Looking Beyond Violent Militarized

Masculinities

GUERRILLA GENDER REGIMES IN LATIN AMERICA

LUISA MARIA DIETRICH ORTEGA

University of Vienna, Austria

Abstract -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This article moves beyond stereotypical portrayals of the connections between hyper-
masculinity and violence in militarized contexts and identifies expressions of insurgent
masculinities different from the imagery of heroic guerrilla fighter. Based on conversa-
tions with fifty female and male former insurgent militants in Peru, Colombia and El
Salvador, this comparative analysis explores patterns within gender regimes created in
insurgent movements. This contribution shows that gender is not merely a side contra-
diction, but that guerrilla movements invest considerable efforts in creating and mana-
ging gender relations. The construction of insurgent masculinities is not based on the
rejection or devaluation of women in general, but requires diluting gendered dichoto-
mies, enabling not only alternative role models functional for armed struggle, but also
femalemale bonding, prioritizing comrade identity over gender-binary consciousness.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Keywords
female comrade, gender regime, guerrilla, Latin America, masculinities

INTRODUCTION

This article explores patterns of institutionalized masculinities in different guer-

rilla movements and militarized parties in El Salvador, Peru and Colombia. The
main argument holds that insurgent political-military organizations, under-
stood as status quo-opposing institutions, differ from other institutions that
operate in militarized settings such as armed forces. Not only are insurgent
organizations conceived as temporary constructions to be dismantled (or at
least changed significantly) upon attainment of revolutionary objectives, but

International Feminist Journal of Politics, 14:4 December 2012, 489 507

ISSN 1461-6742 print/ISSN 1468-4470 online # 2012 Taylor & Francis
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 they are also required to combine clandestine, semi-legal and legal operations,
intertwining ideological, political and military elements in their strategies to
balance the asymmetry of power between contending forces. Thus, they create
a particular insurgent gender regime with broad patterns of guerrilla masculi-
nities, including expressions of masculinity beyond the stereotypical portrayal
that stresses militarized masculinitys propensity to violence as nature-given
and unquestionable (McKewon and Sharoni 2002: 3). It has been noted that a
strong common ideology, as seen in national liberation armies, helps to
transcend some gendered prejudices and tensions (Yuval-Davis 1997: 101). It
is precisely the political-military aspect that requires capacities beyond war
making, such as political, community and social skills and which constructs
other expressions of masculinities beyond hyper-masculine violence.
The insurgent movements analysed understand class struggle, that is, the
contradiction between labour and capital, as the main structure of oppression
in society and incorporate this conception into group organization. Despite
the fact that gender is established as a side contradiction in revolutionary dis-
course and insurgent practice, gender, being an inequality generating structure,
does not disappear, nor can insurgent organizations opt to operate outside a
gendered framework. In this context, the efforts of guerrilla organizations to
mute gender for ideological purposes, while preventing female militants
from developing a gender consciousness, indicate the vested interest of insur-
gent organizations in manipulating gender constructions for the advancement
of their revolutionary objectives. Thus, significant efforts are invested in the
provision of alternative gendered role models in order to shape functional
militant femininities and masculinities that are mobilized for political violence.
Although over the last decade the study of masculinities in Latin American
contexts has increased considerably, limited attention has been paid to the
constructions of revolutionary masculinities.1 Particularly interesting are
works on imagery and narratives used in the construction of revolutionary
masculinity, stressing Ernesto Che Guevaras conception of the New Man,
or the work of the Nicaraguan FSLN commander Omar Cabezas (1982) on
the incorporation of emotions into male revolutionary repertoires or what
might be considered the feminine, tender and loving side of the macho guer-
rilla (Bayard de Volo 2012: 420; see also Rodriguez 1996; Goosses 2001).
Given that autobiographies of male revolutionary leaders rarely provide
insights into mens gendered experiences (Sanchez Ceren 2008; Valencia
2008), increased attention has been placed on female militants accounts
and narratives (Vazquez et al. 1996; Grabe 2000; Vasquez 2000; Pena 2009)
to derive insights into guerrilla masculinities.
Although the propensity of insurgent masculinities to be more flexible,
mobile and susceptible to change (McKeown and Sharoni 2002: 3) has been
highlighted, the expression of emotions and discursive shifts around the
new man have been identified as exceptions in an otherwise traditional
gendered framework that collapses militarized masculinity with violence
and aggression. Conceptualizing militarized masculinities exclusively in

