Even though it was being done for the good of France, this sexuality was still seen as "dangerous" and "sinful," simply because it fell outside of what was considered proper sexuality. This once again enforced the ideas of sexual hierarchy that was based on sexual negativity. These conundrums of what to do with women after the war based on social change and population crisis were, in fact, baseless.
This is because, contrary to popular discourse of the day, the postwar birthrate was considered to be a "healthy" one (123). There was even an "increase over not only wartime decline, but also prewar figure[s]" (123). This postwar birthrate was "the highest in the two decade period surrounding it" and when birthrates did fall, the reasons were "complex …show more content…
Much like in World War One France, World Two in American caused society to be “sex-segregated” so that the men lived with the men and the women with the women (D’Emilio 26). While this allowed for a reversal of gender roles, it also allowed for homosexual activities and behaviors to happen freely and without judgment. Due to the barracks close quarters, the soldiers would engage in "buffoonery, aping in exaggerated for the social stereotype of the homosexual as a means of releasing sexual tension in the barracks” (25). Similarly, many soldiers on leave would share "beds in the YMCA," sleeping in "each other 's arms" (25). While one man of the time recounted his many “affairs with soldiers, sailors and marines” while they were out “on leave” (26). Many of the men he slept with were “self-acknowledged homosexuals, who told [him] of their gay friends and lovers in the service” (26). There were many gay men in the military because when searching for men to enlist, the government “preferred men who were young, single and with few dependents: a population group likely to include a disproportionate number of gay men” (24). This not only facilitated sexual relationships, but also “tight circle[s] of friendship that solidified their emerging gay identities and sustained them through the stress of the ensuing years" (26). While the crisis of the Second World War allowed for these sexual and platonic bonds to form, it was after the war that the government began to attack these
This is because, contrary to popular discourse of the day, the postwar birthrate was considered to be a "healthy" one (123). There was even an "increase over not only wartime decline, but also prewar figure[s]" (123). This postwar birthrate was "the highest in the two decade period surrounding it" and when birthrates did fall, the reasons were "complex …show more content…
Much like in World War One France, World Two in American caused society to be “sex-segregated” so that the men lived with the men and the women with the women (D’Emilio 26). While this allowed for a reversal of gender roles, it also allowed for homosexual activities and behaviors to happen freely and without judgment. Due to the barracks close quarters, the soldiers would engage in "buffoonery, aping in exaggerated for the social stereotype of the homosexual as a means of releasing sexual tension in the barracks” (25). Similarly, many soldiers on leave would share "beds in the YMCA," sleeping in "each other 's arms" (25). While one man of the time recounted his many “affairs with soldiers, sailors and marines” while they were out “on leave” (26). Many of the men he slept with were “self-acknowledged homosexuals, who told [him] of their gay friends and lovers in the service” (26). There were many gay men in the military because when searching for men to enlist, the government “preferred men who were young, single and with few dependents: a population group likely to include a disproportionate number of gay men” (24). This not only facilitated sexual relationships, but also “tight circle[s] of friendship that solidified their emerging gay identities and sustained them through the stress of the ensuing years" (26). While the crisis of the Second World War allowed for these sexual and platonic bonds to form, it was after the war that the government began to attack these