The U.S. military is a massive institution, and its policies on sex, gender, and sexuality have shaped the experiences of tens of millions of Americans, sometimes in life-altering fashion. The essays in Managing Sex in the U.S. Military examine historical and contemporary military policies and offer different perspectives on the broad question: “How does the U.S. military attempt to manage sex?” This collection focuses on the U.S. military’s historical and contemporary attempts to manage sex-a term that is, in practice, slippery and indefinite, encompassing gender and gender identity, sexuality and sexual orientation, and sexual behaviors and practices, along with their outcomes. In each chapter, the authors analyze the military’s evolving definitions of sex, sexuality, and gender, and the significance of those definitions to both the military and American society.
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
Beth Bailey, Alesha E. Doan, Shannon Portillo, and Kara Dixon Vuic
Part 1. Behavior
1. The U.S. Army’s Management of Sexuality at Home and Abroad, 1898–1940
Andrew Byers
2. Compensation, Commerce, and Conjugality: Managing Male Heterosexuality in the U.S. Military from World War II to the War on Terror
Susan L. Carruthers
3. “A Higher Moral Character”: Respectability and the Women’s Army Corps
Beth Bailey
Part 2. Family and Reproduction
4. “We Recruit Individuals but Retain Families”: Managing Marriage and Family in the All-Volunteer Force, 1973–2001
John Worsencroft
5. Reproduction in Combat Boots
Kara Dixon Vuic
Part 3. Orientation and Identity
6. A Comparative Analysis of the Military Bans on Openly Serving Gays, Lesbians, and Transgender Personnel
Agnes Gereben Schaefer
7. Formal Regulation, Cultural Enforcement: Managing Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression in the U.S. Military
Jacqueline E. Whitt
Part 4. Sexual Assault and Prevention
8. Problematic Policies and Far-Reaching Consequences: Historicizing Sexual Violence in the U.S. Military
Kellie Wilson-Buford
9. Managing Harassment and Assault in the Contemporary U.S. Military
Amanda Boczar
Part 5. Gender, Sexuality, and Combat
10. Combat Exclusion Policies and the Management of Gender Difference in the U.S. Military
Elizabeth Mesok
11. Brothers in Arms? Combat, Masculinity, and Change in the Twenty-First-Century American Military
Christopher Hamner
12. “The Juice Ain’t Worth the Squeeze”: Resisting Gender Integration in Special Forces
Alesha E. Doan and Shannon Portillo
Afterword
Beth Bailey, Alesha E. Doan, Shannon Portillo, and Kara Dixon Vuic
Contributors
Index
Beth Bailey is Foundation Distinguished Professor in the Department of History and director of the Center for Military, War, and Society Studies at the University of Kansas. Alesha E. Doan is a professor in the School of Public Affairs and Administration and in the Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Kansas. Shannon Portillo is a professor in the School of Public Affairs and Administration at the University of Kansas. Kara Dixon Vuic is the LCpl. Benjamin W. Schmidt Professor of War, Conflict, and Society in Twentieth-Century America at Texas Christian University.
