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Sex in the Company of Soldiers
The Role of Japan‟s Comfort System and U.S. Military Prostitution in the Development of
Eastern Asia‟s Contemporary Sex Industry
Elya Filler
Senior Thesis
Advisor: Kal Raustiala
Department of Global Studies
University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
June 2009
Table of Contents
Department of Global Studies
UCLA
Sex in The Company of Soldiers
Elya Filler
Senior Thesis
Abstract
This paper explores the relationship between Japan‟s comfort system, U.S. military prostitution,
and the present sex industry in Eastern Asia. It provides a brief overview of sex trafficking and
what it entails. It then examines the history of Japan‟s comfort women during WWII together
with the thriving sex industry that developed around U.S. military bases in Korea and the
Philippines soon after. Next, it looks at the connection between Japan‟s comfort women and the
U.S.‟s implementation of military prostitution. Through examining the relationship between
militarism and prostitution, it draws a link between these two cases and the development of the
sex industry within their societies.
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 3
Introduction------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4-7
A New Era of Sex Trafficking----------------------------------------------------------------------4
Regional Focus: Eastern Asia----------------------------------------------------------------------5
Historic View: Military and the Sex Industry----------------------------------------------------6
Sex Trafficking: An Overview------------------------------------------------------------------------7-18
Definitions---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------7
Health Consequences for Those Trafficked------------------------------------------------------9
Victim Profiles--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------11
How are Victims Acquired by their Traffickers?-----------------------------------------------13
Who is Involved?------------------------------------------------------------------------------------15
Three Categories: Source, Transit, and Destination-------------------------------------------16
Case Study: Korea and the Philippines----------------------------------------------------------------18
Literature Review--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------18-22
Introduction------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------18
Korean Comfort Women---------------------------------------------------------------------------19
Filipino Comfort Women--------------------------------------------------------------------------20
U.S. Military Prostitution--------------------------------------------------------------------------21
Conclusion-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------22
Japan’s Imperial Army: Korean and Filipino Comfort Women-----------------------------23-31
Introduction------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------23
The Institutionalization of Sexual Slavery------------------------------------------------------24
Conclusion-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------30
U.S. Military Forces in Korea and the Philippines----------------------------------------------31-39
Introduction------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------31
Economically----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------32
Politically--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------35
Culturally--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------36
Additional Theories of Eastern Asia’s Sex Industry Development---------------------------39-43
Cultural Legacy of the Patriarchal Society-----------------------------------------------------39
Role of Poverty--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------40
Weakness of Civil Society-------------------------------------------------------------------------41
Role of Military Occupation----------------------------------------------------------------------42
Conclusion---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------43
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 4
Introduction
In 1984, local authorities found the bodies of five young girls, between the ages of nine
and twelve, burned to death in a basement in Phuket, Thailand. A further investigation revealed
that the families of these children sold them into a local sex trafficking ring which held them
captive—chained to their beds—when the fire broke out.1 Thousands of miles away in the
summer of 2005, United States (U.S.) police forces arrested fifty individuals involved in two sex
trafficking rings that were responsible for the smuggling of hundreds of South Korean women
into the US. Traffickers forced these women to work as prostitutes in brothels disguised as
acupuncture clinics and massage parlors in San Francisco. Both victims informed police officers
that their traffickers transported them into the US through both Mexican and Canadian borders
where they easily acquired tourist visas.2 Two years later on August 8, 2007, Dateline NBC aired
a story about a young girl named Anna who after answering an ad to be a waitress, was
trafficked from her home in the Philippines to Malaysia where she was forced into prostitution.
Her virginity sold for the equivalent of eighty US dollars.3
A New Era of Sex Trafficking
Millions of other victims of sex trafficking have similar stories to share. Trafficking for
sexual exploitation and prostitution are part of an extensive network and global phenomenon.4 At
the end of the 20th century, the global sex industry profited considerably in response to rising
tourism, opening up of borders, and growing ease and decreasing costs of transportation.
Moreover, increasing global interconnectivity through the internet and innovations in
1
“Thailand the Trafficking of Women.” Paralumun New Age Village. Article on-line. Available from
http://www.paralumun.com/issuesthai.htm.
2
“US Smashes Sex Trafficking Rings.” BBC News, 2 Jul 2005. Article on-line. Available from
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4643529.stm.
3
Ciralsky, Adam and Chris Hansen. “Sex trafficked: Anna's story.” Dateline NBC, 8 Aug 2007. Article on-line.
Available from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20182993/.
4
Brown, Louise. Sex Slaves: The Trafficking of Women in Asia (London: Virago Press, 2000), 4.
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 5
communication technologies also facilitated the flow of people, resulting in increased sex
trafficking.5 The magnitude at which sex trafficking is now occurring is monumental. Never
before has there been a global sex industry involving the amount of victims trafficked, the scope
of distance transported, or the number of countries involved. The unprecedented forming of such
a vast, complex, and wide-ranging industry is staggering. Presently, approximately 2.4 million
people are estimated to be victims of sex trafficking.6 In light of these shocking statistics, the
following question compels an answer: When and how did this transnational sex industry first
start to grow into the present and colossal form it is today?
Regional Focus: Eastern Asia
In order to address this question, I examine Eastern Asia, leading partaker in sex
trafficking and the region with the largest sex industry in the world. Eastern Asia is notorious for
both its sex industry and participation in international networks for the trafficking in women for
sex. More than any other region in the world, trafficking networks in Eastern Asia are well
developed and multifaceted, comprising an array of networks and individuals involved at various
levels.7 While numerous factors gradually contributed to the development and maintenance of
Eastern Asia‟s current sex industry, foreign military presence throughout the 20th century stands
out as the most influential factor first pushing it ahead of the rest of the world and eventually
causing it to be the focal point of the global sex trafficking ring.
5
Aronowitz, Alexis. “Smuggling and Trafficking in Human Beings: The Phenomenon, the Markets that Drive It
and the Organisations that Promote It.” European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 2001, 163-195, 170
6
“Sex Trafficking: The Facts Trafficking for Exploitation has Become an Epidemic in the Past Decade.” New
Internationalist, 2007. Article on-line. Available from
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0JQP/is_404/ai_n21026843.
7
Brown, Sex Slaves, 4.
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 6
Historic View: Military and the Sex Industry
In this paper, I am going to explore the contemporary origins and historical roots of
Eastern Asia‟s sex industry through a military framework. In doing so, I will look at the
establishment of military bases by foreign powers throughout the 20th century. In my
investigation, I examine the two following cases: Japan‟s Imperial Army in Korea and the
Philippines and U.S. military forces in Korea and the Philippines. I will demonstrate first, that
Japan through its institutionalization of sexual slavery in the form of the comfort system, used
the systematic regulation of sexual slavery and promotion of certain gender, race, and class
ideologies to further its imperial project. Second, in doing so, Japan laid a foundation of
ideologies and practices that continued to be used in the sex industry throughout the 20th century.
