Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2019
Published In
Women's Studies in Communication
Keywords
Bawdry, Humor, Masculine, Militarism, Misogyny
Abstract
It is a practical truism that hypermasculine rules of engagement pervade U.S. military culture. Veteran Television (VET Tv), the self-proclaimed “Comedy Central of the military,” amplifies it to the ribald. This article takes up the online network’s contention that bloodthirstiness, indecency, cocksureness, and libidinous impudence characterize the new normal of the post-9/11 male soldier. By examining its comic framework for aligning bawdry with masculinity in bello (in or at war), I argue that VET Tv promotes the vice of male decadence in the guise of military virtue, particularly by making women the stooges for flippant misogyny, unadulterated maleness, and warlike eroticism on the home front.
DOI
10.1080/07491409.2019.1615020
Rights
© Taylor & Francis
Recommended Citation
Gilbert, C. J. (2019). Bawdy Blows: VET Tv and the Comedy of Combat Masculinity. Women's Studies in Communication 42(2): 181-201. https://doi.org/10.1080/07491409.2019.1615020
Comments
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Women's Studies in Communication on June 17 2019, available online: https://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/07491409.2019.1615020.