490 International Feminist Journal of Politics --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

terms of physical strength, display of violence, use of weapons, suppression of
emotions (Goldstein 2001: 268) and the performance of an aggressive and
frequently misogynist masculinity (Theidon 2009: 4), may limit the acknowl-
edgement of multiple expressions of masculinities developing in militarized
contexts. In fact, ignoring those concurrent aspects of militarized masculinities
that incorporate repertoires of tenderness and sidelining expressions that con-
tradict the heroic fighter rationale, only implies a monolithic description of
masculinity. It obscures ambivalence and hides the myriad relations involved
in the construction of masculinities. The arms-bearing rural guerrilla comba-
tant is but one type of guerrilla masculinity, coexisting with the political
commissioner, who, for instance, connects military sections with the party,
and Special Forces personnel, deployed for high-risk sabotage acts behind
enemy lines. In addition, this traditional framework reproduces gendered
binaries, arguing that the strength of revolutionary masculinity is based on
the devaluation and rejection of the feminine (Bayard de Volo 2012: 434).
Thus, if women undergo breaks in their gendered identity upon mobilization
for political violence, male gender identities are not only strengthened, but
men also increase their entitlement to rights, turning from breadwinners
into combatants (Afshar and Eade 2004; Londono and Nieto 2006). Stressing
gendered differences may hinder the recognition of gendered patterns devel-
oping in an insurgent militarized context, where class consciousness is stressed
and unity and cohesion may lead to similarities in the militants experience.
This article explores patterns of militarized masculinity developed in insur-
gent gender regimes, which not only accommodate multiple expressions of
masculinity, but support and manage alternative insurgent expressions
thereof. The key rationale for insurgent masculinities is their functionality
for armed struggle. Thus, these masculinities are not based on the devaluation
of women in general, but on the temporary construction of particular guerrilla
femininities, which allow male female bonding and comradely complicity,
and unveil expressions of guerrilla masculinities beyond the predominant
association of men with violence. The arguments put forward are based on
qualitative interviews conducted throughout 2010 with twenty-five female
and twenty-five male guerrilla militants, who were politically mobilized
roughly between 1970 and the mid-1990s in different insurgent organizations
and militarized parties in El Salvador,2 Peru3 and Colombia.4

CASE STUDIES

In El Salvador, the Farabundo Mart National Liberation Front (Frente Fara-

bundo Mart para la Liberacion Nacional or FMLN) fought the government
forces that relied on substantial support from the USA and Salvadoran
oligarchy over access to power by democratic means in a civil war that
lasted twelve years. This internal armed conflict was brought to an end in
1992 through negotiations after a stalemate between non-defeated contend-

------------ Luisa Maria Dietrich Ortega/Looking Beyond Violent Militarized Masculinities 491
 ing forces (Kruijt 2008; Segovia 2009). The FMLN gained important territorial
control, mobilized large armed contingents and staged two (unsuccessful)
general offensives in 1981 and 1989 in the countrys capital, San Salvador.
The Communist Party of Peru, Shining Path (Partido Comunista del Peru
Sendero Luminoso or PCP-SL), initiated their armed struggle in May 1980,
during the first elections in seventeen years, after a decade of intense ideologi-
cal preparation (Weinstein 2007). Applying Marxist, Leninist and Maoist
theoretical thinking to Peruvian semi-feudal and semi-colonial reality led
to designating peasants as revolutionary subjects, to overthrow the State
through a protracted peoples war from the countryside to the cities (Gorriti
Ellenbogen 1990). The slogan political power grows out of the barrel of a
gun not only subsumes the militarized partys conception of violence as key
to the revolutionary process, but also stresses its subordination to political
decisions (Arce Borja 1989; Rochlin 2003). In November 1983, another insur-
gent organization made its public appearance. The Tupac Amaru Revolution-
ary Movement (Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Amaru or MRTA) developed
out of a spirit of Latin American unity and solidarity, incorporated different
leftist tendencies in their struggle towards socialism and established alliances
with different societal sectors (Prieto Rozos 2007). The MRTA established a
rural guerrilla force in Cuzco and integrated the Batallon America together
with insurgencies in Colombia and Ecuador. The Peruvian government
forces responded with high levels of repression, prison massacres and anti-
terrorist legislation. In 1992, the leadership of both organizations were
captured, which led to a subsequent dismantling of centralized structures.
The Colombian internal armed conflict is the longest on-going conflict in
the region and has moved from partisan civil war to low-intensity guerrilla
insurgency against the State to multi-polar civil war among left-wing guerril-
las, right-wing paramilitaries and the State (Chernick 2007). Given the multi-
plicity of actors, scholars have categorized the insurgent organizations in
Colombia broadly into first generation and second generation movements.
The first generation of insurgent movements emerged in the early 1960s
with the following three insurgent organizations: in 1964, the creation of
the National Liberation Army (Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional or ELN), inspired
by the victorious Cuban Revolution, and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia or FARC) with a
pro-soviet stance, and in 1965, the Popular Liberation Army (Ejercito
Popular de Liberacion or EPL) with a Maoist, pro-China direction (Prieto
Rozos 2007; Garcia-Duran et al. 2008). Among the different second gener-
ation insurgent movements created between the 1970s and 1980s were an
indigenous self-defence group, various dissident organizations of first gener-
ation insurgencies and, with an important emphasis in this article, the 19 April
Movement (Movimiento 19 de Abril, M-19), which was launched in 1973. This
new type of guerrilla, in the urban setting that claimed a particular connection
to Colombian reality, combined a modernizing project with a sense of nation-
alism (Toro 1994; Sanchez-Blake 2000; Garcia-Duran et al. 2008). Given that a

492 International Feminist Journal of Politics --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

detailed contextualization is beyond the scope of this study, it should be high-
lighted that in Colombia, parallel implementation of fragmented peace pro-
cesses co-exists with recurrent cycles of war making. In a broader context of
distension, by the end of the 1980s and early 1990s multiple bilateral nego-
tiations allowed for collective demobilization processes in which political-
military organizations, as a result of formal negotiations and with the adoption
of a new Constitution in 1991, laid down their weapons and demobilized a
total of 4,555 militants.5

