A Fight for Real Men: Gender and Nation-Building during the Primo de Rivera Dictatorship (1923–1930)

Abstract

In 1923, the dictator General Primo de Rivera implemented an ambitious project to restore Spanish masculinity. I believe his efforts to be the response to both a growing instability in gender relations and what had become an enduring national crisis in masculinity. A call to action, as opposed to menacing passivity and a national lack of virile energy, permeated discourses and political practices during the course of his dictatorship. A significant number of men collaborated in this project and helped to nationalize Spanish society while defending social order. Organizations like the Somatén (national militia) created forums for the display of patriotic military masculinity. However, and ironically, the new political climate encouraged the participation of women in politics in a way that actually endangered Spain’s gender order. Political rituals like flag-blessing ceremonies throughout the country opened an unexpected window of opportunity for women to play an important role in that movement of ‘real men’, as Primo de Rivera called it. The process and tensions involved describe a mutual construction of gender and national identities, where there was also a troubled coexistence of different models of masculinity. This study is based on the analysis of a wide range of primary sources, including newspapers, political essays, literature and propaganda.