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In the 1920s and 1930s, the Tour de France had the status of being the toughest and most important cycling event in the world. In these years, the Spanish press insisted on the idea that the cyclists who competed in the race not only struggle to win the competition; they did it also for the honor of the nation and to demonstrate the value of national masculinity to the rest of the world. However, as the successes of the Spanish cyclists were not usual, the newspapers feel the necessity to justify this situation. They did it by appealing to persistent bad luck and opposition from the organization. Through newspapers, this article analyzes the way in which mass media explained the lack of victories of the Spanish representatives in the Tour of France. To do that, they used similar ideas than the applied to justify the defeats of the men's national football team. The reason why they tried so hard to justify the absence of triumphs was because it was understood that the national dignity and virility of Spanish men were at stake, so the justification had to be credible, plausible and furthermore, had to encourage the patriotic sentiment and national pride. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the relationships among female respectability, aesthetics, and national belonging in the wake of World War II. This was a time of tumult, and the French sought order through conformity. This conformity had much to do with conservative gender roles. The article analyzes images of female beauty and love in the feminine press. A complex reading of these images reveals an intriguing subtext: a woman needed to conform to certain images of respectable femininity, which included a properly feminine appearance and, perhaps most important, a satisfied man at her side. Articles in women's magazines warned that a woman's failure to conform to such standards would result in ostracism and a lifetime of loneliness. This article posits that establishing these strict guidelines for women was crucial to reinstating a sense of male virility and control in France after the chaos of war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]