INSURGENT GENDER ARRANGEMENTS

Reconfiguring of Structural Determinants

The internal norms and practices of insurgent organizations not only imply a
break with previous civilian socialization, but also a rearrangement of
structural determinants, namely prioritizing class struggle above side contradic-
tions on normative, discursive and practical levels. Despite ideological inter-
group differences, class consciousness and to a lesser extent class origin (i.e.
organizations established revolutionary subjectivity), unity among comrades
marked the path towards victorious revolution. During the 1970s waves of
militant students left university, embracing euphorically the process of
proletarianization of thought and behaviour (Guevara 2007) to become
workers in the industrial belts of Latin American cities to clean the stain of
being born as part of the petty-bourgeoisie. This primacy of class struggle
disrupts complex mechanisms of authorization and marginalization and, due
to the interconnectedness with other structures of inequality, such as gender,
ethnicity, age and so on, has considerable impact on insurgent gender arrange-
ments. The efforts of insurgent organizations in constructing a gender regime
that silences gendered differences and dilutes gendered dichotomies through
comrade identity does not mean that gender as a structuring category is irre-
levant or dissolves as a mere side contradiction. Rather, it demands a thorough
analysis of the guerrilla organizations efforts to shape militant femininities
and masculinities and how it manages insurgent gender arrangements.
The primacy of class allows for the massive incorporation of women into the
armed struggle as a constituent part of the oppressed segments of society. With
between 25 40 per cent female membership,6 far from minority or excep-
tional involvement, insurgencies should be considered as mixed gendered
organizations with unprecedented levels of female political participation in
the Latin American context (Balbi and Callirgos 1992). Although there was
never an overall female majority in the organizations analysed, and although
they never held supreme command responsibilities, women reached high eche-
lons of power, including political decision-making positions as well as military
command. In 1990, police intelligence published a list of eight women and
eleven men among the nineteen members of the PCP-SLs central committee,

------------ Luisa Maria Dietrich Ortega/Looking Beyond Violent Militarized Masculinities 493
 while the last central committee is reported to have had a female majority;
fourteen women and eleven men (Andreas 1985; Mavila Leon 1992; Balbi
2005). Often trivialized as subjected women in the mainstream media, it is
worth acknowledging that women held the second and third commando pos-
itions of PCP-SL, at that time considered the deadliest revolutionary force
(Strong 1992). Similarly, the Colombian M-19 promoted two women to
superior command responsibility and operated with Special Forces com-
manded by a woman, while the strategic leadership in the early 1980s of the
columns in the capital Bogota was also in the hands of three women
(Sanchez-Blake 2000; Londono and Nieto 2006). The coalition forces of the
FMLN recall important female military and political leadership, to the extent
that the final report of the Salvadoran Truth Commission names, among the
five ERP responsible for summary execution of mayors, two men and three
women (United Nations 1993: 203).
This high level of participation, together with access to power, requires a
careful construction of functional models of insurgent femininities and mascu-
linities, which are kept apart from civilian women and depart from stereoty-
pical associations of women with maternity, peacefulness and passivity. In
the words of an interviewee, la companera or the female comrade, is a different
category of women and a new species of women characterized by her political
motivation, ideological conviction and as an agent for change. Together
with the acknowledgement of her capacities and respect for her courageous
actions, certain concessions are made to the female comrade, such as pro-
motion on the grounds of merit or commando positions in the command
structure. These changes within the model of insurgent femininity happen at
the expense of gendered consciousness, which is necessarily overruled by
comrade identity: within the organization the relations were among compa-
neros, independent of gender. You were not discriminated against for being a
woman or not being a woman (Man, M-19, Colombia). Not only did the
insurgent organization weaken gender consciousness, it also rejected
feminism in theory and in practice as bourgeois distraction from the central
causes of the struggle (Herrera 2010).
The primacy of class consciousness and connected comrade identities indi-
cates the construction of guerrilla gender regimes, where gendered dichotomies
are eroded and shared capacities of militant masculinities and femininities are
stressed, rather than conceived as inherently different or necessarily comp-
lementary. In extreme settings, such as combat situations, capacity and skills
become more relevant than the ascribed gendered identity of the militant:

There is one thing in armed struggle that allows for more equality. In the context
of armed struggle, there is no merit that you didnt need to earn, because life itself
was at risk . . . There is no such thing as he is more handsome, those things do
not matter . . . And if its a woman or a man does not matter. What matters is
getting us out of this problem, so there it is about who is most capable.
(Woman, M-19, Colombia)

494 International Feminist Journal of Politics --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Diluting Gendered Dichotomies

The insurgent organizations enable porosity between female and male-

coded realms through different mechanisms in order to foment cohesion and
unity as comrades, as well as to take advantage of installed capacities of
their militants, without being hindered by traditional gendered roles. The con-
texts of mobilization for insurgent action allowed militants to reject traditional
chores, as a female commander from ERP recalls:

We found ourselves on equal levels, it would sound ridiculous for a sixteen-year

old youngster to tell you: no . . . you will stay at home and wash clothes. We were
comrades nothing more, nothing less. What clothes? What are you talking
about? It wasnt logical. The nucleus of the ERP was so young that there was
no way to . . . there was no time to . . . for us to think about gender, nor for
them to discriminate. (Woman, ERP, El Salvador)

