The ‘Real Man’ in the Global War on Drugs: Narco versus Militarised Masculinities

Abstract

Drawing on a discursive analysis of the life stories of thirty-three men who worked in drug trade organisations in Mexico, this article examines how masculinities are constructed in their narratives, and how these constructions mirror militarised masculinities implicit in official discourses of the global war on drugs. Participants’ narratives draw on traditional gender discourses which historically have been promoted by the military worldwide. Former narcos assume that men’s and women’s roles and capabilities are fundamentally different, that only men can hold positions of authority, and that a ‘real man’ is heterosexual. Like militarised masculinities, the ideal man is constructed as physically strong, emotionally controlled, proud, rational, aggressive, and brave. Informed by this ideal male model, narco masculinities radicalise and enhance violent and aggressive behaviours and put them at the centre of the male identity. Crucially, what is also revealed in the narratives of former narcos, is that violence produced by criminals, and the violence produced by state institutions are two sides of the same coin. I argue that this coin is the militarised masculinities that are embedded at the very core of the war on drugs, and traditional gender discourses which promote violent strategies purportedly to protect society from the ‘threat’ of drugs. In this way, this article shows how gender plays a key role in perpetuating the global war on drugs and, therefore, the violence on both sides of the trenches.