Flexible gender roles during the market revolution: family, friendship, marriage, and masculinity among U.S. Army officers, 1815-1846. From: Journal of Social History | Date: September 22, 1995| Author: Watson, Samuel | COPYRIGHT 1995 Journal of Social History. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

This article examines the gendered dimensions of U.S. Army officers' relationships with family, wives and male friends. While not political feminists, many of these men were open to more flexible gender roles than those of the separate spheres. They supported their sisters' aspirations for education and economic success and some wrote to them about politics and military affairs. Other officers formed in intimate homosocial networks and spoke in "feminine" language to one another. Officers did...