How Gender Politics Boosted Martial Ideals During the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars

How Gender Politics Boosted Martial Ideals During the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars

Do you find it interesting that historians rarely agree on how and why wars are waged? As intricate as the proposed theories tend to be, gender politics is rarely an issue that is held up to a magnifying glass. In Kristin Hoganson’s book, Fighting for American Manhood: How Gender Politics Provoked the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars, the author presents many valid examples of how the desire to uphold “manly values” fueled American leaders’ involvement in martial affairs. Throughout her book, Hoganson takes many of the historic theories that attempt to explain the causes of both the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars, while cleverly unveils how these theories were driven by ideals such as proving one’s masculinity, honor, and glory. Hoganson gives us good reason to believe that although “gender politics” was not the direct connection to America’s involvement in the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars, it did cause America to make drastic decisions when dealing with foreign affairs in an effort to “prove their manliness”.

Hoganson begins her analysis by presenting to the reader the two different perspectives on foreign policy held by Americans in the late nineteenth century: the “jingoist” view versus the “arbitrationist” view. The arbitrationist view was one that was very much against war; believers of this ideal held the conception that as human beings, we could resolve problems by simply talking them out. “According to [arbitrationist] line of thought, those who still considered war a viable means of ending disputes resembled cavemen” (17). Jingoist beliefs, on the other hand, stood ...

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...argue that gender politics had a large scale effect on American foreign relations during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In an effort to look like “a force to be reckoned with," Americans decided that holding themselves to martial ideals was the best way to deal with other nations. The problem in American policy during this time was the switch from trying to assume a chivalric identity to the eventual assumption of a pure martial identity. I believe that Hoganson did a very good job of providing more than enough examples from quotes, texts, ideas, etc. to convey her points and lend credence to her argument. Altogether, I believe this text did a very sufficient job describing the role gender politics played in the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars. Hoganson does a great job providing well researched examples to solidify her argument.