In this context, womens combat skills were acknowledged in many anecdotes,

such as the story of Punto Noventa, a RN combatant specialized in artillery
and heavy weaponry:

The commander trusted her. She was efficient, effective and had capacity and she
had earned her position. It was her precision. It wasnt physical strength, but
precision. I was surprised. I thought they would call a big guy, but she was
really tiny holding the large bazooka. (Man, RN-FMLN, El Salvador)

The assumption that men are better suited for the multiple tasks of armed
struggle was challenged on the ground, as male militants in different contexts
report being faced with their own physical and mental limits, as well as prac-
tical difficulties such as handling weapons, managing combat situations and
staying oriented in mountainous areas, all the while observing women
coping better in the same hostile context. When asked if fighting side by
side changed something in mens general acknowledgement of women, a
female militant of M-19 responded:

For them to share with women who are fighting for positions of equality within
the ranks, also forces them to weakening these [machista] positions. They are
compelled to acknowledge . . . first, there was a discourse of equality, and
second, in practice, whether they wanted or not there had to be an acknowledge-
ment . . . In a sense, it breaks their machismo. (Woman, M-19, Colombia)

While another woman argued that:

I think men did acknowledge womens capacities. That it wasnt very explicit or
very conscientious, but there was an acknowledgement. Because a level of
relationship is generated, that is only possible to construct in these contexts
between a man and a woman, a type of complicity, which is not possible at
any other level of life. And it has immense strength. (Woman, M-19, Colombia)

------------ Luisa Maria Dietrich Ortega/Looking Beyond Violent Militarized Masculinities 495
 The reconfiguration of gender arrangements within insurgent contexts dis-
rupts the portrayal of guerrilla movements as univocally masculine organiz-
ations. Particularly interesting in this context was the recurrent reference to
the M-19 in Colombia as a more feminine than masculine organization. A
female militant argues:

Many comrades acknowledge it, and it would be interesting to establish why . . .

the M-19, they say, was a more feminine than masculine organization. Well, and
they argue that it was more open, more connected to pleasure . . . I feel it was
a more modern guerrilla, . . . but it did not cease to obey social orders.
(Woman, M-19, Colombia)

Militants of the M-19 and from other insurgent forces, not only in Colombia,
but also in other political-military organizations characterized the operations
of the M-19 as feminine procedures. Asked about the possibility of expressing
emotions, a young militant recalls that affection was a major issue, and very
complex, and there is a great empathy for the texts on the chain of affection
and those type of things (Man, M-19, Colombia), while a former cadre of
the EPL understands the M-19 as feminine because it was different, they
played with subtlety, with intelligence (Woman, PCC-ML/EPL, Colombia) to
balance the asymmetry of power.
In the same vein, traditionally feminine-coded traits, such as the ethic of
care, display of emotions, spirit of sacrifice and comrade solidarity, were con-
sidered a strategic insurgent repertoire and were thus made accessible to differ-
ent areas of militancy. In practice, insurgent organizations not only detach
insurgent femininity from weakness, but encourage female militants to incor-
porate a stereotypically masculine-coded behaviour, such as engaging in
armed combat, roughening the tone of voice while issuing a command and
developing an appetite for power. In turn, men are also supported in adopting
feminine-coded characteristics into their insurgent repertoires without a threat
of emasculation, but making these elements integral to the construction of a
complete militant. The particular guerrilla gender regime impacts upon
gender relations and generates manifold consequences for expected roles
and behaviour that are enforced by different mechanisms inherent to militar-
ized contexts, requisition of capacities and skills for armed struggle and the
hierarchical structure of military organizations.
Depending on the operational setting, whether serving in rural guerrilla
units of high mobility or engaging in clandestine urban struggles (to name
only two extremes among a series of different scenarios), the existence of a
private household is significantly disrupted. Although women did engage in
stereotypically female-coded tasks, such as caring for the wounded or
cooking, they did so within a collective political project that transcended
private familial spheres (Lelievre Aussel et al. 2004). With the exception of
higher command levels, cadres and militants were compelled to take care of
their own needs:

496 International Feminist Journal of Politics --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 The comrades learned to cope on their own. Many comrades, at the end of the war,
were able to do many things we women do. Which have been off limits for
(civilian) men, to cook, to wash their clothes. They have learned all this. But in
society yet to be transformed, these activities are not as valued . . . before they
were dependent on a woman on those aspects. Or to go round looking for a
women who takes care of these issues for them. (Woman, PRTC, El Salvador)

Further, the political-military nature of insurgent armed struggle required a

broad range of skills and capacities beyond armed confrontation and opened
a series of tasks that were not univocally gendered. This is related to an
inversion of ethic that required task-specific approaches, rather than a rigid
gendered division of labour:

In the context of war killing and robbing is a positive thing. Stealing, my god, we
were the ones who started to kidnap, to place anti-personnel bombs, and it was
valid, in the context of war. What happens is that we never considered that we
were getting into an ethic inversion with very dubious consequences in the
future. (Woman, M-19, Colombia)

