Existing comment:
Take a Closer Look
Note the contradictory portrayals of women in the posters. On one hand, artists depicted women as people who needed to be protected from an encroaching enemy. On the other, they celebrated women -- many in military or civilian service uniforms -- as strong figures who were critical to the success of the war effort. The posters reflected emerging attitudes toward women and their roles.Take a Closer Look
Note how advertisers rendered the enemy with a dark complexion and ape-like features. And note as well that his victims were white women.
At a time when scientific racism had not yet been debunked, dark skin and simian features were thought to be indicators of uncivilized, threatening people. Posters incorporating this imagery were meant to spur white Americans to action by playing on their association of non-whites with danger or threats to civilization and white womanhood.
Women Marine privates (left to right) Minette Gaby, May English, Lillian Patterson, and Theresa Lake armed with posters, paste pots, and brushes, around 1918 |