“Girls” and “Women”. Love, Sex, Duty and Sexual Harassment in the Ranks of the Red Army 1941-1945

Abstract

This article focuses on the tension between female soldiers’ military duties and sex/romance in the ranks of the Red Army. Drawing on terminology used during the war, the author posits “girls” and “women” as two models of behavior – the former emphasizing soldierly duties, the later the realization of civilian norms. Female soldiers were placed in a highly ambiguous situation, in which the Komsomol, which had recruited large numbers of “girls” into the army, promoted sexual abstinence and feminine culturedness, while the Party and Army acquiesced to the desire of commanders to take lovers from among their subordinates. The article ends with a discussion of pregnancy and its implications.

Keywords

• Great Patriotic War
• female soldiers
• sexual harassment
• Komsomol
• Communist Party