Shaping the ultra-Orthodox man’s self-image: differentiation, classification, and otherness in poster campaigns against conscription

This study examines how the ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) men within the religious minority community in Israel represent themselves through wall posters (Pashkevilim) and protest banners in resistance to military service and opposition to enlisted Haredi soldiers. Through qualitative thematic analysis of 27 wall posters and 25 protest banners, this study explores how these visual media reflect and shape the male self-image and body image in relation to Israeli society. The analysis identifies unique rhetorical strategies that construct a distinct Haredi identity while delineating boundaries between ‘us’ and ‘them.’ The findings contribute to the cultural theory of otherness by introducing two new categories: the ‘absolute-animalistic’ and the ‘amorphous-institutional.’ These posters construct Haredi identity through binary strategies, contrasting an idealised male pan-Haredi collective with a grotesque corporeal ‘other,’ reinforcing communal norms through absence and shaming while delineating symbolic boundaries. Within this framework, the posters shape a model of Haredi masculinity–tall, slim, and self-secluding–defined in opposition to the grotesque ‘other.’ This idealised male figure embodies moral superiority and willingness for self-sacrifice. These visual media platforms express a new role, simultaneously reaffirming and reshaping conservative Haredi ideals by constructing an alternative bodily paradigm that reinforces communal cohesion through differentiation from external antagonists.