Controlling Male Sexuality: Combating Venereal Disease in the New Zealand Military during Two World Wars

This case study on the New Zealand military venereal disease campaign not only in the Middle East and the Pacific theaters of war but also at home aims at filling these gaps by comparing military practices for combating venereal disease among servicemen between World War I and World War II. It will also reevaluate the meanings of male bodies and sexuality attached to combatants both by the combatants themselves and by the New Zealand military. Using Stephen Whitehead's emphasis on the importance of understanding the "multiplicity of male embodiment," this article advances the idea of diversity rather than homogeneity in the venereal disease military campaign and its historiography. [Author]