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How a celebrated image marking V-J Day in Times Square has taken on a sinister shade
NY Daily News ^ | Friday, September 2, 2016, 5:00 AM | BY ANDY MARTINO

Posted on 09/02/2016 6:46:19 AM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines

An American sailor named George Mendonsa spontaneously takes hold of a complete stranger, 21-year-old Austrian-Jewish refugee Greta Zimmer, bends her backward, plants a kiss on her mouth and continues on his way. Unbeknown to either, famed photojournalist Alfred Eisenstaedt has captured the encounter. The resulting image, published soon after in Life magazine, came to symbolize the exuberance of that moment, in a country overflowing with vigor and youth, at a time when anything seemed possible.....In 2012, a London-based blogger who uses the pseudonym Leopard wrote a provocative post on Crates and Ribbons titled “The Kissing Sailor, or ‘The Selective Blindness of Rape Culture,’” arguing that Mendonsa’s actions should not be idealized as romantic. To the writer, the kiss represented nothing short of a sexual assault.

The post highlights a series of comments from Greta Friedman’s 2005 Veterans History Project interview, which addresses the issue of what we would now call consent. “It wasn’t my choice to be kissed,” Friedman said at the time. “The guy just came over and grabbed!” adding, “That man was very strong. I wasn’t kissing him. He was kissing me.” Leopard also cited a CBS News interview in which Friedman said of Mendonsa, “I did not see him approaching, and before I knew it, I was in this vice grip (sic).”

(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; US: New York
KEYWORDS: alfredeisenstaedt; edithshain; georgemendonsa; glennmcduffie; kiss; kissingsailor; liberalmedia; newyork; oudonthavetoberich; prince; torulemyworld; vjday; ww2
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To: Yashcheritsiy

Sailor Sam was lucky that he didn’t get HR’d in the noggin by his victim’s relatives.


21 posted on 09/02/2016 7:02:08 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: BenLurkin

What he did was physical battery. And arguably sexual battery as well.


Well, today it certainly would be.


22 posted on 09/02/2016 7:02:20 AM PDT by Mr. Douglas (Today is your life. What are you going to do with it?)
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To: PGR88
Next up - transgender sailors kissing.

This is not the same US Navy that won the War In The Pacific.


23 posted on 09/02/2016 7:03:08 AM PDT by Iron Munro (If Illegals voted Rebublican 50 Million Democrats Would Be Screaming "Build The Wall!")
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To: FatherofFive

I wonder. Her left shoulder is also relaxed and her body posture is open, not in defense or fighting mode.

The kiss was a spontaneous action in a different era. And her body language definitely makes it seem that what she said years later about the incident doesn’t match what was happening at the time. Jmo


24 posted on 09/02/2016 7:04:02 AM PDT by Reddy (B.O. stinks)
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To: Behind Liberal Lines

It was a Moment.

Context is everything. In that era, women didn’t fear and loathe men. It had a certain innocence about it. Young men in those days were expected to be serving their country, they were appreciated.

I doubt that this was a PTSD inducing moment. Today, it certainly would be. Being grabbed by a strange man would terrify me today. But, being kissed by a young sailor would not have terrorized my mother.


25 posted on 09/02/2016 7:05:06 AM PDT by jazminerose (oective)
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To: Behind Liberal Lines

Judging history in the rear view mirror is folly.


26 posted on 09/02/2016 7:06:36 AM PDT by mad_as_he$$ (Poo poo the polls at Trump's peril.)
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To: BenLurkin
What he did was physical battery. And arguably sexual battery as well.

True, but look at her left arm. It's hanging down by her side. She wasn't pushing him away.

27 posted on 09/02/2016 7:08:32 AM PDT by ladyjane
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To: Behind Liberal Lines

Good grief. It was a kiss. A celebratory kiss.

I think it would be fun!


28 posted on 09/02/2016 7:08:56 AM PDT by Jemian (War Eagle!)
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To: Mr. Douglas

I’d venture to say you couldn’t have found a soul in 1945 who gave a sh!t.


29 posted on 09/02/2016 7:09:05 AM PDT by tgusa (gun control: hitting your target.)
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To: BenLurkin

I appreciate your tagline. Puts things in context.


30 posted on 09/02/2016 7:10:04 AM PDT by Jemian (War Eagle!)
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To: Behind Liberal Lines
Anything we do today, could be condemned in the future.
Think about that. No one is safe.

31 posted on 09/02/2016 7:10:28 AM PDT by BitWielder1 (I'd rather have Unequal Wealth than Equal Poverty.)
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To: Jemian

Battery is concerned with the right to have one’s body left alone by others.

Battery is both a tort and a crime. Its essential element, harmful or offensive contact, is the same in both areas of the law. The main distinction between the two categories lies in the penalty imposed. A defendant sued for a tort is civilly liable to the plaintiff for damages. The punishment for criminal battery is a fine, imprisonment, or both. Usually battery is prosecuted as a crime only in cases involving serious harm to the victim.

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Battery


32 posted on 09/02/2016 7:12:40 AM PDT by BenLurkin
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To: ladyjane

Oh my.


33 posted on 09/02/2016 7:15:25 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: tgusa

At least he didn’t bite down on her lip. That technique was still four decades into the future.


34 posted on 09/02/2016 7:15:45 AM PDT by FirstFlaBn
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To: BenLurkin

Well, did the nurse press charges? Not that I ever heard.

America in 1945 was a different, and infinitely better, nation than what it is today. And one way it was different was that people naturally exercised common sense and kept things in perspective. A terrible war had just come to an end, largely thanks to us. A sailor grabbing and kissing a nurse was considered natural enough that a picture of it became famous. If it became known that the nurse filed a complaint against the sailor she would not have been thought well of.

Do you think the America of 2016 could or even would fight World War II, let alone win it?


35 posted on 09/02/2016 7:17:49 AM PDT by Catmom (We're all gonna get the punishment only some of us deserve.)
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To: BenLurkin

That is a truly sick pic. I’m glad I live in a bubble.


36 posted on 09/02/2016 7:19:06 AM PDT by FatherofFive (Islam is evil and must be eradicated)
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To: FatherofFive

Oh heck...just let your body go limp and enjoy it.


37 posted on 09/02/2016 7:19:53 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: oh8eleven
They just had to work in a dig at Roger Ailes at the end.

The issue continues to loom large every time a prominent man like Roger Ailes, the embattled former boss of Fox News, is accused of sexual misconduct.
38 posted on 09/02/2016 7:20:51 AM PDT by rightwingintelligentsia (Democrats: The perfect party for the helpless and stupid, and those who would rule over them.)
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To: Behind Liberal Lines
"Our Country won’t go on forever, if we stay soft as we are now. There won’t be any AMERICA because some foreign soldiery will invade us and take our women and breed a hardier race!"

Lewis B "Chesty" Puller, USMC
39 posted on 09/02/2016 7:21:31 AM PDT by Old Teufel Hunden
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To: Behind Liberal Lines
...has taken on a sinister shade....

As sinister as any 21st century hack reporter can make it.

40 posted on 09/02/2016 7:22:16 AM PDT by onedoug ("The Union, next to our liberty, most dear." --John C Calhoun)
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