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"Be Prepared!" (But Not Too Prepared): Scouting, Soldiering and Boys’ Roles in World War I
Andrew, Lucy
Andrew, Lucy
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2018-03-01
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Abstract
This article examines the shifting representation of the ideal of masculinity and boys’ role in securing the future of the British Empire in Robert Baden-Powell’s Boy Scout movement from its inauguration in 1908 to the early years of the First World War. In particular, it focuses on early Scout literature’s response to anxieties about physical deterioration, exacerbated by the 1904 Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Physical Deterioration. In Baden-Powell’s Scouting handbook, Scouting for Boys (1908), and in early editions of The Scout – the official magazine of the Scout movement – there was a strong emphasis on an idealised image of the male body which, implicitly, prepared Boy Scouts for their future role as soldiers. The reality of war, however, forced Scouting literature to acknowledge the restrictions placed upon boys in wartime and to redefine the parameters of boys’ heroic role in defense of the Empire accordingly.
Citation
Andrew, L. (2018). '"Be Prepared!" (But Not Too Prepared): Scouting, Soldiering and Boys’ Roles in World War I. Boyhood Studies, 11(1), 47-62. https://doi.org/10.3167/bhs.2018.110104
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Berghahn Journals
Journal
Boyhood Studies
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DOI
10.3167/bhs.2018.110104
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Article
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en
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This article was originally published as Lucy Andrew, "“Be Prepared!” (But Not Too Prepared): Scouting, Soldiering, and Boys’ Roles in World War I", Boyhood Studies, Vol. 11, No. 1 (2018): 47-62
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2375-9240