Uploaded December 2015 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Photographs by Stephen King
Dry Your Eyes Princess is an exhibition by Stephen King of trans* veterans who served in the British Armed Forces. King has worked closely with Dr Emma Vickers, a senior lecturer in History at Liverpool John Moores University. Vickers uses oral testimony to explore the intersection between gender identity and military service. King has collaborated with Vickers’ interviewees to construct portraits based upon their pinnacle moments and their experiences before, during and after service. Stephen King is a UK based photographer whose practice focuses on identity and place.
To date, Dr Vickers’ research has revealed that trans* personnel in the UK were dismissed
in significant numbers before 1999 and, because of limited understandings of trans* identities, officials tended to conflate gender identity and sexual identity. Moreover, many of
Vickers’ interviewees say they joined the services as a form of therapy in the hope that the
hyper-masculinity of the forces would rid them of the discomfort they felt with their gender
identity.
“Dry Your Eyes Princess” is a derogatory term used unofficially within the British Armed
Forces encouraging personnel to ‘toughen up’. While the ban on trans* personnel in the
British Armed forces was lifted in 1999, in the US military the ban remains in place until
May 2016.
Photographs by Stephen King
Dry Your Eyes Princess is an exhibition by Stephen King of trans* veterans who served in the British Armed Forces. King has worked closely with Dr Emma Vickers, a senior lecturer in History at Liverpool John Moores University. Vickers uses oral testimony to explore the intersection between gender identity and military service. King has collaborated with Vickers’ interviewees to construct portraits based upon their pinnacle moments and their experiences before, during and after service. Stephen King is a UK based photographer whose practice focuses on identity and place.
To date, Dr Vickers’ research has revealed that trans* personnel in the UK were dismissed
in significant numbers before 1999 and, because of limited understandings of trans* identities, officials tended to conflate gender identity and sexual identity. Moreover, many of
Vickers’ interviewees say they joined the services as a form of therapy in the hope that the
hyper-masculinity of the forces would rid them of the discomfort they felt with their gender
identity.
“Dry Your Eyes Princess” is a derogatory term used unofficially within the British Armed
Forces encouraging personnel to ‘toughen up’. While the ban on trans* personnel in the
British Armed forces was lifted in 1999, in the US military the ban remains in place until
May 2016.