Third, following this occurrence, U.S. forces through the establishment of military bases in
Korea and the Philippines, further contributed economically, politically, and culturally to the
development of their domestic sex industries. These two events triggered the creation of
thousand of brothels around military sites facilitating the first widespread sex trafficking
movement throughout Eastern Asia consequently launching the expansion of both Korean and
Filipino sex industries.
In the first section, I present a brief overview of sex trafficking and the sex industry. In
the subsequent section, I specifically investigate Korea and the Philippines. I start by explaining
why these two countries are important in looking at the relationship between military and
prostitution and indicative of a larger trend that occurred in Eastern Asia throughout the 20th
century. At this point, I discuss past literature on both Korean and Filipino comfort women and
U.S. military prostitution. Subsequently, I delve into the historical pasts of both Korea and the
Philippines specifically looking at earlier periods of military occupation in tandem with
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 7
prostitution and the growth of the sex industry. The period of military occupation I focus on is in
the 20th century with first Japan‟s imperial army and second US military forces. Lastly, I confirm
the relationship between military occupation and the escalation of both the Korean and Filipino
sex industries that kicked off around the middle of 20th century and show how the effects of
which are still evidenced today.
Sex Trafficking: An Overview
In this section, I provide a brief summary of sex trafficking. I first define both the sex
industry and sex trafficking. Next, I describe the connection between the two and the relationship
between the two and prostitution. I then describe the various forms in which sex trafficking and
prostitution manifest themselves within the sex industry. Following, I list the health
consequences victims of sex trafficking encounter in order to ascertain the severity of the
situation. I also describe the characteristics of victims and explain why targeting of certain
individuals occurs. Lastly, I discuss how victims are acquired, who the perpetrators are, and the
different types of countries involved and their extent of involvement in global sex trafficking.
Definitions
For the purpose of this paper, it is important to note the relationship between prostitution,
the sex industry, and sex trafficking because all three terms are used considerably throughout the
text. Prostitution is one prominent aspect of the sex industry. It is a commercial sex act, which is
any sexual act, both voluntary and forced, in which something of value is exchanged.8 The sex
industry refers to the market in which victims of sex trafficking are forced to work.9 The sex
industry involves the commercial enterprise of selling bodies for the purpose of sexual
8
Hughes, Donna M., Chon, Katherine Y., and Derek P. Ellerman. “Modern-Day Comfort Women: The U.S.
Military, Transnational Crime, and the Trafficking of Women.” Violence Against Women, 2007, 902.
9
Aronowitz, “Smuggling and Trafficking,”168.
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 8
exploitation. The sex industry includes but is not limited to the following: mail-order brides,
commercial prostitution, pornography, stripping, live sex shows, military prostitution, and sex
tourism.10 The sex industry and the issue of prostitution are both intimately tied to the illicit
market of sex trafficking in women.11 The trafficking in women serves the function of ensuring a
“steady supply of women to areas where men demand sexual services.”12 What exactly is sex
trafficking? Sex Trafficking is a common form of human trafficking currently going on at
substantial levels throughout the world. The U.S. definition of human trafficking involves
[…]all acts involved in the transport, harboring, or sale of persons within national or across international
borders through coercion, force, kidnapping, deception, or fraud, for purposes of placing persons in
situation of forced labor or services, such as forced prostitution, domestic servitude, debt bondage or other
slave-like practices.13
Sex trafficking, is distinguished from human trafficking by its specific element of sexual
exploitation and is estimated to account for eighty percent of all forms of trafficking.14
According to the “U.S. Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000,” the official
definition of sex trafficking is “the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining
of persons for the purpose of a commercial sex act.”15 Transnational trafficking occurs when the
trafficked victim crosses international borders whereas domestic trafficking occurs when victims
are recruited and transported within the same national territory. 16 Sex trafficking generally
entails long-term sexual exploitation for economic gain where the profit can be made both before
10
“Fact Sheet: Sex Trafficking,” The Campaign to Rescue and Restore Victims of Human Trafficking, U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, (2008) Available Online at:
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking/about/fact_sex.html.
11
Aronowitz, “Smuggling and Trafficking,” 172.
12
Enriquez, Jean. “Filipinas in Prostitution around U.S. Military Bases in Korea: A Recurring Nightmare,”
CATW-Asia Pacific.
13
Miko, Frances T. and Grace Park. “Trafficking in Women and Children: The U.S. and International
Response.” Report for Congress, 2002, 1-25, 1.
14
“Sex Trafficking: The,” 1.
15
Hughes, Donna M., et al, “Modern-Day,” 902.
16
Ibid.
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 9
and during the time of transportation. Profits are also made following the transportation of the
trafficked victims to various destinations through their sexual exploitation.17
Health Consequences for Those Trafficked
Victims of sex trafficking and forced prostitution encounter numerous physical and
mental health complications. Physical health problems include but are not limited to the
following: HIV, infertility, ectopic pregnancy, malignances, STDs, and various vaginal
infections. Along with numerous physical problems associated with sex trafficking, there are
also equally harmful mental health consequences. These include the following: shame,
depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), addiction to narcotics, and suicidal thoughts.18
Shame is the most common and probably most detrimental of these mental health consequences.
The first and perhaps deadliest physical consequence is the contraction of the Human
Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). The global sex industry is a major source of HIV.19 According
to an article on the health consequences of trafficked victims, the second most HIV-affected
region is Southeast Asia just after Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2004, an estimated 7.5 million people
were infected with HIV in Southeast Asia.20 Southeast Asia‟s high level of HIV infected
individuals is specifically due in part to its thriving sex industry. Areas such as Thailand and
Cambodia are especially suffering from the increased amount of sex workers infected with HIV.
The growing prevalence of HIV infected sex workers also explains for the growing demand of
younger girls.
Along with HIV, there are other threats to the physical health of victims including:
infertility, ectopic pregnancy, and malignancies that are associated with forms of sexually
17
Aronowitz, “Smuggling and Trafficking,”172.
18
Beyrer, Chris & Julie Stachowiak. “Health Consequences of Trafficking of Women and Girls in Southeast
Asia.” The Brown Journal of World Affairs, (2003), 106.
19
Ibid., 105.
20
Ibid., 107.
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 10
transmitted diseases (STDs) such as the Human Papillomavirus (HPV).21 In response to the fear
of STDs, girls are recruited at younger and younger ages so that they are free of STDs. However,
because girls are being forced into prostitution as young as ten and twelve, there is a high
probability they will be infected with some form of STD by the time they are in their teens.
