Shootout at the Dress Shop
Doris Staples doesn't want to see Private John Waters any more... but he has other ideas.
Seamstress Doris Staples doesn't want to see Private John Waters any more... but the American soldier has other ideas. He goes to her workplace to make sure she doesn't "step out" with any other man... and carries with him a pistol.
Men were expected to seek an outlet for their sexual appetites, but any women who saw multiple partners or wanted to exit a relationship faced stigma, hostility and deadly violence.
Further reading:
Ashton, John R; Machin, David; Osmond, Clive; Balajaran, Rasaratnam; Adam, Sheila A and Donnan, Stuart P B. βTrends in Induced Abortion in England and Walesβ, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, vol. 37, 1983, pp. 105 - 110.
Dryden, Steven. βA Short History of LGBT Rights in the UKβ.
Ellwood, David. βThe American Challenge in Uniform: The Arrival of Americaβs Armies in World War II and European Womenβ, European Journal of American Studies vol. 7, no. 2, 2012.
Laite, Julia. Common Prostitutes and Ordinary Citizens: Commercial Sex in London, 1885 - 1960 (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012).
Monckton Smith, Jane. In Control: Dangerous Relationships and How They End in Murder. (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022).
Vickers, Emma. Queen and Country: Same-sex desire in the British Armed Forces, 1939-45. (Manchester University Press, 2013).
