Kronsell Case Study

Annica Kronsell's "Methods for Studying Silences: Gender Analysis In Institutions of Hegemonic Masculinity" focuses on studying the "silence" of oppression, problematizing masculinity and highlighting male hegemony that may not be explicitly promoted. Kronsell's case study centers upon the Swedish Armed Forces, in which she first looks to the "universal conscription" (113).  Kronsell comments that the so-called "information problem," in which the male proportion of the draft dropped, was never a problem when the female proportion was not presented. She concludes that this reinforces male hegemony - that men are therefore given a superior status to women as the appropriate defenders of the nation and the only citizens capable of being entrusted with knowledge concerning security and defense matters (113, 115). Kronsell also highlights the use of language that maintains "masculinities and the hegemony of men" (110) in the Swedish Armed Forces. The military papers stated the ambiguous "officer" or "conscript," in no way that directed any gender explicitly, but it was known socially that those roles belonged to men exclusively (Kronsell, 113). Also, in texts, women were never mentioned, so it also meant that only men were considered "real" citizens, and heads of the households (Kronsell, 115). Another group excluded fro the army is the "male" LGBT community (Kronsell, 116). There is no debate about changing traditions in the military. It was only until the military saw a decline in military soldiers that they contemplated having women join. Kronsell found that there was a positive influence in the Armed Forces by having women present there. One of the points found was that there was a "shaping up" of language (Kronsell, 120), especially since most language used is sexual, and pornographic images were taken down from bunks (Kronsell, 120). 

Maria, Kortney, Ienna