Consequently, by their early twenties they are forced to live on the streets because they are no
longer desirable to costumers. Many victims die from physical ailments and neglect before they
reach the age of thirty.22 A medical study of victims of sexual exploitation and forced
prostitution found that there are also numerous short-term complications. For instance, 95% of
victims in the study reported both physical and sexual violence. Another 57% of victims had
twelve to twenty-three simultaneous health problems and 16% said that they encountered weekly
gynecological infections, vaginal discharge, and pelvic pain.23
The notion of shame is particularly relevant to this paper and discussed in greater depth
in later sections. While shame is not as physically damaging as addiction or suicidal thoughts, it
is one of the most common psychological burdens faced by victims of sex trafficking. Victims,
particularly from patriarchal societies, frequently fear the shame from their families and society.
They are afraid to be branded as a whore.24 Fear of this shame causes victims to remain silent.
Maki Kimura, author of “Narrative as a Site of Subject Construction: The „Comfort women‟
Debate” claims that narration is important for recovery from a traumatic experience. According
to Kimura, the pain and shame of a traumatic experience disrupts the coherence and connection
of an individual‟s sense of self and leaves them emotionally fragmented. Narration, while
21
Ibid., 105.
22
Brown, Sex Slaves, 210.
23
“Sex Trafficking: The,”1.
24
Brown, Sex Slaves, 233.
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 11
painful, is essential for re-configuring and unifying the self both psychologically.25 However,
victims, unwilling to speak about their experience, suffer the emotional burden of rape, slavery,
and sexual exploitation leaving them extremely vulnerable to suicide, depression, and drug
addiction.26
Victim Profiles
Sex trafficking victims generally share a specific profile with similar characteristics.
They tend to be uneducated women or children from poor financial backgrounds and
impoverished countries. Familiarity with this profile helps gain understanding of why certain
victims are targeted and also why victims tend to come from particular regions more than others.
This will be particularly useful in the later section on Korean and Filipino sex industries.
Firstly, sex trafficking victims are primarily women. Ninety-eight percent of victims are
women, half of whom are under the age of eighteen.27 Traffickers target females for several
reasons. To start with, the low social status and subordination of women in many societies leaves
them extremely vulnerable and susceptible to entrapment by traffickers.28 Women in these
societies lack career opportunities and the assertiveness to stand up and protect themselves or
one another. Secondly, in many societal constructs, the female is an object of desire, there for
“men‟s gaze or use,” and a “body-for-others.”29
Likewise, women from the developing world are specifically targeted in the sex industry.
The developed world has a high demand for women from the developing world. More and more
women from poor countries are used as a kind of global currency sold and exchanged on the
25
Kimura, “Narrative,” 15.
26
Beyrer et al, “Health Consequences,” 106.
27
“Child Protection from Violence.”Unicef.
28
Miko et al, “Trafficking in Women,” 2.
29
Mirkinson, Judith. “Red Light, Green Light: The Global Trafficking of Women.” Breakthrough, 1994. Article
on-line. Available from http://feminism.eserver.org/gender/sex- work/trafficking-of-
women.txt/document_view, 95.
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 12
international market. In particular, women from poor countries in Eastern Asia are exported like
a commodity, from developing countries like the Philippines and Thailand to developed
countries like Japan.30 More than any other region, Westerners go to Eastern Asia to purchase
sex. This is largely a result of Western culture‟s eroticism of Asian women as fragile, exotic, and
sexual.
Additionally, sex trafficking victims are largely children. Over the past decade, the
premium age for sex workers in Asia has dropped drastically to between thirteen and sixteen.
Consumers demand highest for virgins.31 A recent UNICEF survey reports that minors account
for 20% to 50% of prostitutes in Lithuania and girls as young as ten are used in the making of
pornographic films. The same survey shows that in the Mekong sub region of Southeast Asia,
30% to 35% of all sex workers are between the ages of twelve and seventeen. A recent
organizational social service agency report cites Mexico with 16,000 child prostitutes.32 Children
are easy targets because they are easier to control and less expensive to purchase.33 In the later
section, the role of Amerasian children in prostitution will be discussed in regards to Korean and
Filipino sex industries.
Furthermore, trafficked victims are primarily from poor backgrounds. For the most part,
victims who fall prey to traffickers are those poorest in their own countries.34 They generally
come from poor families in impoverished countries like South America and Eastern Asia. This
occurs for a variety of reasons. Although these women and children encounter gross violations of
their human rights, trafficking victims from poor families decreases the probability that they will
30
Pettman, Jan Jindy. “Body Politics: International Sex Tourism.” Third World Quarterly, 1997, 93-108, 95.
31
Brown, Sex Slaves, 4.
32
“Child Protection from Violence.”Unicef.
33
Todd, Halinah. “Prostitution.” The Mobilizer, 1993. Article on-line. Available from
http://feminism.eserver.org/prostitution.txt
34
Aronowitz, “Smuggling and Trafficking,”172.
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 13
be able receive assistance from them. They are essentially on their own and therefore easier
targets. Victims also tend to come from poor families because they are less educated and have
fewer opportunities. Therefore, they are more likely to be tricked into accepting a false job offer.
Lastly, poor families are more likely to sell their children into sex trafficking than wealthier
families because they are desperate and need the money.35
How are Victims Acquired by their Traffickers?
Victims of sex trafficking are acquired through a variety of ways. They are either sold by
their families, forcefully kidnapped, recruited under false pretenses, or trapped financially. The
profile of victims plays an important role in the acquisition of victims. For example, victims
from poorer backgrounds are more likely to be sold or trapped into debt bondage, women are
more easily recruited with false job offers, and children are more vulnerable to being kidnapped.
As previously mentioned, victims are predominantly women under the age of twenty-
five and children. This is because many societies view females as economic burdens. For this
reason, their families frequently sell them to traffickers or brothels in order to avoid the cost of a
dowry.36 This regularly occurs in parts of Eastern Asia where there are not only impoverished
areas but also many patriarchal societies. Women from these regions tend to be on the lower end
of the social hierarchy and therefore considered of lesser value.
Another frequent form of victimization is kidnapping.37 Kidnapping is common in poor
areas because families of kidnap victims have little power to fight against the kidnapping of their
child. Conversely, kidnapping also takes place in wealthier parts of the world. Kidnapping of
35
Hughes, Donna. “The Demand: Where Sex Trafficking Begins.” A Call to Action: Joining the Fight Against
Trafficking in Persons, 2004.
36
Miko et al, “Trafficking in Women,” 2.
37
Mirkinson, “Red Light.”
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 14
children occurs because they are easier to physically handle and coerce. However, not all victims
are kidnapped or sold in sex slavery.
