Abstract
This chapter argues that the campaign for Britain to leave the European Union (EU) and the subsequent Brexit process have been dominated by discourses of toxic masculinity, manifesting in two distinct ways: first through the deployment of language that was associated with deal-making and, second through the deployment of language associated with militarism. Drawing on a combination of critical feminist theory, documentary analysis and elite, semi-structured interviews with individuals close to the process, this chapter demonstrates the extent to which Brexit has been dominated by discourses of militarism, which highlighted Britain’s assumed global role in the world emphasising strength, security and global power, and deal-making discourses which have equated the negotiations to a business transaction, positioning Anglo-European negotiations in conflictual terms. We conclude with four potential (gendered) consequences of this discourse.
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Notes
- 1.
Interview conducted by Benjamin Martill and Anton Gromoczki, House of Lords, 20 July 2017.
- 2.
Interview conducted by Oliver Patel and Jose Feio, Brussels, 25 July 2017.
- 3.
Interview conducted by Benjamin Martill, Brussels, 19 July 2017.
- 4.
Interview conducted by Benjamin Martill and Anton Gromoczki, House of Lords, 20 July 2017.
- 5.
It should be noted, perhaps unsurprisingly, that support for the free-market did not feature in the campaigns. From the Labour (‘Labour Leave’) and Green (‘Green Leave’) campaigns, which focused instead upon the EU’s treatment of Greece, its support for ‘tax-dodging multinationals’, and its contribution to insecurity in the East (e.g. Labour Leave 2016; Green Leaves 2016).
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Moira Dustin for detailed comments on the manuscript and Daniel Payne at the LSE Archives for his assistance in tracking down material from the referendum campaign(s). We would also like to thank participants of the Feminist and Queer Perspectives on Brexit Workshop at Sussex University for their very helpful comments on an earlier draft.
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Achilleos-Sarll, C., Martill, B. (2019). Toxic Masculinity: Militarism, Deal-Making and the Performance of Brexit. In: Dustin, M., Ferreira, N., Millns, S. (eds) Gender and Queer Perspectives on Brexit. Gender and Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03122-0_2
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