Gentle Knights: Masculinity, Teetotalism and Aid for Alcohol Abuse c. 1900

Gemma Blok

doi:10.18352/bmgn-lchr.1566

Gentle Knights: Masculinity, Teetotalism and Aid for Alcohol Abuse c. 1900

Authors

Gemma Blok

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18352/bmgn-lchr.1566

Abstract

Since 1830 there have been Dutch organisations that were concerned with fighting alcohol abuse. The Drink Law of 1881, the result of their lobby, limited the sale of drink and made the punishment of public drunkenness obligatory. Around 1900 there was renewed fervour in the Dutch Temperance Movement: teetotallers came to dominate the movement and created a system for the care of drunkards. This change from a repressive approach to a focus on treatment was accompanied by two differing variants on ‘chivalrous’ masculinity.

Nineteenth century campaigners put their idea of masculinity – controlled, militant, protective of women and children – in the service of state politics. The chivalry of the teetotallers was more personal. They showed their solidarity with problematic drinkers by completely abstaining from alcohol and attempted to save drunkards by setting a good example. The battle against King Alcohol became a fight, man to man, in civil society.

This article is part of the special issue 'Low Countries Histories of Masculinity'.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Gemma Blok

Gemma Blok (1970) is an Assistant Professor in modern Dutch History at the University of Amsterdam. Her research areas are the history of psychiatry, the history of addiction treatment and gender history. Her publications include Ziek of zwak. Geschiedenis van de Nederlandse verslavingszorg (Amsterdam 2011): ‘The Politics of Intoxication: The Dutch Junkie Unions fight against the Ideal of a Drug Free Society’, in: Martin Dinges and Robert Jütte (eds.), The Transmission of Health Practices (c. 1500-2000) (Stuttgart 2011) 69-89; and Baas in eigen brein. ‘Antipsychiatrie’ in Nederland, 1965-1985 (Amsterdam 2004).

Downloads

Published

2012-03-19

How to Cite

Blok, G. (2012). Gentle Knights: Masculinity, Teetotalism and Aid for Alcohol Abuse c. 1900. BMGN - Low Countries Historical Review, 127(1), 101–126. https://doi.org/10.18352/bmgn-lchr.1566

Download Citation

Issue

Vol. 127 No. 1 (2012): Low Countries Histories of Masculinity

Section

Articles

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

a) Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

b) Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

c) Authors are permitted to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process.

Authors are explicitly encouraged to deposit their published article in their institutional repository.