It is also very common for traffickers to recruit victims with false or pretenses. In poor
countries, there is always a dream of a better life.38 Specifically, women from poor areas are
susceptible to luring with false promises of high paying jobs like tourist workers, au pairs,
models, dancers, or domestic workers. They accept these job offers to provide for their families
back home. Women often cross international borders willingly in order to obtain jobs but by the
time they realize what is going on, it is generally too late. As a result, they are held captive,
unable to escape, or do not have the money necessary to make it back to their home country.
Consequently, they have no other option than to work off their debt. Traffickers also commonly
promise victims that once they work off their debt they are free to go. This makes victims more
willing to cooperate. However, over time they find themselves in a form of financial bondage
called debt bondage.39
Debt bondage occurs when an individual secures an advance on her earnings to pay for
the initial transportation to the country of destination. However, because these individuals tend to
be poor women, they lack understanding or the help of advocates making them especially
susceptible to the whims of their lenders. Therefore, traffickers and brothel owners are able to
manipulate and expand the debt forcing the individual into a financial bind that she is unlikely
able to evade. The individual is then forced to work off her debt by performing sexual acts that
she would otherwise refuse to do. This is a common practice used throughout the international
sex industry as a means of forcing women into prostitution.40 Debt bondage is particularly
38
Aronowitz, “Smuggling and Trafficking,”172.
39
Brown, Sex Slaves, 117.
40
Ibid., 116.
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 15
common in Asia. Parts of Asia, like Thailand and Cambodia have several of the worst cases of
debt bondage.41
Who is involved?
In light of this societal crime, one must ask who the perpetrators of this crime are and
who is running the sex industry. There are several levels at which individuals are involved and
all play a significant role in maintaining and facilitating the sex industry. Most research findings
cite three different levels at which individuals are involved in the illicit sex industry. These
include
[…] those individual entrepreneurs who are involved in small-scale activities such as running a brothel in a
particular area; the second or the mid-level prostitution schemes in which women are controlled by the
clandestine operations, which imported them; the third and most sophisticated level involves large-scale
international criminal organizations that are linked with domestic criminal organizations. The women under
the third group's control have no documentation while kept under tight control. 42
At the first level are pimps, brothel owners, and local operators and recruiters. Those
involved at this level engage in the commercial sale of women‟s bodies for sex. Traffickers
supply them with the girls they use to run their operations. Traffickers generally comprise the
second level at which individuals are involved. Traffickers are underground and do the brunt of
illicit work. They kidnap, purchase victims from their families who sell them, or lure victims
with false job offers. At the third and highest level are organized crime groups. Criminal
organizations are essential contributors to the business of international sex trafficking. 43 For
example, the Chinese and Vietnamese Triads, Japanese Yakuza, South American drug cartels,
Italian Mafia, and Russian gangs all have their hands in the global sex trafficking ring. They
organize and cooperate with local networks to provide the physical transportation of women as
well as manage illegal prostitution operations. They also supply other necessary components of
41
Ibid., 117.
42
Aronowitz, “Smuggling and Trafficking,”173.
43
Hughes, “The Demand,” 4.
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 16
trafficking such as safe houses, local contracts, and documentation.44 For example, Italy is a key
staging post for the transfer of child prostitutes from Asia to both the U.S and Western Europe.
More specifically, children born to poor families in China are often sold to the Italian mafia who
then transports them to other countries to work in brothels. A recent article in BBC News
discusses the arrest of both a Japanese man and Chinese woman in the Milan airport while
escorting a 12-year-old Chinese girl. The pair was an accomplice to the mafia and charged with
abduction and extortion. According to the young girl, she had been sold into prostitution by her
family in China, and then sent to work in a brothel in Thailand for some time before being
transferred to Miami.45
Three Categories: Source, Transit, and Destination
Sex trafficking involves the interaction of supply and demand.46 In the organization of the
global sex trafficking industry, large regions in the world are characterized by providing either
the supply or the demand side of the sex trafficking industry. For example, core economies as in
the European Union (EU) and the U.S. generally provide the demand whereas poorer regions as
in Africa and Latin America provide the supply. There is significant movement of trafficked
victims from the developing world to the developed. However, in some, both supply and demand
are high. Eastern Asia is one region in particular where both supply and demand are high.
Countries like Thailand, China, Korea, and the Philippines have both an abundant supply of
women as well as an even higher demand created by locals and foreigners in the areas. Overall,
countries fall into three different categories: source, transit, and destination.
44
Miko et al, “Trafficking in Women,” 3.
45
“US Smashes Sex Trafficking Rings.” BBC News, 2 Jul 2005. Article on-line. Available from
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4643529.stm.
46
Aronowitz, “Smuggling and Trafficking,”172.
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 17
Source countries are those from which victims are regularly recruited or kidnapped.47 A
survey released in 2002 listed Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Russia, Uzbekistan, Nepal, Laos,
China, and the Philippines as source countries with the highest number of trafficked women.48
Both China and Thailand were listed as having “very high levels” and Cambodia and Vietnam as
having “high levels.”49 Overall, Asia is the largest source region providing over 225,000 victims
from Southeast Asia along with another 150,000 victims from South Asia annually.50
There are certain routes, traffickers take when trafficking victims from source to
destination countries. The stops along these routes are known as transit countries. Countries of
transit with very high levels of trafficking activity are: Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Italy,
and Thailand. Moreover, countries that rank high as transit routes consist of Bosnia-
Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Kosovo, Yugoslavia and Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and
Montenegro, Slovakia, Ukraine, Burma, Turkey, Belgium, France, Germany, and Greece. 51 As
observed in the previous list, a number of transit countries are in Eastern Europe, which adds up
given its location between Asia, a primary supplier, and Western Europe, a major consumer.
The last category is countries of destination, which are also known as receiving countries.
In receiving countries, there is always a high demand for cheap sex.52 Therefore, they acquire the
greatest amount of sex trafficking victims.53 The top destination countries include the following:
Thailand, China, Cambodia, India, Russia, Sweden, the U.S., and the EU.54 The U.S. stands out
with an estimated 50,000 women and children trafficked into its domestic borders annually.55
47
Hughes, “The Demand,” 1.
48
Beyrer et al, “Health Consequences,” 105.
49
“Sex Trafficking: The.”
50
Miko et al, “Trafficking in Women,” 2.
51
“Sex Trafficking: The.”
52
Aronowitz, “Smuggling and Trafficking,”172.
53
Hughes, “The Demand,” 1.
54
Beyrer et al, “Health Consequences,” 105.
55
Miko et al, “Trafficking in Women,” 8.
