Man un/made: male homosocial and homosexual desire in anarchist culture of the Spanish Civil War

Abstract

This paper explores the problematic construction of masculinity in anarchist culture of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). Anarchist ideologies and libertarian cultural practices played an extraordinary role in re-shaping gender relations in 1930s Spain, particularly concerning the position of women in society. However, through the repetition of the most stereotypical versions of masculinity, Spanish anarchism also reproduced the same power structures that it sought to undermine. This reiteration not only affected women, but homosexual men as well. On the one hand, these men were the object of scorn and homophobic writing; on the other, the course of the war allowed them to establish affective relationships with other men – the veiled manifestation of homoerotic sexual desire – and visually consume the countless repetitions of a hyperbolic masculinity created by the propaganda effort. From this perspective, I argue that the iconography of the male body in anarchist propaganda of the Spanish Civil War replicates and, at the same time, challenges, the hegemonic model of man in Spanish culture.