The masculine threat: Hegemonic masculinity and gendercide in communal warfare

Conflict scholars have long underscored that gendercide against noncombatant males manifests in contexts of warfare and contended that this stems from gendered threat perceptions which posit men as potential threats in conflicts. It is contended that this gendered threat perception engenders the elimination of noncombatant males as a military tactic to eliminate competition from opponent-enemy forces. We build on and broaden this literature on gendered targeting of noncombatant males and employ empirical data to excavate the myriad context-dependent, cultural reasons rooted in the ideal of hegemonic masculinity that incite such gendered violence in warfare. In this research article, we draw on the theoretical framework of hegemonic masculinity, the case of communal warfare in conflict-affected communities in northern Ghana, and 92 in-depth phenomenological interviews with community members, traditional rulers/leaders, and ex-combatants to decipher the multifarious context-dependent rationales behind gendercide against noncombatant males in contexts of warfare. The empirical data underline the centrality of context-dependent cultural norms of hegemonic masculinity in the elimination of noncombatant males beyond the existing causal explanation of gendered threat perceptions. Based on our findings, we make a case for further empirical enquiry into gendercide in other cultural contexts to unearth the rationality of the phenomenon in warfare.