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 18
Other countries with significantly high ratings include Belgium, Germany, Greece, Italy, the
Netherlands, Israel, Turkey, and Japan.56 Japan, specifically, has the largest market for female
victims from other countries in Asia. Half of the victim trafficked into Japan are from the
Philippines and the other half are from both Thailand and Korea.57
Case Study: Korea and the Philippines
In examining the historical connection between past incidents of military occupation and
the development of Eastern Asia‟s sex industry, Korea and the Philippines are valuable cases to
examine for several reasons. Firstly, both Korea and the Philippines are former colonies of the
Japanese imperial army and played a central role in its comfort system. Korea remained under
the power of Japanese colonial rule from 1910 to 1945. 58 Secondly, following the withdrawal of
the Japanese imperial army at the end of WWII, the introduction of the U.S. military in both
countries provided a high demand allowing prostitution to persist. Lastly, shortly after military
bases were established in Korea and the Philippines, each respective country witnessed a
substantial growth in their sex industries.
Literature Review
Introduction
Both topics of Japanese comfort women and U.S. military occupation with prostitution
are primarily examined in the academic disciplines of Feminism, Eastern Asian History, Global
Politics, and International Relations. Several prominent issues are addressed in the bulk of
scholarly work concerning these two topics. In the academic field of Feminism, the role of the
56
“Sex Trafficking: The.”
57
Miko et al, “Trafficking in Women,” 4.
58
Soh, Chunghee Sarah. “The Korean “Comfort Women”: Movement for Redress.” Asian Survey, 1996, 1226-
1240, 1228.
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 19
patriarchal society in the sex industry and its relationship with notions of shame and silence are
analyzed. Additionally, politics of race, class, gender, sex, and the state along with the recent
movement of comfort women for compensation and recognition are explored in the disciplines of
East Asian History, Global Politics, and International Relations. Lastly, what is not notably
discussed in existing academic work but is crucial to the subject of Japanese comfort women and
U.S. military prostitution, is the contribution each case made to the development of both Korean
and Filipino sex industries. In the following section, I not only provide a necessary assessment of
the work formerly completed but also demonstrate how my topic of interest contributes
something innovative to the field of work on military and the sex industry.
Korean Comfort Women
More than any other case of military involvement with prostitution and sexual slavery,
extensive research has been dedicated to examining comfort women of the Japanese imperial
army. Comfort women is the name given to thousands of women forced into prostitution in the
Japanese comfort system throughout WWII. It later became the euphemism adopted by the U.S.
army to describe Korean and Filipino prostitutes that served troops throughout their presence in
both Korea and the Philippines. The abundance of academic work on comfort women has
primarily focused on Korean women, understandably so, since Koreans made up approximately
80% of women in the comfort system. Scholarly work on Korean comfort women generally
centers on both notions of shame and silence in Korean society and modern day movements to
seek compensation from the Japanese government.
Author of The Comfort Women, George Hicks discusses the movement of comfort
women, starting in the late 1980s, to seek recognition and compensation by the Japanese
government for the atrocities committed and systematic exploitation inflicted on thousands of
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 20
women throughout their period of expansion.59 After combining a detailed synopsis of the
Japanese implementation of comfort stations with personal testament of actual comfort women,
Hicks explores the struggles that face the movement and have aided silence for so long. These
include roles played by the notion of shame, importance of reputation and family honor, and the
high moral value placed on female chastity in maintaining a culture of silence in Asian
societies.60
Professor of Anthropology Chunghee Sarah Soh in “The Korean “Comfort Women”:
Movement for Redress,” further argues that in order to understand the phenomenon of military
comfort women, it has to be looked at through an analytical perspective considering interactions
of “gender, class, ethnicity, sexual culture, and role of the state.”61 Lastly, John Lie, author of
“The State as Pimp: Prostitution and the Patriarchal State in Japan in the 1940s,” examines the
comfort system from a race and gender perspective. Lie, along with various scholars, focuses on
the patriarchal role of the Japanese state in the exploitation of comfort women as a means to
assert their superiority over their inferior colonies. Lie argues that Japan excluded Japanese
women from the comfort system to promote the notion of family and country. Family and
country is the idea that men have the responsibility to protect their women and glorify the nation
and Emperor. An indispensable part of this concept was exploiting their colonized inferiors.62
Filipino Comfort Women
Fewer works are available on the Filipina comfort women enslaved by the Japanese army
during WWII. Maria Rosa Henson‟s autobiography, Comfort Woman: Slave of Destiny, is the
59
Hicks, George. The Comfort Women. (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1995), 35.
60
Hicks, The Comfort Women, 267.
61
Soh, “The Korean,” 1227.
62
Lie, John. “The State as Pimp: Prostitution and the Patriarchal State in Japan in the 1940s.” The Sociological
Quarterly, 1997, 251- 263, 254.
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 21
first and probably most influential book on a Filipina comfort woman.63 In this startling yet
captivating piece, Henson describes her life before, during, and after her time in the comfort
system. Kidnapped from her hometown in the Philippines at the age of sixteen, Henson was held
captive for nine months in a comfort station where she was forced to service up to fifty men a
day. In the following excerpt, Henson describes a typical day at the comfort station.
Twelve soldiers raped me in quick succession, after which I was given half an hour to rest. Then twelve
more soldiers followed. They all lined up outside the room waiting their turn. I bled so much and was in
such pain, I could not even stand up.64
Serving as a true testament of bravery, Henson‟s autobiography has inspired numerous
past Filipina comfort women to speak up about their experiences. Moreover, being the first of its
kind, many scholars use Henson‟s autobiography in their exploration of comfort women. One
such scholar is Katharina Mendoza, who in her article “Freeing the „Slaves of Destiny‟: The
Lolas of the Filipino Comfort Women Movement” discusses Henson in the context of the
Filipino movement to seek reparations for wartime atrocities committed by the Japanese.
Mendoza further explores the topic of institutionalizing comfort in the Philippines also present in
numerous literatures on Korean comfort women.
U.S. Military Prostitution
The greater part of work centered on U.S. military and its relationship to prostitution in
both Korea and the Philippines focuses on the roles governments have played in supporting and
maintaining the prostitution industry. Andris Zimelis, author of “Human Rights, the Sex Industry
and Foreign Troops: Feminist Analysis of Nationalism in Japan, South Korea and the
Philippines” argues that in the discourse on prostitution, U.S. military is an important character.
63
Mendoza, Katharina R. “Freeing the „Slaves of Destiny‟: The Lolas of the Filipino Comfort Women
Movement.” Cultural Dynamics, 2003. Article on-line. Available from
http://cdy.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/15/3/247, 249.
64
Henson, Maria Rosa. Comfort Woman: Slave of Destiny. Pasig City: Philippine Center for Investigative
Journalism, 1996, 61.
