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“Nought but women” Constructions of Masculinities and Modes of Emasculation in the New World Sandra Slater Over the course of the early modern period of European history, adventurers and profiteers saw the lure of the New World. Men sought to achieve wealth or glory; most desired both. European men arrived in North America with a distinctly European sense of identity that directly contradicted the masculine identities and gender relations enacted by natives. Native and European men challenged one another’s understandings of manhood, and the resulting conflicts demonstrated the powerful effect each had on the other. The goal of presenting oneself as the dominant man, or in most cases the dominant masculinity, characterized much of these early encounters. This essay specifically looks at instances in which both native and European men attempted to undermine the masculinities of one another and how these moments of contact directly impacted the course of events in the New World. Furthermore, understanding gendered dynamics of native masculinities helps to illuminate their direct contradictions of European ideals and shows how these collisions of identities may have impacted the impetus for Europeans to Christianize through conquest. Warfare provides the most obvious example of this contestation of power, but other more subtle incidents reveal the intricacies of these exchanges. Native and European men both sought to bolster their own masculinity through the emasculation of their enemies. Sometimes using women’s role in society, rape, verbal or physical assaults, or even attitudes toward homosexuality and the two-spirited natives, European men displayed their determination to place themselves as the dominant masculinity, accruing the most power and authority. This essay examines the moments in which these contests reveal themselves most distinctly and the contextualized attitudes that created the impetus for conflict. It asserts that while Europeans and natives possessed distinct masculinities prior to contact, it is only when studying their interactions that ideas about masculine identities can clearly be understood. These interactions shed light on conceptions of self and the ubiquitous “other.” Definitions of “masculinity” vary among historians, anthropologists, and sociologists . For the purpose of this research, masculine identities emerge from a variety “Nought but women” 31 of socioeconomic influences. Personal history, national influence, environment, expectation, religion, and economics all contribute to one’s personal construction of self. Because these are multiple identities, they require language that recognizes their plurality (i.e., masculinities). Individuals usually perform their constructed masculine identities in relation to dominant tropes of appropriate manhood. It is through these performances and sometimes articulations of what men deem appropriate or dominant masculinities that cultural constructions of masculine identities can be gleaned. More important, conflicts between men over what constituted the best masculine performance illuminate both individual and cultural constructions and the influence both can have on potential conflict.1 Old World Masculinities The world in which early modern European men lived demanded highly dichotomized performances of gender. Women as guardians of the home should project the utmost chastity, humility, and piety. Their obedience to their husbands and the male authorities within the politic and the church required women to maintain a very narrow identity of submission. For men, power and authority characterized their existence, particularly for noblemen and military leaders. They controlled their homes, wives, and families, and inhabited an intensely religious world that fortified their position of power both in public and private. Men of high birth and those who sought to attain prominence demonstrated confidence , honor, physical strength, bravery, and pious authority. Christianity, both Protestant and Catholic, considered the reverence for male authority paramount to the order of the church and society. Men fought literally and figuratively for the empowerment of their country and church. Men who traveled to North America in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries began their conquests on the fields of Europe and the Middle East, eagerly seeking to exert the dominance of their king and church. The religious wars of Europe and the Crusades of the Middle Ages provided a strong precedent for the mentality that led men to America to convert the natives and claim those fertile lands in the name of the country and king. For many Europeans the possession and display of courage defined successful masculinity. According to the Dictionnaire de L’Académie Française (1694) the term courage in French connoted meanings similar to present-day “courage” in English. However, in the definition of courage special emphasis was given to the state...

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