From Library Journal

Enloe (government, Clark Univ.) is the author of several books dealing with women and the military (e.g., Bananas, Beaches, and Bases , Univ. of California Pr., 1990). In this work, Enloe explores the militarization of the concept of masculinity, which, she maintains, supports patriarchy and negatively affects women around the world. Her thoughts, including a gendered analysis of the North American Free Trade Agreement and a discussion on the military attitude toward prostitution, are cogent. Despite some unevenness in writing style and one or two assertions not adequately supported by data, this title is recommended for women's studies collections.

- Sharon Firestone, Coll. of Law Lib. Arizona State Univ., Tempe

Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Here, Enloe (Government/Clark University) makes bold but often unsubstantiated assertions about the relationship between sexuality and militarism--as she seeks, not too persuasively, to chart changing post-cold-war sexual politics. For Enloe, a committed feminist, gender is all as she discusses subjects ranging from the working conditions of Filipina servants in Kuwait and the role of women in the Gulf War to government-sanctioned prostitution for the military. In each situation, she says, women have been affected by the way ``in which masculinity provided fodder for earlier militarization.'' To Enloe, gender-definition goes beyond mere prejudice or custom; it's a deliberate product of sociopolitical policy: ``masculinity being remade for the sake of controlling the society at large.'' In her view, both sides in the cold war deliberately used sexuality to meet their goals by providing prostitutes and sexual R&R for their armed forces; by encouraging women to stay home or take low-paying jobs as a form of ``patriotic sacrifice''; and by enacting policies that forced women into ``low-waged'' jobs--by making, for example, ``tourism a partner for regional anti-Communism'' in the Caribbean. With the cold war over, Enloe sees some encouraging signs of a future in which masculinity won't be shaped by militarism: The UN peacekeeping force ``inspires optimism because it seems to perform military duties without being militaristic''; Danish women have organized against the Maastricht treaty; more women are in armed services; and women's movements are growing in Kuwait, the Philippines, and even in Serbia. Rambling and repetitive polemic that could have something important to say but by substituting assertion and anecdote for rigorous analysis, doesn't. (Illustrations--not seen) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.