Best regards, Andrew Stewart
Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: February 11, 2021 at 7:58:17 AM EST > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-War]: Menchaca on Cerretti, 'Abuses of the Erotic: > Militarizing Sexuality in the Post-Cold War United States' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Josh Cerretti. Abuses of the Erotic: Militarizing Sexuality in the > Post-Cold War United States. Expanding Frontiers: Interdisciplinary > Approaches to Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Series. Lincoln > University of Nebraska Press, 2019. 228 pp. $45.00 (cloth), ISBN > 978-1-4962-0556-8. > > Reviewed by Hailee Josefina Menchaca (San Diego State University) > Published on H-War (February, 2021) > Commissioned by Margaret Sankey > > Gender and sexuality historian Josh Cerretti's book, _Abuses of the > Erotic: Militarizing Sexuality in the Post-Cold War United_ _States_, > examines and critiques the role of the state in imposing > heteronormative structures revolving around militarism, which the US > military used to both criminalize and justify sexual abuses at home > and abroad from the post-Cold War period through the 1990s. By > centering his argument on the connection between the military > industrial complex and sexual identity, Cerretti seeks to understand > how the state used race, gender, and reproduction as an oppressive, > manipulative force in which its proponents would conform to national > ideology. Cerretti highlights the importance of the era covered, > being that the 1990s have wholly been overlooked by historians of > sexuality studies in relation to militarism. Throughout, the author > takes an intersectional approach to the primary source material by > acknowledging the major feminist influences (primarily of women of > color activist scholars) that shaped his anti-militarist rhetoric at > the heart of his exploration of reproductive and sexuality studies in > the field of contemporary history. As each chapter follows a similar > argument, each of the four chapters explores subthemes that further > connect the reader to the systemic nature of sexual abuse and its > connection to the US military regime, which must be explored fully > within this text. > > Chapter 1 identifies how the US government and military used sexual > violence as a means to assert themselves as a paternalistic power > while simultaneously perpetrating acts of sexual violence against > those they sought to defend. By uncovering how the US, under the > George H. W. Bush administration, used the female body as a means to > mobilize and justify ideological disputes, Cerretti argues that media > sensationalized violence against women abroad to enact support for > the violence against foreign "aggressors" in the name of the state. > By condemning violence against American and non-American women, the > author makes it clear that the military primarily sought to use > victims' experiences to justify intervention. Additionally, this > section heavily relies on the analysis of abuses of American men and > women at the hands of the US military, arguing that media outlets and > film highlighted these abuses as "deviations from militaristic values > rather than products of those values" (p. 35). > > Chapter 2 follows a similar methodology by exploring the connections > between heterosexuality and domestic ideology at the foundation of > militarism. As highlighted briefly in the previous chapter, US > government/military organizations presented women as nonautonomous > helpless beings and white American men as moral protectors. Cerretti > then takes this argumentation further by developing the use of > heterosexuality and whiteness as a device used by the US to > rationalize state violence and intervention through claims that the > white nuclear family was in danger of collapse. While Cerretti claims > that few historians have attempted to connect sexuality, militarism, > and the family structure, he fills these gaps successfully by > formulating a comparative analysis that ties US intervention in the > Gulf War to acts of domestic terrorism within the US. The author > makes these connections by claiming that both the government and > media used the safety of women and children as a means to further > mobilize and promote a national identity where the threat of lost > heterosexuality and family was the primary concern of the US > government. > > Chapter 3 outlines the militarization of homosexuality and queerness > by exploring the pathways of the 1993 "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy > to not only frame the LGBTQ political theater at the time but also > open up debates on how political actors approached homophobia and > violence within the US military. Of these debates, Cerretti calls on > highly contested agendas that sought to assimilate LGBTQ people > enlisted in the military according to heteronormative expectations > and combine military terminology into the HIV/AIDS movement (for > example, such terminology as "war on AIDS") (p. 84). As LGBTQ > activists were attempting to formulate national identity within the > military sphere, the US government sought to define activists as > militant, a term used negatively unless used to benefit the military > industrial complex itself. Through his analysis of public policy and > activist networks, the author seeks to identify the coalition between > the public and private life where sexuality defined policy of the > 1990s. In closing, the author attempts to highlight that while major > strides have been made for LGBTQ people within the military > industrial complex, LGBTQ people of color have not witnessed the same > results; however, this point is not fully explored. > > Chapter 4 seeks to elucidate the connection between militarism and > reproduction through a case study of US intervention in the Marshall > Islands. Within this section, the author relies on personal accounts > from women living on the Marshall Islands who recount the > generational traumas and medical issues that have affected their > ability to reproduce due to atomic testing in Bikini Atoll by the US > military, thus tying together military presence and women's > reproductive health. Cerretti, in composing this section, addresses > the lack of systematic collection of data at the hands of the US > government identifying gaps in which the nature of US military > testing is not fully realized on the health of those living across > the Marshall Islands. However, the author is able to successfully use > the information that is available to conclusively describe the > effects of militarism on reproduction and the land itself. > Subsequently he then uses the rest of the chapter to highlight how > communities on the islands shaped resistance to military impact and > sought to provide health education to decolonize US patterns of > abuses on reproduction. > > In closing, Cerretti provides well thought-out organization that > connects the US military industrial complex to various modes of > sexuality studies. By elucidating the broader impacts of the > unexplored period of militarism of the 1990s the reader can attempt > to engage in studies of conflict and military abuses through a > critical lens based in feminist anti-militarist rhetoric. Each > chapter within the text stands alone to highlight the nature of US > intervention on sexuality abroad and within the state, but the author > makes deep connections among each chapter within the conclusion, > which serve to explain how these unique chapters are intertwined. > However, some gaps are existent within this book. Several times the > author alludes to deeper matters of race and their connection to > militarism, but these ideas are not always analyzed as fully as they > could be despite the author's attention to secondary literature by > women of color feminist activists. Additionally Cerretti states that > this work attempts to be a "critique of the powerful rather than to > create representations of those on the margins" (p. 135). Though > representations of those affected by militarism would be a powerful > study, this reflects the gaps within military research that Cerretti > perhaps was unable to reach due to lack of source material. Though > these gaps exist within the book, the author clearly identifies them > as a call for more research and activist resistance due to the > field's relative newness. Overall, this book successfully expands new > and innovative historical discourse that provides hopeful resonance > across the field in which activist scholars can incorporate > intersectional and feminist thought into the field. > > Citation: Hailee Josefina Menchaca. Review of Cerretti, Josh, _Abuses > of the Erotic: Militarizing Sexuality in the Post-Cold War United > States_. H-War, H-Net Reviews. February, 2021. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=56106 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. 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