ABSTRACT
In part because the war was justified as a defence of women and children, and thus implicitly of traditional gender roles, there was a good deal of concern about how wartime circumstances might alter these. Sexuality, particularly in the form of alluring women, was also used to ‘sell’ the war. The behaviour of the entire population of belligerent nations was scrutinised during the war, because it became part of the war effort to preserve an idealised society that was worth dying for and to maintain the virility and success of the competing armies. In many nations anecdotal evidence of increased alcohol consumption led to one of the most concrete legislative changes affecting women during the war and can be seen in efforts to control their access to alcohol. The dynamics of this case not only reveal a new frankness about discussing ‘perversity’ in public, but also how strongly sexual morality and morale were linked during the war.
