Camp Howze Museum

Attitudes Towards Women at Camp Howze

There were many women who lived and worked at Camp Howze, many as active members of the army, however, they were treated and talked about very differently than their male counterparts. This can be seen throughout the Camp Howze Howitzer. There are very few articles pertaining to women, and most of them are either innocuous, or blatantly insulting. Many articles that did put women in a positive light were about women who were not living in the camp, such as singers who visited the camp or the girls of "Angel City" (Denton, Texas).  These articles and others like them show that the Howitzer thought of women as entertainment instead of people.

For example, the article to the right is taken directly from the first page of the October 22, 1943 issue of the Camp Howze Howitzer. The article is supposed to be a humorous reason as to why one Cpl. Driscoll's pin-up girl poster disappeared. In the article, the woman is described as being completely nude except for a pair of sheer black tights, which she is beginning to take off. The Officer conducting barrack inspections took notice of the poster and ended up taking it for himself, under the guise of further investigation. This article was meant to be a joke, but instead, it shows how little the men respected women. 

Pin-Up Girls

Pin-up girls, as seen in the article to the right, were a common sight in both the soldier's barracks and the newspapers. Throughout the Camp Howze Howitzer one can find many pictures and articles pertaining to both local and national Pin-up girls. Pictures of women like Pat Starling, Grace McDonald, and Vi Athens can be found throughout the howitzer, as well as many photos of beautiful local women, or visiting entertainers. 

Entertainers

In order to keep the men's spirits up, many guests came to visit Camp Howze.  Many of those guests were famous or held a lot of prestige, but others were simply local entertainment who were invited to the camp. Many of these acts were made up of women, and their pictures can be found throughout the Howitzer. These acts could be anything from singing to acrobatics, but the men and the Howitzer cirtenly enjoyed their entertainment.

For more information please visit Famous Faces of Camp Howze.

Language Towards Women

As shown in the articles above there was a significant difference between the language and tone used towards men in The Howitzer, and the language and tone used towards women. Throughout the publication most of the stories pertaining to women were limited to visitors, special circumstances, or, as mentioned above, derogatory slander. There were many articles and events that showed women in the photographs, but that is where the interaction stopped. They were rarely named, and often stereotyped. In most articles women are called broads, cats, and gals. One notable article from the January 14 edition of The Howitzer mentions Betty Gable and her manual of arms instruction , however she renamed it "Legs Grable" and the article ends by saying, "Be damned instructive if any soldier ever looked at the rifle!". This attitude was commonplace and the lack of respect has been noted in other sources in regards to the views of women, especially in the Army or workforce.