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The Sir Michael Howard Centre for the History of War invite you to the launch of Pulp Vietnam: War and Gender in Cold War Men's Adventure Magazines which explores popular culture and gender equality during the Cold War.
Chair: Professor Joe Maiolo, Professor of International History in the Department of War Studies
Speaker: Professor Gregory Daddis, Professor of History at San Diego State University
Discussant: Dr Amanda Chisholm, Senior Lecturer in Security Studies / Researcher in Gender and Security
In this compelling evaluation of Cold War popular culture, Pulp Vietnam explores how men's adventure magazines helped shape the attitudes of young, working-class Americans, the same men who fought and served in the long and bitter war in Vietnam.
The 'macho pulps' - boasting titles like Man's Conquest, Battle Cry, and Adventure Life - portrayed men courageously defeating their enemies in battle, while women were reduced to sexual objects, either trivialized as erotic trophies or depicted as sexualized villains using their bodies to prey on unsuspecting, innocent men. The result was the crafting and dissemination of a particular version of martial masculinity that helped establish GIs' expectations and perceptions of war in Vietnam.
By examining the role that popular culture can play in normalising wartime sexual violence and challenging readers to consider how American society should move beyond pulp conceptions of 'normal' male behavior, Professor Daddis convincingly argues that how we construct popular tales of masculinity matters in both peace and war.
Please register on Zoom, once registered attendees will receive an email with access details.
Bio
Gregory A Daddis is a professor of history at San Diego State University and holds the USS Midway Chair in Modern US Military History. Daddis joined SDSU after directing the MA Program in War and Society Studies at Chapman University. Prior, he served as the Chief of the American History Division in the Department of History at the United States Military Academy at West Point. A retired US Army colonel, he deployed to both Operations Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom. Daddis specializes in the history of the Vietnam Wars and the Cold War era and has authored five books, including Pulp Vietnam: War and Gender in Cold War Men's Adventure Magazines (2020) and Withdrawal: Reassessing America’s Final Years in Vietnam (2017). He has also published numerous journal articles and several op-ed pieces commenting on current military affairs, to include writings in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and National Interest magazine.