Neutral Masculinity: An Analysis of Parliamentary Debates on Austria’s Neutrality Law

After World War II, postfascist Austria went through a transitional period of nation building. While the political parties (re)installed the democratic institutions and supported the idea of an independent Austria, they still disagreed on the nature of the “Austrian nation.” Moreover, the postwar period experienced a “crisis of masculinity” caused by the Allied occupation which signaled that Austria had lost the war. The official rhetoric, in contrast, claimed Austria’s status as a victim of Hitler’s aggression and hence, as a land not defeated, but liberated by the Allied forces. Self-victimization delegitimated both German nationalism and heroic masculinity. This article analyzes two debates on the neutrality act in the Austrian parliament in 1955, with a particular focus on the discursive construction of “neutral masculinity” as novel political identity and potential solution to the “masculinity crisis.” It deals with the question whether neutral masculinity contributed to a postheroic society and to “gender democracy.