Manliness in Britain, 1760-1900: Bodies, Emotion, and Material Culture - Paperback

by Joanne Begiato (Author)

This book offers an innovative account of manliness in Britain between 1760 and 1900. Using diverse textual, visual and material culture sources, it shows that masculinities were produced and disseminated through men's bodies -often working-class ones - and the emotions and material culture associated with them. The book analyses idealised men who stimulated desire and admiration, including virile boxers, soldiers, sailors and blacksmiths, brave firemen and noble industrial workers. It also investigates unmanly men, such as drunkards, wife-beaters and masturbators, who elicited disgust and aversion. Unusually, Manliness in Britain runs from the eras of feeling, revolution and reform to those of militarism, imperialism, representative democracy and mass media, periods often dealt with separately by historians of masculinities.

Back Jacket

Manliness in Britain offers a new account of masculinity in the long nineteenth century: more corporeal and material, more emotional, more cross-class, and less heteronormative than other studies. Using diverse textual, visual, and material culture sources, it shows that masculinities were produced and disseminated through men's bodies - very often working-class ones - and the emotions and material culture associated with them.

The book disrupts the chronology of nineteenth-century masculinities, since it stretches from the ages of feeling, revolution, and reform to those of militarism, imperialism, representative democracy, and mass media. It also queers these histories, by recognising that male and female desire for idealised male bodies and the gender attributes they represented was integral to the success of manliness. Imagined working-class men such as soldiers, sailors, and industrial workers were central to broader ideas of manliness and unmanliness. They not only offered didactic lessons for the working classes and made the labouring ranks appear less threatening, they also provide insights into the production of middle-class men's identities.

The book shows that this melding of bodies, emotions, and material culture created emotionalised bodies and objects, which facilitated the conveying, reproducing, and fixing of manliness in society. As such, it will be vital for students and academics in the history of bodies, emotions, gender, and material culture.

Author Biography

Joanne Begiato is Professor of History and Associate Dean for Research and Knowledge Exchange at Oxford Brookes University