Sex, Soldiers and the South Pacific, 1939-45: Queer Identities in Australia in the Second World War

ISBN-13: 9781137365132 / Angielski / Twarda / 2015 / 250 str.

Yorick Smaal

Opis

Military and civilian worlds have an uneasy relationship. They inform and intersect with one another in complex and competing ways. Sex, Soldiers and the South Pacific, 1939-45 explores how life in and out of uniform shaped Australia's queer identities in the 1940s. Queensland - with its massive throngs of local and foreign servicemen - provides an unusually detailed tapestry that weaves together the complexities of homoerotic inclination and self-expression in Australia and the South Pacific. Gender would prove to be the central thread colouring dominant forms of identity for men, youths, and the authorities who responded to their behaviour. Effeminate cissies like young Errol, the Australian soldier Vernon and his American lover Jack, Paul the camp cafe owner, soldiers like Edgar and Roger who stole intimate moments on an abandoned block by the Brisbane River, Eric and the girls in New Guinea, and the belles and trade among the Americans in Noumea, all reveal how the war and its immediate aftermath shaped contemporary male experiences. Together, they show us how men and youths forged new beginnings and possibilities, created circuits of thinking and practice at home and on forward bases, and employed strategies of resistance and negotiation in order to live happy and fulfilling lives.

Recenzje

"Smaal's monograph ... fulfills the aims of the Palgrave Macmillan series, Genders and Sexualities in History to 'accommodate and foster new approaches to historical studies in the field of genders and sexualities' and to focus on 'interconnected themes of genders, sexualities, religions/religiosity, civil society, class formations, politics and war'... . read his book, engage with the characters and ideas. You won't be disappointed." (Diane Bell, Honest History, honesthistory.net.au, March, 2016)

"The study appears in a series on 'Genders and Sexualities in History' and one of its strengths is its subtle treatment of this relationship. Smaal establishes the significance of gender performance in 'homosex' during the 1940s. ... This book is a valuable addition to the international literature on queer sexualities. ... Smaal has produced an exemplary work of social, sexual, and gender history that also contributes to our understanding of the relationship of war and society." (Frank Bongiorno, Social History, Vol. 41 (2), March, 2016)

"The book is a great work and interesting for sexologists, ethnologists, and historians. A comprehensive literature list and index make it round." (Florian Georg Mildenberger, Sexuality and Culture, Vol. 20, 2016)

Spis treści

Introduction
PART I: THE SCRIPTS
1. Bitch and Butch Men
2. Queer Geographies
PART II: THE SERVICES
3. Men in Uniform
4. Confused Commanders
PART III: THE STATE
5. Preoccupied Policemen
6. Disoriented Doctors
Epilogue

O autorze

Yorick Smaal is ARC DECRA Research Fellow at Griffith University, Australia. He is an Australian social historian with particular interests in sex and gender, war and society, and law and criminal justice.