“Kissing Sailor, or the Selective Blindness of Rape Culture?” says feminist blogger

The iconic posture from V-J Day photo is always deemed as a jubilant and loving embrace. People of today sculpture and reenact it in honor of this classic picture. However, a feminist blogger known only as “Leopard” wrote a post and put forward the question, “The Kissing Sailor, or ‘the Selective Blindness of Rape Culture’”. Leopard argues that this kiss is not just a kiss, but an act of sexual assault.

In this post, Leopard expresses disappointment that media outlets ignored intentionally or unintentionally what the “nurse” said about the victory day. It derives from the interviews with the sailor and the nurse, George Mendonsa and Greta Zimmer Friedman, who finally were identified by historians this year.

Greta said in the interview by the Library of Congress,

Four pictures of V-J day in Times Square by Alfred Eisenstaedt

“It wasn’t my choice to be kissed. The guy just came over and grabbed!”

In another interview, she also told CBS,

“I did not see him approaching, and before I knew it, I was in this vice grip.”

(Click here to see:  CBS interview  V-J Day Times Square kiss couple reunited)

With these words from Greta, Leopard wrote,

“It seems pretty clear, then, that what George had committed would be considered sexual assault by modern standards.”

“Without a single acknowledgement of the problematic nature of the photo that her comments reveal, George’s actions are romanticized and glorified.”

Leopard’s remarks quickly evoked a great deal of voices of supporting and oppositions.

Some argue that this kiss happened in a special time, and cannot be valued in a modern perspective.“The man returned from war after saving his country. Overwhelmed with joy, pride, he kisses a beautiful woman, a symbol of what he fought so hard for. And are we going to rewind the clock and call that rape?” The netizen, Roger, retorts. Other opponents query that what if Greta herself doesn’t feel offended and assaulted.

In a new post titled “Debunking Misconceptions”, Leopard responds that his/her point is the silence of these media outlets concerning Greta‘s words rather than judging the sailor’s behavior. However, Leopard does write that the sailor’s ecstasy “does not extend to his impinging on someone else’s bodily autonomy”. Additionally, he/she counters that “Greta’s remarks about his strength and ‘vice grip [sic]’ don’t sound like the words of someone who had enjoyed the kiss. The fact is, consent was not given”. Some supporters also point out that the nurse clenching her fist in the picture expresses her unwillingness.

At last, Leopard explains the term “rape culture” he/she uses. “It is a culture where rape and other forms of sexual violence are normalized, to be expected. He/she thinks “if we ignore the fact that this kiss was not mutual, and insist on calling it romantic, then we send out the message that a woman’s bodily autonomy is not that important, and can be sacrificed under special circumstances”.

What do you see in the photos?

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Mystery solved or not?

The historical moment of victory was captured in freeze-frame by photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt on August 14, 1945. However, since that day many have laid claimed to be the two in the pictures. The identities of the sailor and the nurse remained a mystery for decades.

Edith Cullen Shain

Edith Cullen Shain was the first endorsed by Eisenstaedt saying, in his book, she was “the one and only nurse” whom he photographed in Times Square.

Shain wrote to Eisenstaedt in the late 1970s and claimed to be the nurse in the picture.

She recalled she was a 27-year-old nurse at Doctors Hospital in Manhattan when joining the celebration on V-J Day. Shain recognized herself when the image was published in Life magazine but was too abashed to tell others it was her. “But I knew it was me,” she said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times in 2005. “I was wearing the same kind of shoes, and I had the same kind of seams in my stockings. And a little bit of my slip was showing.”

letter from Edith Shain

Meanwhile, Greta Friedman also said she herself was the nurse, as did Barbara Sokol.

Those who claimed to be the sailor were George Mendonsa, Bill Swicegood, Clarence “Bud” Harding, Wallace C. Fowler and others. George Mendonsa from Newport, Rhode Island, was identified by the Naval War College as the kisser in August 2005 as a result of evidences based on image analysis by the Mitsubishi Electric Research Lab (MERL) in Cambridge, Massachusetts and matching scars and tattoo spotted by photo experts.

