The Women’s Army Corps and the politics of sexuality in World War II

Topic: Women had served in the US military during World War I in only very restricted roles and small numbers. The War Department's decision in 1942 to create a Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (subsequently reconfigured as the Women's Army Corps or WAC in 1943) was highly controversial, despite a pronounced need for more military 'manpower.' The prospect-- and fact-- of women in uniform triggered a misogynistic backlash among male soldiers, civilians and sections of the American media. WACs thus had to fight hard for their place in the uniformed ranks of the army, and also for their reputation.

Seminar questions:

• why did the establishment of the WAAC/WAC occasion such an outcry amongst American civilians and male military personnel?
• WACs were widely slurred as 'dykes' and 'whores': lesbians, sexually promiscuous straight women, and/or prostitutes. Why? Who led the 'slander campaign' and how successful was it?
• how did the 'politics of respectability' mobilized by WAC officers to defend themselves, potential recruits, and their organisation operate? Was their reputational 'rescue mission' successful? What insights into contemporary constructions of WAC identity do you glean from the primary sources?
• did military service in the WAC (perhaps paradoxically) open a more expansive space for lesbian women to explore their sexuality than civilian life provided?

Required readings:

Primary sources: NB these can be accessed via the Talis reading list Link opens in a new windowfor the module. Or you can reach them through the alphabetised list of Warwick library databases under "W" for "Women's Magazine Archive 2 & 3":

Sally Kirkland, 'The WAACs Take Over,' Vogue 102 (July 1, 1943), p. 18, 19, 20, 21, 68

Albert H Morehead, 'Meet Col. Hobby and Capt. McAfee,' Redbook 82, 5 (March 1944), pp. 36-38, 70, 72

We're In the Army NowLink opens in a new window (US Army Signal Corps, 1943)

Mattie E. Treadwell, The Women's Army Corps (1954) ch.11, 'The Slander Campaign,' pp. 191-218 https://history.army.mil/books/wwii/Wac/index.htm

M Michaela Hampf, '"Dykes" or "Whores:" Sexuality and the Women's Army Corps in the United States during World War II,' Women's Studies International Forum 27 (2004), pp.13-30

Ann Pfau, Miss Yourlovin: GIs, Gender and Domesticity During World War II (2008), ch.2, 'The Slander Campaign,' e-book http://www.gutenberg-e.org/pfau/chapter2.html

[If pressed for time, read either Kirkland or Morehead, and either Hampf or Pfau. We will watch the film in class.]

Supplementary primary sources:

On lesbians in the WAC, from the GLBT Museum and Archives: https://www.glbthistory.org/primary-source-set-lesbians-in-the-military

GI Jane Writes Home From OverseasLink opens in a new window (1944 US army pamphlet)

American Soldier Survey responses on the WAC: https://americansoldierww2.org/topics/women-and-gender

Supplementary readings:

Ann Allen, 'The News Media and the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps: Protagonists for a Cause,' Military Affairs 50, 2 (April 1986), pp.77-83 [JSTOR]

Allan Bérubé, Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War II (1990), esp. ch.2, e-book

Sandra M. Bolzenius, Glory in Their Spirit: How Four Black Women Took on the Army During World War II (2018) e-book

D'Ann Campbell, 'Women in Uniform: The World War II Experiment,' Military Affairs 51, 3 (July 1987), pp. 137-39 [JSTOR]

Margot Canaday, The Straight State: Sexuality and Citizenship in Twentieth-Century America (2009)

John D'Emilio and Estelle B Freedman, Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America (1997)

Leisa D Meyer, 'Creating GI Jane: The Regulation of Sexuality and Sexual Behavior in the Women's Army Corps during World War II,' Feminist Studies, 18, 3 (Autumn 1992), pp. 581-601

Brenda Lee Moore, Serving Our Country: Japanese American Women in the Military During World War II (2003) e-book

Yashila Permeswaran, 'The Women's Army Auxiliary Corps: A Compromise to Overcome the Conflict of Women Serving in the Army,' History Teacher 42, 1 (Nov. 2008), pp. 95-111 [NB: includes useful bibliography of further readings, primary and secondary, if you're doing more research on this topic]