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“Taking my mother's experiences seriously led to my exploring the militarisation of marriages. It made me alert to what feminist historians have been telling us now for four decades: pay attention to the feminised silences - not just silences due to oppression, but silence flowing from many women's belief that their wartime experiences don't "matter" - that they are merely private, trivial, apolitical. Men wage war; women simply "cope" with wartime. Coping does not make for exciting history.” — Cynthia Enloe
Taking my mother's experiences seriously led to my exploring the militarisation of marriages. It made me alert to what feminist historians have been telling us now for four decades: pay attention to the feminised silences - not just silences due to oppression, but silence flowing from many women's belief that their wartime experiences don't "matter" - that they are merely private, trivial, apolitical. Men wage war; women simply "cope" with wartime. Coping does not make for exciting history.