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 22
Zimelis contends that this is observed in how South Korean and Filipino sex industries were
heavily geared towards servicing U.S. troops.65 Zimelis also discusses the nationalist Filipino
role in combating U.S. imperialism and the military prostitution activity that aids it. Lastly,
discourse on U.S. military prostitution often concentrates on the U.S.‟s part in the trafficking of
women for sex. Donna M. Hughes, Katherine Y. Chon, and Derek P. Ellerman, authors of
“Modern-Day Comfort Women: The U.S. Military, Transnational Crime, and the Trafficking of
Women” claims that U.S. military bases in South Korea have created an “international hub” for
the trafficking of women for sex.66 However, Zimelis argues that in the last decade there has
been a decline in U.S. military prostitution, a result of the changing nature of relations between
South Korea and the U.S. as South Korea‟s economy grows.
Conclusion
The dialogue on comfort women and U.S. military prostitution is not yet complete
without the investigation of their larger effects on the sex industries in Korean and Filipino
societies. Japanese comfort women and the thriving activity of prostitution that took place
afterward around U.S. military bases in Korea and the Philippines are generally analyzed as two
unrelated events. Conversely, I argue that they are deeply related. In this paper, I provide an
extensive analysis of the influential and shared role of both Japan‟s comfort system and U.S.
military prostitution during the 20th century in fostering, shaping, and expanding Korean and
Filipino sex industries.
65
Zimelis, Andris. “Human Rights, the Sex Industry and Foreign Troops: Feminist Analysis of Nationalism in
Japan, South Korea and the Philippines.” Cooperation and Conflict, 2009, 53.
66
Hughes, Donna M., et al, “Modern-Day,” 901.
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 23
Japan’s Imperial Army: Korean and Filipino Comfort Women
Introduction
At the start of the Second World War, few could possibly imagine the endless brutalities,
unspeakable infringements on human rights, and mass devastation and consumption of individual
lives that was soon to take place in the subsequent years. While the horrors of the Holocaust, the
attack on Pearl Harbor, and the devastation of the atomic bomb on both Hiroshima and Nagasaki
live fresh in our minds, few are familiar with the inexplicable damage inflicted on the lives of
tens of thousands of women and children throughout WWII. Forced and deceived into lives of
sexual exploitation, prostitution, and slavery, these comfort women mark an era of injustice
haunting Japanese history.67 While women came from many prior Japanese colonies such as
Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, China, and Indonesia, this paper concentrates on comfort women
from the Philippines and Korea.68 Both under Japanese occupation throughout WWII, the
Philippines and Korea endured the brunt of Japan‟s destructive imperialistic endeavors. An
analysis of the comfort system provides evidence supporting this system‟s development as part
of the Japanese government‟s imperial ambitions. It also laid a foundation that enabled further
sexual exploitation to occur in both Korea and the Philippines. It can be argued that the Japanese
government did this through its institutionalization of sexual slavery, which involved both the
systematic regulation of prostitution and the promotion of specific gender, racial, and class
ideologies. Lastly, through analyzing the similarities between the comfort system and modern
day sex trafficking, it is apparent that aspects of the comfort system are still observable today.
67
Soh, “The Korean,” 1228.
68
Kimura, “Narrative,” 5.
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 24
The Institutionalization of Sexual Slavery
The comfort system was part of the disciplinary institution for military personnel and
included prostitution and sexual enslavement. It was initiated at the start of WWII by the
Japanese Government in order to service the Japanese nation and its imperial ambitions.69 While
prostitution and rape has frequently accompanied the presence of military soldiers, it is unique
for a modern state to assume the full responsibility of organizing its own sexual slavery service.70
In both Korea and the Philippines, this Japanese institution provided systematic regulation of
prostitution and the promotion of particular beliefs about gender and race. It also introduced
certain ideologies and methods that were later adopted and passed down through multiple
generations of traffickers.
The Japanese believed the comfort system was critical to both the “optimal functioning of
its military machine as well as the trouble free management of territories it invaded and
occupied.”71 Like every other piece of Japan‟s imperial project, in order to perform these
functions each aspect of the comfort system had to be strictly and systematically controlled.
Therefore, the Japanese government launched and managed this “exclusive, elaborate, and
strictly regulated system of prostitution” with a specific set of rules and techniques regarding the
recruiting, transporting, and harboring of comfort women and the strict management of soldiers
who visited them.72
One form of regulation encompassed recruiting techniques. In Korea and the Philippines,
the Japanese used an organized technique to recruit Korean and Filipino women for their comfort
system. One aspect of this technique included targeting specific types of women. These women
69
Mendoza, “Freeing the…,” 250.
70
Lie, “The State as Pimp,” 251.
71
Mendoza, “Freeing the…,” 248.
72
Ibid.
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 25
were generally unmarried, young, and from rural areas and poor uneducated families. According
to a survey of nineteen past comfort women, the majority had little formal education, only one of
the nineteen was married when taken, and seventeen were from farming backgrounds.73 Japanese
recruiters also targeted women who were unmarried and young because they were more likely
free of diseases. It is not a coincidence that characteristics of these women are the same as
present day victims of sex trafficking. The Japanese sought out these types of women because
they were most vulnerable to their recruitment practices. Having been passed down over the
years, modern-day traffickers continue to use this specific practice of targeting victims.
However, various methods were used by the Japanese government to recruit for the
comfort system. Methods of recruitment are divided into four main categories: “recruitment by
violence, including threats of violence and the misuse of power; false promises of employment;
abduction; human traffic.”74 Japanese soldiers and military police primarily carried out the first
method, recruitment by violence. The second and third methods, abduction and human traffic,
were carried out by both civilians and soldiers.75 The Japanese also took many comfort women
straight from their homes. For example, previously mentioned Maria Rosa Henson was
kidnapped at age fifteen from her town in the Philippines and taken to a comfort station nearby
where she was held captive for nine months.76 By the end of the nine months, Henson had
forcibly serviced thousands of soldiers.77Furthermore, Yoshida Seiji, a man responsible for
recruiting Korean women, testified that he was given trucks and soldiers by the Japanese Army
headquarters to forcibly procure women for the comfort system.78
73
True Stories of the Korean "Comfort Women.” The Korean Council for Women Drafted for Military Sexual
Slavery by Japan, London: Cassell, 1995, 18.
74
Ibid.,19.
75
Ibid.
76
Henson, Comfort Woman, 77.
77
Henson, Comfort Woman, 69.
78
True Stories of Korean, 18.
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 26
The characteristics previously mentioned played an important role in the success and
likewise continued use of certain methods over others. For example, recruitment through false
promises of employment is one of the most effective methods used today. The Japanese first
used this technique to target women from rural, poor, and uneducated areas. Strategically,
Japanese authorities employed Korean and Filipino civilians as recruiters. Local Korean and
Filipino authorities such as community officers, village heads, and civilian employees were
complicit in this practice as well.79 In one particular case in Korea, Japanese authorities insisted
that families give up one female to work for the military. To encourage compliance, Japanese
authorities told women they would obtain jobs as seamstresses and nurses or work in a hospital
or factory.80 In one testimony, a Korean comfort woman named Kim Suntok claims that when
recruited she had no education and saw working in a factory as a way to earn money. She had no
idea she would be forced into sexual slavery.81
The story of Kim Suntok is not very different from stories of many current victims of sex
trafficking. In fact, politics of gender, class, and race in the comfort system are very similar to
those of the contemporary sex industry. As witnessed in both the comfort system and the existing
sex industry, poor women from the developing world have been and continue to be the primary
victims of sexual exploitation. First targeted for their vulnerability, these women continued to
suffer as this trend persisted throughout the development of the sex industry.
