The ‘genderman’: (re)negotiating militarized masculinities when ‘doing gender’ at NATO

As a result of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO)​​​ engagement with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 and the Women, Peace and Security agenda, military personnel have been tasked with engaging with and implementing NATO’s interpretation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda, to do ‘gender work’ within the alliance. There is only a small – though increasing – number of men working full time on gender issues within the military structures of the Alliance. This article analyses the experiences of two military men actively and consciously ‘doing’ this gender work. Conceptualizing a (re)negotiation of gender relationships based upon empathy, similarity, interdependence, respect, and equality, the accounts of these men are analysed, exploring ways in which a more ‘gender-conscious’ militarized masculinity may develop. It is argued that positive, incremental shifts within militarized masculinities should not be dismissed; yet the process is contested, contradictory, and incomplete. The article highlights how perceived gender transgressions are policed and controlled via trivialization and feminization, and how conceptualizations of masculinist protection​​​ and credibility can reinforce pre-existing gender relations, rather than challenge or change them.