Play the man!

This book investigates ideas of men and§masculinities in interwar Britain in three different§areas: psychology, physical education and sex. Using§a broad range of sources from different walks of life§it explores how men and masculinities were§constructed in different ways for different purposes.§The central argument is that ''a man'' was not something§one was born as, but something one could aspire to§be, if one trained oneself according to the rules and§standards laid out in the period. Becoming a man was§not purely an aestetic pursuit, but deeply entrenched§in discourses of Nation, State, and Race. Men''s§bodies experienced a new form of interest in interwar§Britain as physical training was becoming a general§pursuit and sexual reformers and conservatives tried§to come to terms with a post-Victorian society.§The interwar period saw a strong tendency away from§the ideal of men and women as opposites towards a§heterosexual matrimonial ideal wherein men could try§to establish a masculine identity. This tendency§created new frontiers where homosexuals, ''perverts'',§''misfits'' and ''freaks'' were seen as opposites of the§''real man'' in the symbolic world of the early§twentieth century.