Masculine Manpower

Masculinity is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as "the state or fact of being masculine [or] the assemblage of qualities regarded as characteristic of men" ("Masculinity"). Furthermore, the OED goes to define something masculine as "having a character befitting or regarded as appropriate to the male sex; vigorous, powerful" ("Masculine"). These traits of masculinity and being masculine have existed as a sort of human creation and expectation of what a man is, and should be. This idea of the ideal man being tall, strong, brave, and often stoic, is very old, and present in much of the world's literature. It goes back to the epics of the ancient world, in which the strong, brave man must slay the monsters and become the hero in the end. This idea extends to even more modern films and stories, such as James Bond, for example. Here is presented a man, who must use wit, strength, and bravery to defeat the bad guy, and in the end, he inevtiably gets the girl.

The ideas of masculinity are also present in Katharine Burdekin's Swastika Night. This novel is set in the distant future, in which Nazism has taken over and similarly to Orwell's 1984, it "depict a totalitarian regime in which individual thought has been all but eliminated and, toward this end, all information about the past has been destroyed" (Patai, 86). One can also notice that, "There is a similar hierarchy in each novel: Big Brother, the Inner Party, the Outer Party, and finally the proles in 1984; Der Fiihrer, the Knights, the other Nazis, and finally non-Germans, all women, and all Christians in Swastika Nights" (86). This clearly shows in Swastika Nights, the defamation of women. Another of the many parallels present in both novels is how sex is used for strictly procreation, rather than for pleasure. This ability for the ruling power to control something as basic and necessary as sex, it shows total control over the populus.
Another clear example of masculinity present in 1984 and also Swastika Nights, is the presence of a strong, overbearing, supreme male leader. In 1984 it is known as Big Brother, and the phrase "BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU" (Orwell, 4) remains a constant reminder. The Party (the controlling government in 1984) also uses masculinity in the sense that they promote masculine-type values, such as bravery, victory, strength as strong positive values. The idea that products, such as cigarettes or gin, can be sold as victory cigarettes or victory gin, gives an almost male "hoo-rah" feel.

Daphne Patai, Orwell's despair, Burdekin's hope: Gender and power in dystopia, Women's Studies International Forum, Volume 7, Issue 2, 1984, Pages 85-95, ISSN 0277-5395, 10.1016/0277-5395(84)90062-1.

"masculine, adj. and n.". OED Online. September 2011. Oxford University Press. 13 November 2011 .

"masculinity, n.". OED Online. September 2011. Oxford University Press. 13 November 2011 .

Orwell, George. 1984. Toronto: Penguin Books, 1954. Print.