Masculinities, social class and political violence (Argentina, 1970)

Abstract

This article examines masculinity in Argentine armed groups in order to explore revolutionary violence and the political views of the middle class in the 1970s. The author hypothesizes that guerrilla culture had its own
form of virility that combined bravery, sacrifice and tenderness, with a central political importance. This was highlighted during the far right offensive, which symbolically targeted guerrillas’ virility and class, portraying them as cowardly, effete, and middle-class, and imposed
its own brand of masculinity, whereby it legitimized the creation of parapolice gangs that murdered both armed and unarmed leftist
militants.