Description
Book SynopsisExplores the dual discourse on female sexual mobilization that emerged during World War II.
Trade ReviewHegarty conducted excellent research in Social Protection Division archives, popular magazines, professional journals, and numerous other wartime materials. * Choice *
Hegarty . . . uncover[s] a complex picture. . . . This study . . . significantly enhances our understanding of the World War II period in the United States. * Journal of American History *
Offers a fresh perspective on the construction of gender roles during wartime by examining the experience of women who performed moral-maintaining, or as she terms the, sexualized services during World War II. * Military Review *
Hegarty has succeeded in writing a very engaging and readable account of an important, and troubling, aspect of the history of the good war. -- Nancy K. Bristow * Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth *
Victory Girls, Khaki-Wackies, and Patriotutes offers a substantive and complex narrative of the sweeping and multiple constraints on female sexuality during World War II. Hegartys study is the best since Allan Brandts epic work in its nuanced attention to the process by which female sexualitydeemed both necessary and suspectwas harnessed in service to the state, while female sexual desire and women’s choices to engage in heterosexual activity remained unspeakable and became critical targets for containment during and after the war. This is a provocative and compelling book. -- Leisa D. Meyer,author of Creating G. I. Jane: Sexuality and Power in the Women’s Army Corps During World War II
In this carefully crafted and highly readable history, Hegarty reminds us of the multiple links between sexuality and war. She captures the contradictions and shows us how womens sexuality was both mobilized and policed. -- Joanne Meyerowitz,author of How Sex Changed: A History of Transsexuality in the United States
The strength of
Victory Girls, Khaki-Wackies, and Patriotutes is [Hegartys] delving deep into bureaucratic files, piecing together the Federal and state U.S. officials steps toward, and thinking behind, mobilizing and controlling American womens sexuality. -- Cynthia Enloe,author of The Curious Feminist: Searching for Women in a New Age of Empire
Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsAbbreviations List Introduction 1 The Long Arm of the State 2 Prelude to War 3 "Reservoirs of Infection": Science, Medicine, and Contagious Bodies4 "A Buffer of Whores": Military and Social Ambivalence about Sexuality and Gender 5 "Spell 'IT' to the Marines": The Contradictory Messages of Popular Culture 6 Behind the Lines: The War against Women 7 Conclusion Appendix 1: The Eight Point Agreement Appendix 2: The May ActAppendix 3: Federal Agencies: The Social Protection Division Notes BibliographyIndex About the Author
