The article theoretically and ethnographically presents the genealogy of the (re)production of hegemonic masculinity through military service on the territory of Slovenia. It commences by delineating the recent history of conscription and its regulations, as the obligation to serve in the armed forces has always played an important part in the construction of spatialized masculinities. Various mechanisms of establishing a socialist heteronormativity in practice are discussed later – from state-regulated measures and performative practices to community customs. Given the assumption that the development of nation states and conscription are parallel to the process of constructing hegemonic masculinity, the naturalization of the relation between the specifically determined masculine and feminine is shown through diverse examples. A particular analytical focus is placed on the military masculinity present within the Yugoslav People‘s Army (YPA) and its reinforcement of asymmetrical power relations between genders. The productive distinction between external and internal hegemonic masculinity is introduced through the concept of militant socialist masculinity. The case of the YPA suggests that internal hegemonic masculinity coexisted with other forms of non-hegemonic masculinity. Tattooing and homoeroticism in the YPA are presented as examples of how such subordinated, non-hegemonic masculinity manifested itself.
