Abstract
Men's and women's experiences of the Second World War played an important role in the growth of homosexual subcultures in Western countries, and these subcultures rapidly expanded in New Zealand during the 1950s. In an island nation, the port cities had a heightened significance. Local queer cultures developed, in part, as a result of interactions between civilians and the many military personnel who arrived by ship. Historians can bridge the gap between a consideration of the macrolevel impact of military experience on society and "the treasure trove of micro-level material" generated by those individuals caught up in broader military moments in history. Intimate relationships, in particular, reflect and shape the wider world of militarism and war. In New Zealand and elsewhere, military settings had their own peculiarities: ships, air force bases, and army camps were structured by rules, but their layouts also provided opportunities for intimacies and sexual relations. Here, Brickell discusses the disciplinary actions taken by the New Zealand military regarding sexual encounters between men from 1940 to 1960.