[LordOpie]

Revealed: how the police encouraged lesbian love

Martin Bright, home affairs editor
Sunday June 27, 2004
The Observer

Lesbianism in the armed forces and the police in the 1940s and 1950s was tacitly encouraged by the authorities because it was regarded as preferable to seeing trained women become pregnant and leave the job.
New research into lesbians in uniform has revealed that women in the police could often set up home together in shared rooms in police accommodation.

Although women in the armed forces faced instant dismissal if caught in flagrante, discreet relationships were tolerated if it meant holding on to valued recruits.

The research by Rebecca Jennings of Manchester University used official documents at the National Archive in Kew, London, to show that the policy of banning men from women's quarters inadvertently made lesbian sexual relationships easier.

Police section houses were often divided into rooms shared between two women and Jennings has found documents to show that women could easily request to share a locked room with a girlfriend. In one case, a police house was even converted from a hotel with double bedrooms, providing ready opportunities for lesbian relationships to develop.

'There is no doubt that some women were drawn by the cliches about lesbians in uniform,' said Jennings, who drew on personal accounts of lesbians from the time. 'But they also saw the armed forces and the police as more accepting of lesbianism. One source even thought the forces openly welcomed lesbians.'

Policy documents from the forces show that officers were advised to treat relationships between women with great sensitivity. In most cases the advice was to separate lovers and post them to camps far away from each other rather than dismissing them.

At the same time, recruits were given beauty tips to pressure them to look as feminine as possible. The archives also contain lengthy discussions about the design of women's uniforms to emphasise their femininity.

'During a period that is usually associated with conservative female values, the police and armed forces were actually expanding a lifestyle that was going against the prevailing cultural ethos. It is amazing that there was such a potential for lesbian relationships in these traditional institutions,' said Jennings.

Jennings's research will be presented at a Gay and Lesbian conference at the National Archive this week. The conference will also include an investigation by Laura Doan of the University of Manchester into the banning of Radclyffe Hall's lesbian classic The Well of Loneliness and details of a Home Office file on the book originally closed until 2040.

Harry Cocks of the University of London will also reveal the story of lonely hearts magazine the Link, which published coded gay personal ads between 1915 and 1921, when it was finally banned. The monthly paper, originally called Cupid's Messenger, was sold on newsstands for eightpence. It was founded by Alfred Barrett, a comic novelist.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Basil Thomson was warned in 1920 that it posed a grave threat to the country's morals. Police believed that some of the ads were placed by men aiming to embark on 'unnatural liaisons'.

Code words such as 'genuine and sincere' and 'broadminded' were used in ads placed by men to attract other men. The issue was brought to a head when 57-year-old Walter Birks was arrested in Carlisle on a fraud charge and found to be carrying love letters from a young clerk in his twenties, William Smyth. Police later discovered that the men met through an ad placed in the Link. The editor was charged with conspiring to corrupt public morals 'by introducing men to men for unnatural and grossly indecent practices'.

Sarah Waters, author of lesbian historical novel Tipping the Velvet, said: 'We underestimate the amazing variety of people's lives in the past, their ingenuity and resilience in dealing with the society they had to live in.'

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1248231,00.html

yes, a real discussion can be had from this article, but I'm immature so...

Harry Cocks teaches sexuality at the Univ... oh come on now :evil:

And why wouldn't the armed forces and police target lesbians. One of them is usually more butch then most men :eviltongu

 

[T-Pirate]

damn you stealing the harry cocks joke I was going to make when I read that!


oh, and nice sig. "make it count"

 

[Slugman]

Actually homosexuality has been encourages in other armies long before this. I forget when, but it was pretty far back (like pre-Roman times)... they would encourage their warriors to be gay b/c the leaders thought that the solders would fight more vigourously since they wouldn't want their lovers to get injured or killed.

 

[genpowell71]

In the Navy, you can sail the seven seas.
In the Navy, you can put you rmind at ease...

We already have a fleet full of 'em. 104 men go down on a nuke sub, and 52 couples come back for shore leave...

HAHAHAHAHAHA

Ok, not funny