Like others, I was intruiged by the portrayal of women on some of these posters. While they generally had feminine occupations (nurse, mother, wife, etc.), the women on these posters also look determined with serious faces, which are often facing upward. They are dutiful and puposeful while maintaining a sense of grace and delicacy. This sentiment of "contradictory uses of the female figure" was echoed in Pearl James' introduction to reading WWI posters; he notes that the women featured in these posters were used "both to distinguish male participation as more vital to the nation and to invite unprecedented female participation" (James 30).
The poster above features two portrayals of women that would fit in the second category - a Red Cross nurse and Columbia, the personaification of the New World/America. Their shapelessly draped robes, strong facial features, and bulking arms muscles make these women rather androgynous compared to women featured on other posters, which would most likely fall in the first category of women that James recognizes as encouraging male participation. The call to action on the scroll ("Where Columbia Sets Her Name Let Every One Of You Follow Her") is powerful, espcially as Columbia has a pen in her hand that is positioned to take down names. Not only is she in a position of power this way, but also Columbia is wearing a sword. This is another powerful yet somewhat perplexing image, as this war was considered to be "the first fully modern war" with "arsenals that included machine guns, long-range artillery, submarines, airplanes, tanks, and mass-produced industrial goods" (James 1).
When considering this poster in relationship to Vera Brittain's Testament of Youth, one must wonder what Brittain's opinion of such a piece would be. Would this have encouraged her participation as a nurse? Or would she have found this poster to be annoying? Because it challenges Victorian ideals of gender and female fraility, I think she might have appreciated this poster. I would be interested to know what others think on this matter!