The mobilization of gender and sexuality can thus provide one way for increasingly marketized military institutions to demonstrate their utility and relevance. As markers of progress, gender-conscious militaries contribute to performances of national Selves and simultaneously disciplines external Others through (the threat of) armed violence (see Basham 2013 Dyvik 2014 Kronsell 2012). Basham 2013) and notions of a “gender-friendly” (Kronsell 2012, 17) and “equal opportunities military” (Bulmer 2013, 140) are increasingly called upon in Western European defense discourses. 4 Military institutions hold crucial positions in these processes (cf. 3Īs previous research shows, configurations of gender and sexuality play important roles in “performative enactments” (Weber 1998, 91) of the nation/state as well as in strategies legitimizing war preparations and deployments.
The campaign called Thou new, Thou free describes Sweden as a “progressive” nation/state whose citizens hold values, rights and freedoms considered “extreme in the eyes of others.” 2 This Swedish exceptionalism, often constructed as equality between people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, is epitomized in the slogan “Sweden, a country to fall in love with/in” and communicated against the backdrop of a rainbow flag.
1This statement by a Swedish Armed Forces (SAF) market strategist refers to a military information campaign distributed widely across Sweden in 2016 amid comprehensive transformations and rearmament of the SAF. We wish to be relevant here and now – so we made this campaign to underline what we really are here for and what we really are doing. But when it isn’t war: how do we create relevance? We have a problem. In times of war, we are one hundred percent relevant. We argue that constructions of a tolerant and modern Sweden (re)produce treacherous, single narratives of distant and dangerous Others and risk making invisible domestic discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation, ultimately enabling the ongoing rearmament and reterritorialization of the SAF.Ībbreviations: LGBT: Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender SAF: Swedish Armed Forces This notion of Swedish progressiveness-often constituted as equality between people of all sexual orientations and gender identities-is epitomized in the campaign slogan “Sweden, a country to fall in love with/in.” This article probes how performative enactments of a gender-exceptional nation works within broader discursive terrains constituting a military institution undergoing large-scale transformations. In these campaigns, Sweden is performed as a “progressive” nation/state whose citizens hold values, rights and freedoms considered “extreme in the eyes of others,” thus being in need of protection by the SAF. This article analyzes how gendered and sexualized subjectivities and symbols are mobilized in recent marketing campaigns launched by the Swedish Armed Forces (SAF).
Gender mainstreaming measures adopted by armed forces have gained scholarly attention for the ways in which they ascribe meaning and relevance to military institutions, perform national identities and order international politics.