These new gender arrangements centring on capacity were a factor that pro-
moted women into political and military leadership positions. A PCP-SL cadre
recalls an armed propaganda activity, in which his initial surprise to serve
under a female commander dissolved after experiencing her leadership skills
as rigid, rigorous and just, and observing how fellow cadres complied with
her orders, arguing that capacity, disposition and commitment were stressed
over gender. From a different perspective, a woman commander from ERP
in El Salvador recalls that female authority was accepted easily:

It came naturally to accept the authority of women, because we were numerous. I

do not know what passed through their minds, but they got used to it . . . and also
admired us. We came from the early times of the urban struggle and at the times
they joined the struggle in the peasant zones, we had already come a long way.
When we arrived here we already had a trajectory, while many of them just
arrived and were young, even younger than we were. They saw us as someone
they could not argue with, a moral authority . . . well, we already had risked
our lives and overcame many situations. (Woman, ERP, El Salvador)

The Role of Emotions in Insurgent Repertoires

Another mechanism serving to blur the limits between female and male realms
was the stressing of shared humanity, which, in times when life itself is at
risk, enabled a more complete expression of emotions. If there was a possibility
to mourn fallen comrades, public crying was accepted and interpreted as
respect for the comrade and commitment to continue the struggle, rather than
weakness. Asked about the organizations stance towards the expression of
emotions, developing care for others and sacrifice, an interviewee commented:

------------ Luisa Maria Dietrich Ortega/Looking Beyond Violent Militarized Masculinities 497
 I feel that all of this developed. It is very human, everything was human. What
happens is that due to combat actions and hierarchy, orders are not to be
discussed, they have to be followed. In a military operation, an order cant be
discussed twice, because you die, if you do not take care, you are killed or you
kill another comrade. This is tough, the discipline, but it is very conscientious,
very human everything, the comradeship. There is much equality. (Woman,
PRTC, El Salvador)

A male commander of M-19 militancy also stressed solidarity and care for
others: I feel that in M-19 I became more human, it allowed for valuing
people whom I surely would not have valued had I not transgressed this
reality, this gap, this ghetto (Man, M-19, Colombia). Thus, ethic of care, mys-
tique and culture of sacrifice were aspired to by a majority of militants,
allowing for humanization amid conflict and enhanced empathetic relations
between militants. In addition, instances of sacrifice and exposing oneself to
risks to save others are often evoked:

There was a lot of care for others, solidarity but also respect. When you were sick
and could not fulfil your combat duty, they would offer to go instead. And the
bravest and toughest would take care of their comrades in the march this
was not evident in all fronts, but in that particular front it was. (Woman, ELN/
CRS, Colombia)

These insurgent gender regimes enabled the emergence of spaces for tender-
ness between men:

Male tenderness . . . which is there, or at least I have experienced it with people,

with whom we joined together in the early phases and also served time in prison.
I believe that there develops a very, very strong feeling, which is beyond gender
. . . being a militant and living in the underground makes you tough, but at the
same time allows new forms of tenderness, a tenderness, which you would not
express in a normal situation. . . . there was a lot of affection between men . . .
But it was not a gay thing. Not at all. It was masculine affection of support
and of strength. (Man, MRTA, Peru)

In a very different context, a high-ranking commander recalls the affection

of tough men in the rural forces, in regards to child survivors of massacres in
El Salvador, and that men rather than women would adopt those children:

When I realized this tenderness of those otherwise rude men, especially in diffi-
cult situations . . . I was impressed . . . this tenderness of the combatant so evident,
they were like their children. It was the most tender moments between them, the
combatants and the children . . . there was a very strong emotional relation and
when either the combatant or the child died it was as if his own child had died
and vice-versa. The whole camp was in a state of total sorrow. This moved us
very much. (Man, RN, El Salvador)

498 International Feminist Journal of Politics --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 This section identified references to expressions of emotions as part of insur-
gent masculinity repertoires usually sidelined in stereotypical portrayal of
masculinities in militarized settings, while the forthcoming section provides
a more in depth analysis.

MULTIPLE, FLEXIBLE AND DYNAMIC INSURGENT MASCULINITIES

Access to insurgent organizations is restricted and although selection criteria,

as well as levels of control, may change over time, not all those interested in
active militancy are necessarily incorporated. In insurgent militarized contexts
marginalized masculinity is identified in class terms: bourgeois masculinities
(Bayard de Volo 2012), based on social extraction, appropriate class con-
sciousness and political preparation, are either barred from entry, singled
out in the course of recruitment process or eliminated from within insurgent
structures. These expressions of masculinity are seen as an obstacle to insur-
gent struggle and are considered lacking in revolutionary morale and disci-
pline, as a weak link in a context of unity and cohesion and by extension as
a threat to other militants.
With marginalized masculinities excluded, mythical insurgent masculinities
are constructed as particular role models. Not only do they depart from hyper-
masculine expressions associated with aggression and skill with weapons, but
they also compensate for the mythical figures lack of combat skills, military
capacity, weak bodily constitution and serious health conditions by stressing
values such as intelligence, dedication, sacrifice and perseverance. For
example, political-military organizations strongly influenced by liberation
theology, such as the ELN in Colombia or FPL-FMLN in El Salvador, shape
hegemonic masculinities associated with the spirit of sacrifice, suffering and
the importance of coherence between discourse and practice. The Catholic
social teachings incorporated interpretations of the bible, particularly the
disposition towards the poor, into militants daily lives. Camilo Torres, a
Colombian priest, academic and intellectual, was inspired by liberation theol-
ogy and devoted his oratory and writing skills to mobilize for social justice. He
left an established life in which he had become a respected public figure in
order to become an ELN rank and file combatant. In February 1966, he was
killed in one of his first armed encounters with government forces. Even
today, he is revered by militants as an example for his dedication and identi-
fication with the revolutionary cause (Prieto Rozos 2007). A very different
example is Abimael Guzman, or President Gonzalo, the leader of the strongly
hierarchical PCP-SL in Peru. In his role as philosophy professor at Universidad
San Cristobal de Huamanga, in the provincial capital Ayacucho, he placed
great importance on the development of political thought applied to Peruvian
(semi-)feudal reality, adding to Marxism-Leninism-Maoism the fourth sword
of Marxism: Gonzalo Thought. PCP-SL iconography portrayed him with
thick glasses, usually with a book under his arm, stressing his supreme intel-

