Talk:Gender issues in the American Civil War

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 5 September 2018 and 18 December 2018. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Smorrison1997. Peer reviewers: Lilbitbitter.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 09:03, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Bad arithmetic or bad writing?
In the opening section we find this statement: "This led to many cases of venereal disease. Among white Union soldiers there was a total of 73,382 syphilis cases and 109,397 gonorrhea cases. The total rate of VD among the white Union troops was 82 cases per 1000 men, where before and after the war the rate was 87 of 1000." If the math is correct, the text should be corrected to say, "The Civil War led to a slight reduction in VD, but it was only temporary." — Preceding unsigned comment added by 106.69.71.203 (talk) 06:17, 13 November 2018 (UTC)

I knew it was too interesting to be true..
hook·er 2     (hŏŏk'ər)  Pronunciation Key n.

1. One that hooks. 2. Slang A prostitute.

Word History: In his Personal Memoirs Ulysses S. Grant described Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker as "a dangerous man ... not subordinate to his superiors." Hooker had his faults. He may indeed have been insubordinate; he was undoubtedly an erratic leader. But "Fighting Joe" Hooker is often accused of one thing he certainly did not do: he did not give his name to prostitutes. According to a popular story, the men under Hooker's command during the Civil War were a particularly wild bunch, and would spend much of their time in brothels when on leave. For this reason, as the story goes, prostitutes came to be known as hookers. However attractive this theory may be, it cannot be true. The word hooker with the sense "prostitute" is already recorded before the Civil War. As early as 1845 it is found in North Carolina, as reported in Norman Ellsworth Eliason's Tarheel Talk; an Historical Study of the English Language in North Carolina to 1860, published in 1956. It also appears in the second edition of John Russell Bartlett's Dictionary of Americanisms, published in 1859, where it is defined as "a strumpet, a sailor's trull." Etymologically, it is most likely that hooker is simply "one who hooks." The term portrays a prostitute as a person who hooks, or snares, clients.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition - Cite This Source Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.72.64.16.39 (talk)


 * I've removed the line about General Hooker as it's not true. Marshall Stax (talk) 05:55, 25 October 2008 (UTC


 * I returned the passage, but stated its popular legend, and not true.-- Gen. Bedford his Forest 06:43, 25 October 2008 (UTC)


 * Currently, there are two different accounts of this etymology in the article that contradict each other: one about the number prostitutes following Hooker's division around, and one about Hooker himself being associated with prostitutes. This should probably be resolved. Sandtalon (talk) 04:58, 11 January 2020 (UTC)

Female Soldiers Edits
A classmate and I chose to edit the, "Female Soldiers" section for a class assignment. The topic was quite interesting, and we have included citations of the various books and articles that were used. There are pictures to come. — Preceding unsigned comment added by MEParker (talk • contribs) 05:11, 2 December 2018 (UTC)
 * There is currently a cleanup template flagging this section. While I agree that the "Female Soldiers" section might not fit the article's scope as it is, I would propose that the article title be changed to "Gender and Sexuality in the American Civil War," which would nicely encompass this section (which is worth keeping) as well as the previous content of the article. Sandtalon (talk) 05:06, 11 January 2020 (UTC)
 * in my opinions "Gender and Sexuality in the American Civil War," is a better title.  Rjensen (talk) 05:23, 11 January 2020 (UTC)

Women Section
In my opinion the female section is out of place, and that it should be incorporated in the Union and Confederate armies section. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Nīk-1895 (talk • contribs) 12:31, 11 February 2021 (UTC)

Race issues
It is unclear if the following passage refers to women of all races, or exclusively to white women.

''At the start of the war, Southern women zealously supported the men going off to war. They saw the men as protectors and invested heavily in the romantic idea of men fighting to defend the honor of their country, family, and way of life.[26] Mothers and wives were able to keep in contact with their loved ones who had chosen to enlist by writing them letters.''

Birdsinthewindow (talk) 22:53, 3 January 2022 (UTC)

Nursing doesn't belong here
Perhaps this article deserves to restyled to something like "Prostitution in the American Civil War". This reinforces a stereotype that Florence Nightengale herself had to fight, namely the idea that all military nurses were/are basically glorified prostitutes, which needless to say is hardly the case, and the same can be said for women soldiers, legal and otherwise. This is not so say that it is anything other than willfully and ludicrously naïve to think that either nurses or other female soldiers always refrain from consensual sex with fellow soldiers or are never victims of predation but to say that these topics are better addressed in another forum. 2600:1004:B142:4E10:51ED:A396:4DFF:27AB (talk) 01:25, 8 March 2022 (UTC)