He was confirmed again in a new book written by Galdorisi and LawrenceVerrie, The Kissing Sailor: The Mystery Behind the Photo That Ended World War II,released in May 2012.

“We’ve proven this basically three different ways — through forensic analysis, through photographic interpretation and through some other technical means that these are the people,” Galdorisi told the San Diego Union-Tribune.

The girl in the blue circle is Rita.

One of the evidence is Mendonsa’s wife, Rita, showing up in the background of one of the four photos Eisenstaedt took. Mendonsa recalled they were watching movie at Radio City Music Hall when hearing people were screaming the war was over. He and Rita joined the revelry on the street and went to Times Square, where he bumped into a nurse, dipped and kissed her.

The nurse, however, was proved to be Greta Friedman instead of Shain once approved by the photographer, Eisenstaedt. George explained, “While Shain was a lovely woman, at only 4 feet 10 inches in height, she was just too tiny to be the woman with 6-foot-2-inch Mendonsa, or any of the other sailor contenders.”.

Now, both 89-year old Mendonsa and Friedma live in Rhode Island and Maryland respectively.

The mystery surrounding this iconic picture seems to have been solved. However, whether there will be new evidence or doubts emerging remains to be seen.

Greta Friedman

George and his wife Rita

Katy Perry kissed a marine at Fleet Week: the reenactment of V-J Day Photo

Tom Smith, a lucky marine, held Katy tight, dipped her back and planted a passionate kiss on her lips while the crowd went wild. Wearing a sequined American flag dress, Katy Perry performed her hit songs for the troops and kicked off Fleet Week in New York on 23rd May.

After the show, she pulled one U.S. marine on stage and asked: “You know one of the most iconic pictures I heard to this place? Do you know what I am talking about? In New York city. Do you want to do it?” This handsome marine nodded.

“You promise you are not going to drop me? If you drop me, I am going to sic all my friends on you.” Katy said pointing towards the crowd of soldiers.

“One, two, one my lips, three.” with Katy’s voice fading away, the posture as described in the beginning was reenacted on the stage of Fleet week.

Undoubtedly this gesture was saluting the classic V-J Day photo, which depicts a young solider kissing a white-clad girl on Victory over Japan Day.

Legendary kiss V–J day in Times Square by Alfred Eisenstaedt

Looking back to August 1945, America had being at war for 4 years. With the announcement of Japan’s surrender, the Second World War was over. This piece of news spread like wildfire and the Americans took to the street celebrating the end of war.

Alfred Eisenstaedt, the photographer who captures this moment recalled:

“In Times Square on V.J. Day, I saw a sailor running along the street grabbing every girl in sight. I was running ahead of him with my Leica looking back over my shoulder. Then suddenly, in a flash, I saw something white being grabbed. I turned around and clicked the moment the sailor kissed the nurse…I took exactly four pictures. It was done within a few seconds.”

Nevertheless, Alfred Eisenstaedt failed to write down who the sailor and the nurse were, which became a mystery for many years. The pictures were published two weeks later in Life magazine among a series of photographs of revelry around the country which were presented in a multi-page feature called Victory Clebrations.

Kissing the War Goodbye by Victor Jorgensen

There is a similar photo of the same scene in different angle captured by the U.S. Navy photo journalist, Victor Jorgensen. It was published in the New York Times the next day titled “kiss the war goodbye”. But due to its shooting angle, this photo is not as popular as Eisenstaedt ‘s.

Less than 70 years having gone by, people still take delight in talking about this picture and even imitating this iconic posture especially in the anniversary of V-J Day. For example, a 25 feet-tall plastic and aluminum statue, unconditional surrender, sculptured by John Seward Johnson II was displayed in several cities.

In the films, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, Letters to Juliet, we can see this picture showing as well. Thus, we can see how huge the influence of this picture is of today.