Militarized Masculinity: Gender Narratives among Armed Resistance Groups in Myanmar (Kyal Sin Thukha and Zin Mar Phyo) investigates the evolving gender narratives within Myanmar’s armed resistance, particularly the People’s Defense Forces (PDF). The study discusses the impact of militarized masculinity on PDF members and underscores the need for institutional accountability in promoting positive gender narratives and deconstructing harmful social norms.
Militarized Masculinity: Gender Narratives among Armed Resistance Groups in Myanmar
By Kyal Sin Thukha and Zin Mar Phyo
MYANMAR DIGITAL RESEARCH 10
Executive summary
This research explores gender narratives and militarized masculinity in resistance groups emerging in Myanmar in the aftermath of the 2021 military coup. “Militarized masculinity” in this paper refers to “gender-negative discourses and behaviors” that reinforce discriminative gender and social norms and uphold the culturally and socially constructed images of being a man or a woman. These norms and images usually exclude marginalized gender identities, prioritize men in active roles, and accept warfare as the first priority. They are often associated with notions of dominance, power, and control that saturate propaganda and information flows during times of conflict.
The Spring Revolution following the 2021 military coup is portrayed as a transformative revolution in gender relations, unlike any previous moment in Myanmar’s history. And in this gender-transformative moment, the newly emerged armed resistance groups, also known as “People’s Defense Forces (PDFs),” take a critical role. But months after the revolution began, the military
junta’s evident toxic masculinity—aggressive gender narratives, sexualized acts, and reinforcement of discriminatory gender norms—was unfortunately also seen among stakeholders within the Spring Revolution. This raises questions about whether the newly-emerged armed resistance groups will remain committed to the Spring Revolution’s stated objectives of
deconstructing all militarized behaviors that drive oppression, inequality, and injustice.
This research study centres on findings derived from a comprehensive analysis of 16,444 Facebook posts from both individual and group pages, along with insights from interviews conducted with various PDF leaders and gender experts. It does provide a glimpse of positive gender narratives, together with strategies employed by some resistance groups to promote gender-inclusive
activism and challenge the dominant narratives of masculinity within their battalions. However, the study reveals critical concerns about militarized masculinity deeply embedded in the online and offline narratives of PDFs—through their absence of gender-inclusion efforts in their daily narratives and behaviors, and serious acts of threats, doxing, sexism, and gender discrimination. Identifying the impacts of militarized masculinity among PDF members, the study highlights significant gaps and the need for institutional accountability in shifting from negative to positive gender narratives and in deconstructing discriminative social norms. Finally, the authors provide recommendations for the NUG and other stakeholders within the Spring Revolution.
Acknowledgment
Zin Mar Phyo (she/her) has 15 years of experience of activism in Myanmar as a feminist journalist and advocate for women’s rights and gender equality. Grounded in her field experience and informal education, Zin Mar Phyo started her research journey as a research assistant in 2019 by coordinating and arranging field research, including interviewing for several research papers on women, gender, peace, and conflict.
Kyal Sin Thukha (she/her) is pursuing a Master of Arts in Human Rights at Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand.
For her thesis, she is exploring reintegration barriers and coping strategies among released women political
prisoners in post-coup Myanmar. For over a decade, she has provided direct services to survivors of gender-based
violence in 12 ethnic areas of Myanmar as a program coordinator at the Women’s League of Burma.
This paper was produced for the Knowledge for Democracy Myanmar (K4DM) initiative, with the aid of a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and with support from The SecDev Foundation. Views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of either organization.
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