From the Oct. 5, 2012, Globe and Mail "Feminist blogger calls iconic Second World War kissing photo 'sexual assault'"
A London-based blogger calling herself "Leopard" has been taking grief after her post "The Kissing Sailor, or 'The Selective Blindness of Rape Culture.'"
For many years, the identity of the two in the photo was not known, but now, it is known that the woman was dental nurse Greta Zimmer Friedman and the sailor was George Mendosa.
They were not a couple at the time and Mendosa was drunk. Both are still alive at 89.
Said Friedman, "It wasn't my choice to be kissed. The guy just came over and grabbed." Mendosa's wife is in the photo as well.
I can sort of see where "Leopard" is coming from, but, hey, it was the end of that terrible war. And, with the wife looking on, that was as far as it would go.
To Mendosa, it must have seemed like the thing to do at the time.
'Scuse Me While I Go Kiss This Gal. --GreGen
My Cooter's History Blog has become about 80% World War II anyway, so I figured to start a blog specific to it, especially since we're commemorating its 70th anniversary and we are quickly losing this "Greatest Generation." The quote is taken from Pearl Harbor survivor Frank Curre, who was on the USS Tennessee that day. He died Dec. 7, 2011, seventy years to the day. His photo is below at right.
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