ABSTRACT
During World War II, U.S. recruiting officers were on the look out for two unmanly types: malingerers and homosexuals. The malingerers were drafted, but gays were rejected; whatever they did, they couldn’t be manly. But what of the gay man who tried really hard to get into the services? Was that not prima facie evidence of manly courage? No, he was rejected, and there was a special term for him: reverse malingerer.1 It was unthinkable that he might actually be brave and “American”; however hard he tried to enlist, he must be some kind of malingerer. He was a “reverse malingerer,” lacking the potential even of true malingerers. Such ideological pressure may explain why President Clinton reneged on allowing lesbians and gay men to present themselves openly in the military. In this chapter I attempt to demonstrate, refine and extend some practices and principles in cultural politics and subcultural reading.
