Sexuality and citizenship: The state and girls’ leisure provision in england, 1939-45

Control and supervision were significant factors behind the development of organized leisure activities in Britain for 14-to-20-year-old youths, especially for working-class girls. In response to the outbreak of World War II, the British Board of Education's Service of Youth program emphasized the duty of young people of both sexes to serve their country. While girls' service programs were less specialized than boys and lacked military trappings, girls were, for the time being, encouraged to think of applying traditional women's caring roles on a wider scale than husband and children. British youth service was careful to distinguish its aims and activities from highly regulated, compulsory youth programs in Germany and Italy.