‘A policy of national emasculation’? The gendered debate over Irish neutrality in the Second World War

Abstract

This article argues that, during the Second World War, Irish neutrality was constantly debated in gendered terms. For its proponents, neutrality was situated within a nationalist tradition which spoke a markedly masculine language and thus supplied a useful justification for a diplomatic and military policy which was unavoidable for the Irish state. At the same time, the numerous critics of Irish neutrality routinely drew upon a gendered language of emasculation and cowardice. For both sides, the masculinity of the Irishman in Allied service offered a useful rhetorical device in arguments both for and against active participation in the Second World War. In doing so, this article thus highlights the complex relationship between masculinity and violence in Irish history. Anxieties around masculinity and the gendered order motivated and supplied rhetorical ballast to the policy of neutrality and thus signified a subtle shift in Irish hegemonic masculinity during this time. Whereas previously, Irish masculinity had been predicated on physical force violence and heroism, it increasingly emphasised rational self-restraint, comradeship in a communal effort and participation in a patriarchal, agrarian social order.