A brief history of drag in the military

Over at Substack, writer Cole Haddon (Psalms for the End of the World) digs into the strange relationship between hypermasculine 'Merican men and dressing up in drag. He touches briefly on the cross-dressing world of glam metal (particularly the uber-irony of Queen's existence within that oeuvre), but is much more interested in how the manliness of womanly dress manifested in the military:

Female performers were rarely allowed near the fronts [during World War II]; members of the Women's Army Corps weren't permitted to take the stage for such risqué shows either, as it was judged — rightly so, knowing men (the sexual assault rate in an integrated military is horrifying) — they might not be safe in such environment.

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