‘Männerbünde’ e sentimento omosociale: deresponsabilizzazione etica ed estetica

The aim of the current study is to analyze the dynamics that influenced the consolidation of the Männerbünde and the homosocial desire in the soldiers during First World War. Indeed, in the wake of the war enthusiasm all over Europe the hostility of the young people towards the familiar institutions was put into practice through the shared interventionist feeling. Therefore, the war itself became the production of Männerbünde, communities within which male individuals were linked by male bonds corresponding to a new homosocial sense of comradeship, that is a real Gesellschaftstrieb, shared by every member. The male bond – that is apparently unproblematic and established within the stillness of the trenches – is always linked to a mentor and implements the same social and hierarchical mechanisms of the society.