The Sexual Economy of War

Abstract

The book argues that concerns about sexuality were fundamental to how the U.S. Army managed its deployments and military occupations throughout the early decades of the twentieth century. Far from being just a marginal release from the stresses of military service and combat, sexuality stood at the center of the military experience. The book uses the concept of a “sexual economy of war” to highlight the interconnectedness of everything from homosexuality, competing conceptions of masculinity, and the proper role of military families, to issues like rape and sexual violence, as well as attempts by the army to combat venereal disease via the regulation of prostitution. The book reveals that the contentious debates of the past two decades surrounding sexuality and the U.S. military are, in many ways, echoes of similar issues from the early twentieth century.

Anti‐Prostitution Politics and Militarised Urban Prosperity in the US Military Camptown in Korea

“…As part of a broad ideological project of transmitting American values to former enemies of the United States such as Germany and Japan, the Department of Defense encouraged anti‐prostitution policies and deployed entire American families as “unofficial ambassadors” (Alvah 2007; Fujime 2006; Vuic 2022). In other places, including Korea, the prevailing assumption amongst commanders—historically, fuelled by fears of homosexuality—was that troops needed access to a “sexual outlet” (Byers 2019; Doolan 2021; Vuic 2022). In Korea, this assumption led to the alliance's 1961 creation of camptowns as managed zones of exception to Korea's domestic anti‐prostitution laws.…”