attacks of 9-11, including the recent war in Iraq and its aftermath, have reminded us again that the U.S. are a large and very diverse country - in its geographical as well as social, cultural, and political dimensions; and yet the diversity tends to fold into almost unified action and opinion in times of crises. [...] In particular, in times of real or proclaimed national crises, one can observe upsurges of a male warrior attitude in public discourse whose declared goal is to destroy an - at least rhetorically - identified external enemy. [...] Women, though generally the majority of the U. S. population, are virtually absent in this discourse emphasizing the (male) body as weapon and the brotherhood of watchful men on whose technology-supported skills depends the welfare of the nation.