“Soldier Struck”: Public Discourses, Women and American Servicemen in World War II South Australia

Abstract

ABSTRACT The social impact of Allied Forces on the Australian home front is central to research on World War II gender relations but is often overlooked in South Australia. The arrival of 20,000 American servicemen in Adelaide in March 1942 heightened anxiety about immoral female behaviour. This article illuminates the public discourses and state controls implemented in South Australia in response to women’s contact with American servicemen, female alcohol consumption, and spread of venereal disease. It argues that the pejorative labels applied to women during this time had a self-disciplinary effect, prompting some who pursued American servicemen to adopt a discourse of feminine patriotism to describe their relationships.