Model of Masculinity Under Fascist Italy - Mussolini As The Hegemonic Male

Mussolini As The Hegemonic Male

It was at the beginning of the century that the code of the Superman was embraced in Italy, with the purpose of infusing new life into what ought to be pursued as the New Man (or New Italian), or the masculine ideal, in addition to that of the New Italy, which for Benito Mussolini, signified a fascist government where he was the dictator in full control. He mandated that the New Man be brutal, barbarous, and abandon his romanticism. His conception of the New Futurist Man, building on previous futurist concepts, entailed: disdainful of death and books, in love with virility, violence, and war; a people particularly endowed with 'creative genius, elasticity in improvisation, strength, ability and physical resistance, impetus, violence, fury in the fight". It is evident through such descriptions of what a Roman male ought to be, that Mussolini is keenly tying in together political propaganda and proscribed, normative gender constructs. For example, a special emphasis on uniformity was given to the Fascist socialization of the Italian people to minimize the chance of a possible revolt against his regime, and the effective mobilization of the Italian army in time of war.

Mussolini presented himself as the perfect prototype of the New Italian, being the 'living and working model of ethical and political individuality' to which the Italians had to aspire.