National Identity is Masculine

Those seeking the route to the Republic by defining our national identity, would do well to pause and reflect on just how masculine that identity is. Two events from this year when “order as we know it” appeared to be restored – to great relief – serve as a timely reminder. Firstly, the removal of our first female Prime Minister in June by a man whose public persona had a friendly face, a soothing voice and breezy way of going about things. Secondly, national rejoicing in mid December over the winning back of the Ashes from the old enemy England whose monarch we share. The way that the victory was achieved, complete with threatening retro moustaches, is described by Professor David Rowe as “macho, malicious and merciless……a reborn 1970s cricket masculine archetype.” WfaAR has to question why beating the Poms at cricket is still such an essential component of our confidence if Australia is already an independent nation with certainty about its culture and national identity, totally separated from the power of our coloniser? [“The Ashes: Australian masculinity reborn amid English tumult” by Professor David Rowe, Professor of Cultural Research at the University of Western Sydney, The Conversation online, 10 December 2013]

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