Moreover, through the comfort system, the Japanese imperial army regulated the first
large-scale trafficking of women across national borders. The Japanese military in cooperation
with domestic recruiters, managed the physical movement and transportation of comfort women
79
True Stories of Korean, 19.
80
Kimura, “Narrative,” 9.
81
Ibid., 10.
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 27
from their home countries to military bases around Eastern Asia.82 One particular approximation
predicts that the Japanese transported around 200,000 women to comfort stations.83 The
Japanese, in transporting this vast quantity of women, required an extensive network and
organizational capacity similarly seen in the existing sex industry.84 As a matter of fact, local
Korean and Filipino recruiters that participated in this Japanese network later aided the
development of trafficking networks around U.S. military bases.
Thirdly, the Japanese closely monitored and systematically regulated every aspect of the
comfort stations. For example, women were not allowed to leave the comfort stations. One past
Korean comfort woman, Yi Tongsu, describes the comfort station where she was sent:
The comfort Station was a two-story Japanese-style building with 20 rooms. There were already many
women there when I arrived….The rooms were very small. Each was big enough for two people to lie
down in. At the entrance of each hung a blanket in place of a door. The walls were laid with wooden
boards, and there was nothing else.85
Comfort women were physically under house arrest by Japanese authorities. The Japanese also
regulated sexual service of soldiers by comfort women. Several testimonies of past comfort
women describe the way in which they were forced to provide sexual services to soldiers in a
“relatively organized manner.”86 Many comfort women were forced to service up to seventy
soldiers a day.87
Comfort stations were also managed by a strict set of rules that dealt with issues of
operation hours, fees, medical check-ups, and standards of sanitation. For example, hours of
operation for soldiers were fixed, allowing each unit access on a different day of the week and
82
Lie, “The State as Pimp,” 254.
83
Brown, Sex Slaves,8.
84
Lie, “The State as Pimp,” 254.
85
True Stories of Korean, 93.
86
Kimura, “Narrative,” 6.
87
Soh, “The Korean,” 8.
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 28
each soldier either thirty minutes or an hour of time with a woman. 88 As a consequence of this
excessive sexual activity and abuse, many women suffered from severe physical ailments such as
infertility, venereal infections, and the contraction of sexually transmitted diseases. 89
Moreover, Japanese authorities maintained a strictly regulated brothel system to monitor
health of soldiers. Comfort stations were implemented to reduce the prevalence of venereal
diseases amongst troops. Mendoza describes the strict guidelines for monitoring sex within the
system
[…]all comfort women had to be examined by a doctor or medic every few days, but the soldiers
themselves were also expected to keep close watch over the women with whom they had sex…Brigade
headquarters „relentlessly warned soldiers to check prostitutes‟ health certificates, to use condoms and
“Secret Star Cream” disinfecting lubricant, and to wash their genitals with disinfectant after going to the
comfort station‟.90
Henson provides another view of a comfort station in the Philippines stating that she was forced
to service soldiers from two in the afternoon to ten in the evening without having time in
between assaults to wash herself.91 Unlike the health consequences of comfort women, Japanese
authorities took monitoring the health of soldiers very seriously. They believed that key to
maintaining a powerful army is having strong and healthy men to comprise its military force. For
this reason, the Japanese military personnel obsessively watched over the health of soldiers‟.92
However, along with protecting the soldiers‟ physical health, the governing authorities knew that
training soldiers to administer this kind of self-surveillance also strengthened Japanese
imperialistic ideologies in the men.
The self-surveillance mentioned in the previous section refers to Japanese soldiers‟
training through the comfort system to view the bodies of foreign women as dangerous and
88
True Stories of Korean, 20.
89
Hicks, The Comfort Women, 21.
90
Mendoza, “Freeing the…,” 252.
91
Henson, Comfort Woman, 61.
92
Mendoza, “Freeing the…,” 252.
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 29
transmitters of disease that required constant vigilance. The sexual slavery of the comfort system
also disciplined soldiers in imperialistic ideologies.93 The Japanese imperial army promoted male
and racial power hierarchies and domination of the weak.94 The Japanese government imparted
these ideologies to soldiers in a form of masculinity. Soldiers assumed this masculinity by way
of comfort women. Jan Jindy Pettman, author of “Body Politics: International Sex Tourism,”
refers to victims of global sexual politics as the “forgotten women.” Comfort women were
displaced by the dominant group, Japanese soldiers, in the construction of their masculinity.95
Drawing upon Henson‟s personal narrative further illustrates this point. In her personal
narrative, Henson discusses several incidents of violence and humiliation at the comfort station.
She claims that when a soldier did not feel satisfied with her or ejaculated prematurely, he vented
his anger out on her. In one particular incident, Henson states that a soldier, after accidently
staining his pants with his own semen, started to punch Henson‟s stomach and legs.96 These
incidents portray the effects of constructing this type of masculinity. Japanese soldiers were
trained to respond to embarrassment and disappointment, and as in the case with the pre-
ejaculation story, with violence. Through doing this, they blame their failures on others enabling
them, in spite of anything that humiliates or intimidates them, to continue to feel superior to
those colonized. This mentality and idea of self-worth is crucial to imperialism. In order to
participate in the domination of others, the colonizers must truly believe they are superior to the
colonized. In this context, the Japanese government “planned, administered, and construed” the
sexual abuse and exploitation of comfort women to shape soldiers into a type of masculine entity
93
Mendoza, “Freeing the…,” 249.
94
Ibid.
95
Pettman, Jan Jindy. “Body Politics: International Sex Tourism.” Third World Quarterly, 1997, 93-108, 94.
96
Henson, Comfort Woman, 65.
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 30
that believed in their supremacy and thus suited the Japanese military machine.97
Additionally, Japan also used the sexual domination of women to debase and shame those
colonized and to assert dominance. Both Korea and the Philippines are traditionally patriarchal
and conservative societies that hold chastity in high esteem. One Korean comfort woman stated
that chastity is so important in Korea that many would sacrifice their life for it.98 Both Korean
and Filipino societies also believe that male honor is tied to protecting a woman‟s sexual
respectability. In other words, it is the man‟s responsibility to protect his women from foreign
men.99 Japan took advantage of this cultural norm and exploited its weaknesses. In both Korea
and the Philippines, Japan purposely targeted young and innocent women to work in comfort
stations. They referred to this as “the service of virgins.” This action not only shamed women but
significantly damaged the masculine identities of Filipino and Korean men.
