Good Girls, Good Food, Good Fun: The Story of USO Hostesses during World War II (Gender and American Culture) The USO had hoped that respectable feminine companionship would limit venereal disease rates in the military. Meghan Winchell demonstrates that in addition to boosting soldier morale, the USO acted as an architect of the gender roles and s
| TITLE | : | Good Girls, Good Food, Good Fun: The Story of USO Hostesses during World War II (Gender and American Culture) |
| AUTHOR | : | |
| RATING | : | 4.92 (771 Votes) |
| ASIN | : | 0807832375 |
| FORMAT TYPE | : | Hardcover |
| PAGES | : | 272 Pages |
| PUBLISH | : | 2008-12-07 |
| GENRE | : |
Throughout World War II, when Saturday nights came around, servicemen and hostesses happily forgot the war for a little while as they danced together in USO clubs, which served as havens of stability in a time of social, moral, and geographic upheaval. Meghan Winchell demonstrates that in addition to boosting soldier morale, the USO acted as an architect of the gender roles and sexual codes that shaped the "greatest generation."
Combining archival research with extensive firsthand accounts from among the hundreds of thousands of female USO volunteers, Winchell shows how the organization both reflected and shaped 1940s American society at large. The USO had hoped that respectable feminine companionship would limit venereal disease rates in the military. To that end, Winchell explains, USO recruitment practices characterized white middle-class women as sexually respectable, thus i
EDITORIAL :
From Publishers Weekly
Think of saddle-shoed coeds jitterbugging with the boys. The dance could be as sexually evocative then as grinding is now. It was all in a night's work for the thousands of young American women who volunteered to host soldiers in United Service Organizations clubs during WWII. The USO's domestic mission was to steer idle troops away from liquor, prostitutes and venereal disease, offering instead homemade cookies and wholesome smalltown girls. In constructing a portrait of wartime sexuality through the lens of the USO's American ideal of women, Winchell highlights what she views as the USO's middle-class prejudices. But she also offers studies of leadership in minority women's lobbying for such issues as canteen integration and access for women soldiers. Winchell, an assistant professor of history at Nebraska Wesleyan University, can't seem to let impressive re
REVIEW :
He practices what he preaches in founding an Interdependence Movement, narrating a documentary film about the Berkshires' Music Inn, (founded by his father and step-mother) and it's "ahead of its times" impact on the worlds of musicology, jazz, blues, the arts and basic racial, cultural ignorance in America; in remaining in constant contact not only with the other leading theorists and power holders (either directly via working relationships as in his time with Bill Clinton, or indirectly, as in the impact his works have had on the young people in our world, some who wake up to discover that their own parents are quite misguided and find the only way to help an honored, loved one understand where their child is coming from is to introduce them to Barber's works) but also with young people from all walks of life through work to develop a curriculum on civic engagement for public schools a
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