---
title: Gee!! I Wish I Were a Man, I'd Join the Navy
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gee-i-wish-i-were-a-man-1917/
description: A smiling young woman in a Navy petty officer's jumper and cap says 'Gee!! I wish I were a man, I'd join the Navy,' above the line 'Be a man and do it.'…
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![Gee!! I Wish I Were a Man, I'd Join the Navy](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/gee-i-wish-i-were-a-man-1917.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/gee-i-wish-i-were-a-man-1917.jpg)

# Gee!! I Wish I Were a Man, I'd Join the Navy

A smiling young woman in a Navy petty officer's jumper and cap says 'Gee!! I wish I were a man, I'd join the Navy,' above the line 'Be a man and do it.' The tell of transfer is the Christy Girl, a popular magazine type of American womanhood, wearing the uniform: her appeal is lent to the recruiting office, while the closing line turns enlistment into a test of manhood.

- **Date:** 1917
- **Period:** [First World War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=wwi)
- **Made by:** U.S. Navy recruiting; Howard Chandler Christy (artist)
- **Region:** [North America](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=north-america)
- **Country:** [United States](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=united-states)
- **Medium:** [Poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=poster)
- **Issuer type:** [Military](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=military)
- **Regime:** [Wilson Administration](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=wilson-administration)
- **Leader:** [Woodrow Wilson](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=woodrow-wilson)
- **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public)
- **Purpose:** [Recruit](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=recruit)
- **Themes:** [War and the military](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=war-military), [Gender and suffrage](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=gender-suffrage)
- **Event:** [World War I](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=world-war-i)
- **Techniques:** [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Source:** [Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/2002712088/), retrieved September 27, 2026
- **Rights:** Public domain in the U.S. (published before 1931) Christy, Howard Chandler, 1873-1952, artist. 1917. Library of Congress, LC-DIG-ppmsca-40824.

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
GEE!!
I WISH I WERE
A MAN

I'd JOIN
The NAVY

BE A MAN AND DO IT
UNITED STATES NAVY
RECRUITING STATION
```

The artist's cursive signature ('Howard Chandler Christy') beneath the figure is not transcribed as it is a signature, not printed prose.

[← 4 Minute Men: A Message from Washington](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/four-minute-men-message-from-washington-1917/) [Братерство, рівність. Чу-чу! Гидь московська! (Fraternity, Equality. Shoo! Muscovite Filth!): Ukrainian People's Republic leaflet-poster →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gyd-moskovska-upr-1917/)

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