------------ Luisa Maria Dietrich Ortega/Looking Beyond Violent Militarized Masculinities 499
 lectual capacities. The holder of supreme truth conducted the protracted
peoples war from behind his desk, while discourses on his detention in a
safe house in Lima stressed his health problems and inability to handle
weapons while being surrounded by an army of female bodyguards. Insurgent
organizations that are inspired by Latin American liberation struggles relate to
the iconic figure of Ernesto Che Guevara, an Argentine medical professional
who enrolled in the victorious Cuban revolutionary liberation struggle. As an
idealistic, disciplined and dedicated revolutionary, he was admired for his
uncompromising opposition to US imperialism and was striving for Latin
American unity. He became a symbol of sacrifice, an example to follow and,
despite his critical asthmatic condition, he became the Hombre Nuevo, the
New Man (Rodriguez 1996; Bayard de Volo 2012).
The multiple insurgent masculinities that develop in the different militarized
contexts are constructed similarly to hegemonic expressions of mythical
figures and stress revolutionary commitment, which is presented as achievable
by any militant through action and discipline. This flexible and dynamic con-
ception of becoming a revolutionary communicates well with the ruptures
with the traditional social order, the groups opposition to the status quo, as
well as self-control and peer pressure used to shape insurgent masculinities.
Countering the scholarly portrayal of seamless transition towards insurgent
masculinity, interview partners confirm the idea that insurgent militants
undergo multiple ruptures upon mobilization within a vanguard organization.
These accommodations of masculinity are shaped by class, ethnicity, age and
sexual orientation and take on different forms in accordance to specific factors
relevant to insurgent mobilization, such as area of operation and tasks
engaged in. Such departure from previous socialization and perceived male
responsibilities become evident in this fragment:

It was a total rupture, vast and that rupture left traces. You separate from your
girlfriend, your parents, your siblings, your friends. The first detachment is
painful. This marks a certain type of moral, ethical, psychological criteria and
there mstica to survive is born, in a way to understand it better, a political
sect is born. The life as monk you establish monastic rules. Similar to the crusades
in the Middle Ages and this shapes the individual who is above the society, who is
here, connected to reality. The very first group we had to detach ourselves from
our social lives. I always stress this. (Man, RN, El Salvador)

In addition, the change of operational settings and daily routines may imply
important ruptures and compel militants to adapt to new circumstances, thus
functional insurgent masculinities (and femininities) take on different shapes
in relation to context of operation. Urban men especially stressed difficulties
in adapting to daily life in the mountains, offering accounts of losing orien-
tation, not knowing how to hang hammocks and struggling with being stripped
of their capacities, for example political rhetorical skills, that allowed for a status
position. Students, the epitome of urban life, were under general suspicion of

500 International Feminist Journal of Politics --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

succumbing to bourgeois weaknesses such as concerts, restaurants and parties
and had constantly to prove revolutionary devotion while being detached from
material belongings. By contrast, peasants and rural workers adapted faster to
life in the mountains and thus converged more easily with the behavioural
expectations of rural guerrilla fighters. Depending on the context, previous
socialization may constitute a power factor or a disadvantage. However, other
contexts may entail opportunities to challenge traditional inequality structures
and to renegotiate masculinity positions (such as placing workers above stu-
dents or young males with military rank).
Within the organization, there are different expressions of insurgent mascu-
linity beyond the revolutionary fighter, as military skills are only one possible
way (not necessarily the most effective one) to negotiate masculinity in this
militarized context. Being a member of the Special Forces may yield important
respect, rests on important physical strength and is open to young people,
predominantly male, but is a highly dangerous endeavour. Those combatants
perceived as possessing only military skills are often seen as just obeying and
skilfully executing orders. Functions of masculinities vary across type of
militarized setting (clandestine, mass organization, intelligence), area of
deployment and tasks assigned and allowed. The organizational strengthening
of trade unions required political analytical and oratory skills, while carrying
out clandestine operations demanded knowledge of the terrain and a reliable
network. Thus, capacities and skills would become more relevant than individ-
ual backgrounds or differences, including gendered differences. In the urgency
of a combat situation, you trusted the comrade next to you with your life,
regardless of the constructed differences. In this sense, the incorporation of
indigenous militants into the MRTA guerrilla army in Peru was valued for
the militants knowledge of the area and their agility in the hostile terrain,
while significant language barriers were overcome.
On an ideological level, the concept of vanguard, key to many of the insurgent
organizations analysed, operates on the idea of a selected group of progressive
people, class conscious militants, with sound theoretical understanding who set
out to lead, organize and prepare the masses for uprising and eventual overthrow
of the Government. The insurgent gender regime also installs mechanisms that
encourage militants conscientiously to leave traditional inequality patterns
behind, for example using practices like criticism and self-criticism as a
method for exposing contradictions in order to overcome diversions and to live
up to the expectations of the new man in transformed society. Although not
explicitly understood in terms of new masculinity, this disposition to take a criti-
cal stance towards ones own thinking and behaviour impacted insurgent gender
roles. A PCP-SL cadre in Peru recalls that he was sweating facing the extreme
pressure of these criticism and self-criticism sessions, and the more responsibility
one had, the more intensity with which these exercises were employed.
In addition to self-control and peer pressure, the organizations had an active
part in establishing norms and in controlling, regulating and sanctioning. As
one interviewee remarks,

