Abstract
The strong links between cities and queer culture and its expression have occupied numerous scholars, including Henning Bech and Matt Houlbrook. Indeed, London has been viewed as a focal point of British queer urban culture for over 200 years and, as this article demonstrates, the advent of the Second World War did not preclude this centrality but ensured that the city became a focal point for service personnel on leave. Yet, the emphasis placed on the metropolises in analysing space and queer expression has rendered invisible the use of more transient spaces outside of the city. This article seeks to examine these ‘alternative’ or opportunistic sites of expression, using oral testimony from queer men who served with the British Armed Forces during the Second World War. The memories of these servicemen and the significance they place on space/locations demonstrate the need to engage with subjective sites or ‘geographies’ of queerness both inside and outside of the city between 1939 and 1945.
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Notes
Interestingly, none of my interviewees discussed the issue of race. Given the high presence of Black GIs in London during the war, this is surprising. While much has been written about the impact of GIs on heterosexual women (Rose, 1997, 1998, 2003) their influence on the organisation of queer expression and desire has yet to be researched. See Porter and Weeks (1997) for a brief reference to the influence of American GIs on the rent boy market. Crisp (1997) also discusses their availability and attractiveness.
More generally, my oral history methodology has been influenced by a raft of oral history work including that by Perks and Thomson (2006), Plummer (1995) and Chauncey (1995). Two parallel studies by Berube (1990) and Jackson (2004) that discuss queer involvement in the Second World War in America and Canada have also been instructive.
National Archives (hereafter NA) MEPO 3/758, Caravan Club, disorderly house, male prostitutes, 1934–1941. Minute by an unknown police officer, 16 August 1934.
See for instance The Brighton Our Story Archive, S. Allen (pseudo.), 29 November 1990 and I. ‘Bubbles’ Ashdown, 22 February 1993. For more detail on the regulation of lesbian servicewomen see Vickers (2009). Much has been written on lesbian sexuality and space. See for instance Valentine (1993) and Munt (1995). Thus far, however, the only academic work that has touched upon the period 1939–1945 is Jennings’ recent monograph (2007) on the emergence of lesbian subcultures in post-war Britain.
Mass Observation Archive Topic Collection, Sexual Behaviour 1939–1950, box 4, Sexual Behaviour, Report on Sex, unpublished manuscript, 12/4/E, Appendix 1, ‘Abnormalities’, p. 2.
See NA MEPO 2/8859, Activities of homosexuals, soldiers and civilians: co-operation between the army and the police (1931–1950), notes on a Conference held 7 May 1931, Richmond Terrace, London re Homosexual Offences, p. 1. In reference to London's guardsmen during the interwar period, it was acknowledged by General Corkran that ‘only men of good character were allowed to go out without uniform, and the concession as to plain clothes was regarded by the soldiers as a very valuable one.’ Corkran also lamented that guardsmen engaging in homosex with civilians while in plain clothes were much harder to police. For more on guardsmen and homosex see M. Houlbrook (2003).
Jacques is one of four interviewees referred to in this paper. Pseudonyms have been used for those who wished to remain anonymous.
The Council was founded in 1899 to combat vice and indecency in London. Its members included representatives from the Church of England, Roman Catholic and non-conformist churches, leaders of the Jewish faith and leaders in education and medicine. It had no police powers but it worked closely with the authorities and helped to prosecute, among others, importuners, prostitutes, racketeers and pornographers.
London Metropolitan Archives (hereafter LMA) A/PMC/40-Public Morality Council: Patrolling Officers Reports, 1938–1942, December 1941.
This is Matt Houlbrook's terminology. See Houlbrook (2005: 46).
LMA A/PMC/40-Public Morality Council: Patrolling Officers Reports, 1938–1942, December 1941.
Imperial War Museum Department of Documents, 91/36/1, J. Wallace.
All of my appeals for respondents were pitched specifically to queer veterans of the war. This might explain why many of my interviewees believed that I would want to hear about their sexual activity, perhaps as a means of legitimating their queerness.
For an excellent discussion of how homosex is policed, see Moran (1996).
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Acknowledgements
My warmest thanks, as always, go to Corinna Peniston-Bird, Stephen Constantine, Felix Schulz, Helen Glew and Lisa Blenkinsop for their constructive comments and tireless cheerleading. I am also exceptionally grateful to Liz Oakley-Brown and Anne Cronin for their help and support and to the anonymous referees who commented on previous drafts of this paper.
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Vickers, E. queer sex in the metropolis? place, subjectivity and the Second World War. Fem Rev 96, 58–73 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1057/fr.2010.20
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/fr.2010.20