Description
In every twentieth century war, organizations such as the Red Cross, YMCA, and USO sent American women to operate recreation programs for soldiers stationed abroad. The women opened canteens where soldiers could find a friendly face, coffee, and dounts, and when possible the brought a momentary reprieve from the war to soldiers on the battlefield. Designed to impart a sense of domesticity to the military environment, recreation programs variously sought to combat prostitution, remind soldiers of their mothers or sweethearts, and symbolize a supportive American homefront to which the soldiers would return. This project uses these programs to examine the evolution of wartime gender ideologies and to measure the relationship between women and the wartime state. It argues that these programs employed women's sexality during wars to both support and counter marital masculinity, and it offers important insight into the symbiotic relationship between sexuality and military culture.