------------ Luisa Maria Dietrich Ortega/Looking Beyond Violent Militarized Masculinities 501
 With the rules and increasing institutionalization there was an increasing mys-
tique around order, command structures, the founding nucleus, respect towards
the leadership, respect towards the founding group and in general. After the
transformation from the foundational phase towards guerrilla army, among
the first regulations was the instant execution of the member of the army in
case of abuse of a woman. (Man, RN, El Salvador)

As one middle-ranking female commander recalls:

It continued to be a machista culture, but there was more control and there were
more things to lose, not material things, such as a house, but to be a commander
of a squad, commander of a company or commander of the special forces, that
was something. (Woman, FPL, El Salvador)

Interview data suggest that men perceived themselves as giving something

up to the larger objective of the revolution, de-prioritizing personal interests
and sacrificing themselves for the organizations and fellow comrades. With
their behaviour under constant scrutiny, and peer pressure to uphold organiz-
ational values, they perceived that as vanguard cadres they departed from
socialization patterns prevalent in society at large. Changes in expressions
of masculinity appear to be more salient in settings of socialization within
small cells, with a tight self- and peer-control in place, and where ideological
positions strengthen conviction that armed struggle is the only way to achieve
the social change desired.
In this context of accommodation of multiple, dynamic and flexible insur-
gent masculinities, the chain of command and rank system constitute a key
mechanism to construct a hierarchical internal order. Conceived as an
additional layer, rank position and command responsibilities balance tra-
ditional inequalities and historical discrimination, enhancing mobility in
social positions to an extent hardly possible in the old order. Particularly
in the mid-level segment of insurgent forces these accommodations are
enforced through broader access to factors of power and positions of respon-
sibility. Thus, young militants may have access to command responsibility,
while indigenous combatants recall genuine inclusion and acknowledgement
of their capacities put at use for insurgent struggle. Older men may serve
under and respect female command and homosexual orientation may not be
the sole rationale for exclusion. On the other hand, a rank system may
hinder balancing effects, diverse shifts of inequality generating structures in
the higher echelons of power: Male, white/mestizo, educated, from wealthier
socio-economic strata and mature age continued to command political-mili-
tary organizations. Hierarchical structures enforced a (gendered) division of
labour, exempting commanders from daily guarding duties or cooking and
requiring a specific security measure. As one commander put it: We had
time to think, to read and to make love. Other privileges include better
food, the provision of commodities such as cigarettes, coffee and/or alcohol,

502 International Feminist Journal of Politics --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

and access to partners and family for male (supreme) commanders. However,
command responsibility also involved making difficult decisions, sometimes
over life and death, enduring difficulties, such as being chased by government
forces and living in hiding without contact with the world. Ideally, rank and
responsibilities are achieved through capacity and maintained through
merit, although there are many practical anecdotes contradicting this ideal.
The hierarchical power structure also provided many instances for abuse of
authority, which also had its gendered dimensions, ranging from reserving
young female recruits for the commander to separating couples with the
intention to interfere with relationships to sexual abuse and violence.

CONCLUSION

This article has explored the construction of insurgent masculinities in contexts

of armed struggle, incorporating insights from multiple Latin American politi-
cal-military organizations and listening to the heterogeneous voices of male
and female former militants. The research adopted a comparative perspective
on guerrilla gender regimes, transcending an exclusive focus on insurgent
men and looking beyond stereotypical portrayals linking the construction of
masculinity to violence and aggression. The study unveiled the following
insights. First, there are multiple expressions of masculinities beyond heroic
fighter that become dominant in accordance with functionality and needs of a
specific context. Second, the insurgent organization plays an important role in
cushioning the multiple ruptures of male militants from their previous socializa-
tion, and promotes a setting enabling change through ideas of vanguard and
revolutionary mystique. Third, through simultaneously installing mechanisms
of self-control and peer pressure and diluting stark dichotomies between con-
ceptions of femininity and masculinity, the insurgent organization enables not
only alternative role models functional for armed struggle, but also female
male bonding, prioritizing comrade identity over gender consciousness.
But this research also argues that insurgent gender regimes are temporary
constructions, shaped in the exceptional context of armed struggle. Although
heightened mobilization allows for the construction of militant femininities
and masculinities and accommodation of gender relations, the insurgent
gender regime is dismantled with the conclusion of the insurgent organization
and does not attempt to impact overall societal order. Despite the fact that
prioritizing class above other societal struggles significantly disrupts author-
ization and marginalization mechanisms of intertwined inequality structures
and allows for accommodation of insurgent gender arrangements, the chain
of command responsibility installs yet again another hierarchical system
that leaves androcentric logic intact and perpetuates it over time.
These mechanisms, though, are not based on the exclusion, rejection or
devaluation of women in general, but operate through the careful construction
of temporary guerrilla femininities. The female comrade is considered a

