Sissy Service

We call can serve the war effort!

I can admit without shame that I got inspired to make this cap from Dee's and Simone's propaganda posters (which you can see here and here).  There's just something so iconic about these WWII era posters that make you ready to stand up and join whatever effort they are pushing.... even after consideration it's something you'd rather not do.

The only problem with this inspiration is finding the right image.  Just after Dee posted hers, I went looking at images that might be useful, but came up empty handed.  Well  today I stumbled upon a photo that just screamed for this propaganda effort:

This had just about everything I could ask for.  A sexy mincing woman, WWII era costume, war imagery in the tan.... it was perfect.

The hard part (at least initially) was writing the cap.  Propaganda posters are great at saying a lot with very few words, so I knew I'd have to get in, make my impact, and get out.  I knew I had the first lines (Are You Man Enough....) and I thought I had a great last line (Are you an AmeriCAN or an AmeriCAN'T), so instead of writing it out and then dropping it into the design I figured I'd make the poster first without words and then fill in the blanks with a few key phrases.

Now while the photo is great and has some 'old time feel' to it, it still doesn't look THAT old.  If I were to guess, I'd say this was taken in the last few years (probably at some military or air show) and then manipulated to look older.  But the 'old' effect made it look more like it was from the 60s or 70s, and not the 40s.  So I cropped it to a proper poster ratio and then went looking for photoshop tutorials on how to add vintage effects.  I not only wanted to effect the photo, but I wanted to add an aged feel to it.

One of my first google search results lead me here.  Between all these tutorials I was able to get the exact effects I was looking for.  While all the steps were there to use, it still took me a couple hours to get it to look just right.

With the photo/poster ready, I started dropping in text.  I had a great font to use (ICBM SS-25) and stated with the first few lines.  "Sissy Service" just felt right.  But when I went to add the last lines I came upon a couple problems.  First, the font is all caps, so I couldn't emphasize the CAN and CAN'T in 'AmeriCAN'.  Second, the font doesn't have all the special characters... there was no apostrophe.  I took a few swings and emphasizing what I wanted with color and/or size, but it just didn't look right.  So instead I thought up the last line.

With the top and the bottom done, I thought about what made a great propaganda poster... making you feel that whatever skill you had could be utilized for the greater good, and a call to join up.  Naturally I wanted to emphasize the lack of masculinity, and the only struggle there was to keep it from being TOO humiliating (it is a recruitment poster after all!).  Once I had the two lines (Not Big and Strong enough? Too Scrawny?) I had to add the call to join.  At first I had it just be the obvious "Then Join The Sissy Service!", but it seemed a little small.  I played around a bit with the phrasing (Then MAN UP And Join The Sissy Service, Join The Sissy Service And Be All The Sissy You Can Be...) when with a grin I realized that by simply adding "American" in front of "Sissy Service" I could mace the acronym "A.S.S."

Yes that's right.... by simply being all the sissy you can be you too can join up with the A.S.S. Corps!

Heh

Knowing that less is more, I didn't over emphasize my grin inducing discovery and just put it out there.

All in all I'm happy with the result.  I think it's a fun cap that has a good solid WWII era propaganda feel that can still add that shiver of shame that many sissy's are looking for (at least I am!).  I hope you enjoy this little romp at least half as much as I enjoyed creating it!