Patriotism and Pinup

Have a wonderful and safe Memorial Day! And don't forget what this 3 day weekend is about: remembering our troops!

Vargas Girl Friday!!

Hayley Atwell: The Real Bombshell from "Captain America"

"My grandmother would sleep in rollers and go put her make-up on to just go down to the shops to buy some milk. And she was a working class woman in Manchester who worked at a factory, so it wasn't that she was royalty or anything. That was what everyone did back then. And my mother was the same. My mother used to drive me to school in perfect make-up with her hair immaculate, but she had a dressing gown underneath her coat. She always made sure her outer appearance was just pristine. So Peggy's kind of like, "Oh, the Nazis are coming, but I better apply lipstick.""

Clearly, I've been indulging my inner geek since 'The Avengers' came out. I will say that, despite my love of pinup, I've always been a geek/gamer girl and always will be. I'd be playing Diablo 3 right now if the servers could stay up.

Hayley Atwell took the role of Peggy Carter in Captain America 2011, and stole the scene by being lovely and fierce. The quote above came from an interview with Box Office Magazine, when talking about her character and her inspiration. While her acting is sublime, her beauty (and a certain red dress) were what kept people talking. 

The key to her look beyond the fabulous hair styles, is a medium taupe-brown eye shadow (with a bit of grey in the crease, and a lighter color on the brow bone and tearduct), normal liquid eyeliner (Peggy did not have cat eyes!), and matte red lipstick.  Make sure you have your eyebrows on, your foundation is set, and add a wee bit of blush. It's not too different from normal pinup makeup. All of it is done very lightly. It manages to be both bold and natural. And a red dress hugging all the right places certainly helps!

Airplanes can't tell the difference between a man and a woman: The WASP's of WW2

To say that our world was hardly prepared for the horrors of World War 2 is an understatement. The atrocities committed on such a grand scale were unfathomable, and the technology we wielded was new and unprecedented. Also, women began to serve their country in ways they never had before.

In 1942, a new "experimental" branch of Army Air Corps was created solely for the recruitment and training of women as pilots. The hope was that these women could handle the flying needed at home while the men went overseas to fight. 1,074 women made it through the program after 25,000 applied, and became WASPs -- Women AirForce Service Pilots after paying their way into training. The WASPs would fly trainers, fighters and bombers to and from factories and air bases while fulfilling transport needs. They would ensure that the aircraft built by yesterday's “Rosies” were ready for battle and their men overseas.

"This is not a time when women should be patient. We are in a war and we need to fight it with all our ability and ever weapon possible. Women Pilots, in this particular case, are a weapon waiting to be used." -- Eleanor Roosevelt

WASP Silver Wings

These women, under the supervision of those who believed in them, flew the same kind of training that men did. They flew for hours, some times in planes that were not in good condition, and in less that 2 years managed to rack up 60 MILLION miles on every type of aircraft imaginable. Women flew every type of mission that men did except for combat missions. They were also used to demonstrate the safety of both the B-26 and the B-29 to male pilots. They were promised by those in higher places that their place in history would NEVER be forgotten. 38 of those women died for their country.

That promise was broken. After all they did, the WASPs were disbanded unceremoniously on December 20th, 1944. They did not get thanks, they did not get benefits, and their records were sealed. As far as the military and the government was concerned, they did not exist.They were even denied veterans' status, and collections had to be taken up for burial -- and they were not given folded flags or gold stars. Historians didn't know about them due to the secrecy, so they were ignored by the books. And (what I think is the worst) they were told to keep quiet. Women were homemakers. After all women did in World War II, it would still be an uphill battle for real equality.

It wasn't until 1977 that President Carter finally signed legislation that gave the WASPs full military status for their service and acknowledged what they did for their country. It wasn't until 1984 that they were awarded the World War II Victory Medal. And it wasn't until 2009 (!?!) that President Obama granted these women the Congressional Gold Medal.

My hat is off to these women; brains, guts, patience, and beauty. What wonderful role models these women are!

Jacqueline Cochran - Founder of Women's Flying Training

 

 

Rosie the Riveter: Pinup and American Icon

"All the day long,
Whether rain or shine
She’s part of the assembly line.
She’s making history,
Working for victory
Rosie the Riveter"

We took the term "Rosie the Riveter" from the above song by Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb, and from there we've firmly established Rosie as a generational, gender, and cultural icon. World War II, to put it simply and stupidly, changed more than just the boundaries in Europe. It changed gender boundaries, too. When widespread male enlistment left gaping holes in the industrial labor force, women stepped into mechanical, wrench-wielding, dirty jobs; they made up 65% of the labor in the aircraft industry from 1940-1945. Rosie herself may not have existed as anything more than a propaganda tool. However, real-life Rosie's changed the shape of America -- they proved that not only could a woman do a man's job, but they could do it well. 

The reason why I am talking about this is because Rosie the Riveter was a pinup. Oh, yes, she is now a symbol of female empowerment, but originally she was the creation of some real life Don Draper (on a side note, how yummy is Jon Hamm?) who was working with the government and begrudgingly acknowledged that America needed women to work. The most famous Rosie has her looking tough -- but other adverts are hardly distinguishable from a Vargas girl. The fact that our grandmothers (or great-grandmothers) took up their tools and contributed to the war effort while looking sassy in lipstick and curls is inspirational. If they can do it, why can't we? Brains and beauty! They wouldn't trade in their femininity for anything, not even a little thing like World War 2.

I think it's sad that a decent percentage of the female workforce regards looking good or being feminine as either a detriment or a waste of time. My mother, who I love, is not exactly a glamour goddess. She never was. I didn't learn how to do makeup from her at all -- she's 48 and still asking me for tips. I recall, when I was younger, she worked a job that was very mechanical, assembly-line, in nature. Due to the fact that she 1) managed to shower, 2) wore clothing that was clean and intact, and 3) put on a minimal amount of makeup, quite frequently she would complain about not being treated like she knew what she was doing. And not by the men...but by the women she worked with. We're discriminating against ourselves, ladies! What kind of age is this where, if a woman looks good at the workplace, we try to knock her down? Why do we have to downplay our femininity, even to our own gender, to be taken seriously? And what do we accomplish by tearing each other down for this?

It's time we stepped up our game. There is no shame in looking good at your job, no matter what that job may be. We can be good at our jobs. We can also look good at our jobs. We CAN do it all!

Tomorrow, being on the military tangent (I've been watching too much Captain America -- Hayley Atwell is STUNNING), I hope to talk about the Women's Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs. I know the acronym has other connotations, but these women not only defied their gender before the war by obtaining a pilots license, but they participated in the war effort the same way the men did and were completely ignored by our government until 1977. 

Recognize this Rosie? It's Marilyn Monroe!