------------ Luisa Maria Dietrich Ortega/Looking Beyond Violent Militarized Masculinities 503
 different type of woman, awarded with certain roles and privileges, acknowl-
edged by male comrades and not seen as a threat in the joint revolutionary
endeavour. Using this construction has the effect of engaging women in the
armed struggle, taking advantage of their capacities for armed struggle, con-
necting progressive discourse on womens emancipation with revolutionary
objectives, and offering those actual female militants selective instances of
emancipation. The idea of equal participation towards a national liberation
project, political consciousness and its impact on self-esteem, departure from
traditional gendered roles and access to political and military command
positions comes at a high price: a relative lack of gender consciousness. At
the same time, the bastions of male privilege, such as irresponsible paternity,
control of womens bodies and sexuality, maintaining a heteronormative
conception of nuclear family and male head of household are left untouched.
Once transitions from armed conflict are underway, the temporary construc-
tion of the female comrade fades away as an exceptional transgression amid
systematic marginalization, discrimination, stigmatization and exclusion. In
a larger context, this transition into marginalization for female insurgent
militants is one of the most visible forms of how patriarchal mechanisms are
adapted, reinstalled and perpetuated in transitional contexts. While destabiliz-
ing elements need to be excluded, stabilizing elements such as traditional
militarized masculinity that collapses men with aggression are particularly
reinforced, hiding alternative expressions of masculinity developed in
insurgent militant contexts.

Luisa Maria Dietrich Ortega

University of Vienna
Nordbergstrasse 6/4
Vienna, 1090, Austria
Email: luisa.dietrich@gmail.com

Notes

1 Notable exceptions are works on the Chilean Movement of the Revolutionary Left
(Mallon 2003) or the Mexican Zapatista National Liberation Army (Zapata
Galindo 2001; Marcos 2011).
2 The sixteen interviews conducted in El Salvador comprise nine female and seven
male militants from the five political-military organizations composing the FMLN,
namely, Resistencia Nacional (RN), Ejercito Revolucionario del Pueblo (ERP) Fuerzas
Populares de Liberacion (FPL), Partido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores Centroa-
mericanos (PRTC), Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion (FAL) (armed wing of the
Salvadorean Communist Party) and Partido Comunista Salvadoreno (PCS).
3 In Peru, eighteen interviews were conducted with eleven women and seven men,
thirteen of whom were militants of the Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Amaru
(MRTA) and five who were affiliated with the Partido Comunista del Peru

504 International Feminist Journal of Politics --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Sendero Luminoso (PCP-SL). Eight of these conversations were conducted in prison
facilities.
4 In total, sixteen interviews were conducted with eleven men and five women from
the following political military organizations: Movimiento 19 de Abril (M-19),
Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional (ELN), who demobilized with the groups splinter
group the Corriente de Renovacion Socialista (CRS, and Ejercito Popular de
Liberacion (EPL).
5 The political-military organizations studied in this article demobilized in the
following years: M-19 in 1990, EPL in 1991 and Socialist Renovation Current
(Corriente de Renovacion Socialista, CRS), a splinter group developed out of the
ELN, demobilized in 1994.
6 The five constituting political-military organizations of the FMLN report a female
participation between 27 34 per cent (Vazquez et al. 1996; Navas 2007), while
in Colombia, official collective demobilization data (1989 94) place female
participation levels at approximately 30 per cent (Lelievre Aussel et al. 2004;
Londono and Nieto 2006). Similarly in Peru, women and men were present in all
levels and functions of the militarized party, including in regional structures,
international work and the diverse generated organs of the PCP-SL. Scholars
have established a 60 40 per cent male female composition of Sendero cadres
(Mavila Leon 1992; Barrig 1993; Henrquez Ayn 2006).

Notes on contributor

Luisa Maria Dietrich Ortega is a doctorate candidate in political science at the

University of Vienna, Austria. She holds an MSc in Comparative Politics in
Latin America from the London School of Economics, an MA in Womens
Studies and Feminist Politics and a BA in International Relations. She has
experience in the field of Gender, Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reinte-
gration and Transitional Justice for IOM, UNDP and ICTJ. Further, she has
worked as a Reparation and Reconciliation Specialist at IOMs mission in Colom-
bia and is currently is a Gender, Mediation and Peace Negotiation consultant for
the OSCE Recent publications include the following chapters in edited volumes:
Transitional Justice and Female Ex-Combatants: Lessons Learned from
International Experience (2009, in A. Cutter Patel, P. de Greiff and L. Waldorf,
Disarming the Past: Transitional Justice and Ex-Combatants) and Gendered
Patterns of Mobilization and Recruitment for Political Violence (2012, in
Y. Guichaoua, Mobilising for Violence: Armed Groups and Their Combatants).

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