"One Yank and They're off": Interaction between U.S. Troops and Northern Irish Women, 1942-1945

• Published in: Journal of the history of sexuality Vol. 15; no. 2; pp. 228 - 257
• Main Author: McCormick, Leanne
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Austin, TX University of Texas Press 01.05.2006; University of Texas at Austin (University of Texas Press)
• Subjects: Alcoholic Beverages - economics; Alcoholic Beverages - history; Armies; Children & youth; Community; Cultural Characteristics; Cultural Diversity; Cultural history; Entertainment; Extramarital Relations - ethnology; Extramarital Relations - history; Extramarital Relations - legislation & jurisprudence; Extramarital Relations - psychology; Friends - ethnology; Friends - psychology; Gender; History, 20th Century; International relations; Interpersonal Relations; Ireland; Irish history; Life Style - ethnology; Men; Men's Health - economics; Men's Health - ethnology; Men's Health - history; Men's Health - legislation & jurisprudence; Military Hygiene - economics; Military Hygiene - education; Military Hygiene - history; Military Hygiene - legislation & jurisprudence; Military personnel; Military Personnel - education; Military Personnel - history; Military Personnel - legislation & jurisprudence; Military Personnel - psychology; Morals; Naval bases; Northern Ireland - ethnology; Police; Political sociology; Politics; Public Health - economics; Public Health - education; Public Health - history; Public Health - legislation & jurisprudence; Race Relations - history; Race Relations - legislation & jurisprudence; Race Relations - psychology; Religion; Religious organizations; Rural areas; Sex workers; Sexual Behavior - ethnology; Sexual Behavior - history; Sexual Behavior - physiology; Sexual Behavior - psychology; Sexual behaviour; Sexuality; Sexually transmitted diseases; Sexually Transmitted Diseases - economics; Sexually Transmitted Diseases - ethnology; Sexually Transmitted Diseases - history; Sexually Transmitted Diseases - psychology; Social Behavior; Social Change - history; Social Conditions - economics; Social Conditions - history; Social Conditions - legislation & jurisprudence; Social problems and social policy. Social work; Society; Socioeconomic Factors; Sociology; Soldiers; Stereotyped Behavior - physiology; Studies; U.S.A; Wars; Women - education; Women - history; Women - psychology; Women's Health - economics; Women's Health - ethnology; Women's Health - history; Women's Health - legislation & jurisprudence; Women's Rights - economics; Women's Rights - education; Women's Rights - history; Women's Rights - legislation & jurisprudence; Women's studies; Women, Working - education; Women, Working - history; Women, Working - legislation & jurisprudence; Women, Working - psychology; World War II; World wars; Young adults; United States Of America; Northern Ireland; United Kingdom > UK; Army; Soldier; Woman; Sexuality; World War II
• ISSN: 1043-4070; 1535-3605; 1535-3605
• DOI: 10.1353/sex.2007.0011

The stationing of U.S. troops around the world during the second World War and their subsequent interactions with the local public has generated much scholarly discussion.4 The involvement of women in both Britain and Australia with U.S. troops, for example, has been located in a wider debate surrounding changing female sexual identity and its impact on citizenship and international relations.5 The subject of U.S. troops in Northern Ireland, however, has been discussed in a rather uncritical way by official war histories, local historians, or those writing their wartime memories, with no real discussion of the nature of the relationships or involvement with local women.6 Yet it is important to consider the particular and unique situation in Northern Ireland as it impacted the interaction between troops and local women and within the wider contemporary debates concerning female sexuality. The arrival of American troops in the U.K. saw the intervention of ordinary soldiers and sailors in the construction and implementation of new patterns of female sexuality, and the techniques of parents, priests, religious organizations, and local police and doctors intended to control women's behavior were, without a doubt, mightily challenged.