Japanese imperialistic ideologies involved race as well. Japanese also targeted Koreans
when recruiting for the comfort system. Targeting Koreans had to do with colonial notions of
superiority. The Japanese believed Koreans were inferior to them. Lie argues that Korea‟s
exceptionally severe colonial experience was a result of their racial similarities to the
Japanese.100 Japan felt that because of existing similarities it was crucial to prove Korean
inferiority. Therefore, Japan used the comfort system to degrade and dehumanize its colonized
Koreans.101
Conclusion
Japan first manipulated gender and racial ideologies to promote its imperialistic project.
Over time, these ideologies manifested themselves into a type of masculinity and culture in the
97
Mendoza, “Freeing the…,” 251.
98
Kimura, “Narrative,” 17.
99
Zimelis, “Human Rights…,” 61.
100
Lie, “The State as Pimp,” 255.
101
Ibid.
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 31
sex industry. This culture, present in Korea, the Philippines, and many other Eastern Asian
societies, emphasizes sexual dominance over women. Playing on old yet ongoing relations of
domination, the sex industry capitalizes on male desires for control and supremacy. Pettman
argues that notions of dominant groups having the right to the bodies of “subordinated, colonized
or slave women” are still very prevalent throughout the global sex industry. Korean and Filipina
women, along with women from many Asian countries, are sexualized reproducing these past
feelings of colonial romances. Domestic traffickers of these exotic “Third World” countries
capitalize off these popular concepts and advertise women as exotic, sexual, and most
importantly passive.102 Ultimately, this culture is used as a justification for the continued abuse
and sexual exploitation of women in the sex industries of these developing countries.
U.S. Military Forces in Korea and the Philippines
Introduction
In1944, U.S. forces landed in the city of Leyte in order to start the liberation of the
Philippines from the Japanese army. Around the same time, U.S. military forces also landed in
Korea to accept the surrender of Japan. As the Second World War came to a close, U.S. forces
began setting up military bases in both countries. From the establishment of military bases in the
1940s, U.S. troops remained in the Philippines until the 1990s and still remain in Korea today.
With U.S. military presence began a new era of sexual exploitation for both Filipina and Korean
women. In both Korea and the Philippines, the presence of U.S. military troops has indisputably
played a significant role in the formation of their domestic sex industries and likewise the
development of sex trafficking networks.103 U.S. military bases contributed to the expansion of
102
Pettman, “Body Politics…,” 97.
103
Soh, “The Korean,” 1231.
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 32
Filipino and Korean sex industries in three major ways: economically, politically, and culturally,
the effects of which are observable today.
Economically
U.S. military bases played an important economic role in the growth of both the Filipino
and Korean sex industries. Specifically, in the Philippines over the course of five decades, U.S.
troops and sailors from visiting naval fleets were serviced by thousands of women from local
towns.104 Learning from their experience with the Japanese, Filipino authorities knew that with
the company of troops came a high demand for women and a potential for foreign currency.
Therefore, when U.S. forces began setting up military bases throughout various parts of the
country, the Philippines saw this occasion as an opportunity to gain a new source of income.
With this goal in mind, local Filipina women became a new commodity prostituted for U.S.
dollars. The result was the development of a thriving sex industry where local and foreign
businesses could profit off the “entertainment industry” and likewise local governments off the
lucrative rest and recreation (R & R) business.105Almost instantaneously after military bases
were set up, numerous bars, clubs, and brothels sprouted up in the adjacent towns. Equally
abrupt, local operators and recruiters began trafficking women from various regions to these
military bases for the purpose of prostitution.106 These traffickers, often the operators and
recruiters that cooperated with the Japanese in the comfort system, used former comfort women
who were unable to get away for economic reasons as well as local Filipina women.107
Halinah Todd, feminist author of “Prostitution” found in The Mobilizer, discusses two
specific cities that became economically dependent on the sex business fueled by nearby U.S.
104
Brown, Sex Slaves,9.
105
Enriquez, “Filipinas…”
106
Hughes, Donna M., et al, “Modern-Day,” 901.
107
Hicks, The Comfort Women, 21.
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 33
military bases. The first is the city of Olongapo where the U.S. Subic Bay Naval Base was
established. The U.S. Subic Bay Naval Base was the largest U.S. military base outside of the
U.S. itself.108 In little to no time, the city of Olongapo became economically dependent on the
prostitution of their women and children to sailors from this naval base. 109 In the city of
Olongapo near the U.S. Subic Bay Naval Base, 17,000 women had been prostituted by the end of
their stay in the Philippines.110
Similar to Olongapo, prostitutes from Angeles became an integral part of the city‟s
service to the nearby Clark Air force Base. Todd refers to Olongapo and Angeles as “liberty
towns,” which is the name given to a city or town liberated from the Japanese by U.S. troops
during WWII. Particularly more than others, government authorities supported and even
encouraged this illicit sex industry because it brought in a considerable amount of U.S. currency
to the Filipino economy. 111 By the mid 1980s, an estimated 500 million in U.S. dollars had been
generated by the sex industries around U.S. military bases in the Philippines.112 While the
demand for sex trafficking had constantly been high near U.S. military bases, gradually this
demand extended outwards into all major cities throughout the Philippines and by 2007, this was
home to one of the largest sex trafficking rings in the world. According to the “2007 US
Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report,” an estimated 300,000 to 400,000 women
and 60,000 to 100,000 children are victims of sexual exploitation and prostitution in the
Philippines. 113
108
Enriquez, “Filipinas…”
109
Todd, “Prostitution,”
110
Enriquez, “Filipinas…”
111
Todd, “Prostitution,”
112
Miko et al, “Trafficking in Women,” 2.
113
“US Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report.” 2007. Article on-line. Available from
http://www.humantrafficking.org/countries/philippines.
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 34
U.S. military forces also contributed economically to the expansion of Korea‟s sex
industry. Presently, every military base in Korea has a thriving sex industry right beside it. 114
Employing about 260,000 women, the sex industry in South Korea is a twenty-one billion dollar
business accounting for about 4% of the country‟s gross domestic product (GDP). 115 An
estimated 358,000 men purchase sex each day and about twenty percent of men between the ages
of twenty and sixty-four purchase sex an average of 4.5 times a month. 116 Specifically, the area
known as “Hooker Hill” in Seoul‟s expatriate district of Itaewon receives its clientele from the
U.S. 8th Army Base which is the headquarters of 33,000 troops stationed in Korea. 117 Similar to
the situation in the Philippines, large scale commoditization of sex in Korea first began with the
establishment of U.S. military bases in the late 1940s. Resembling the Filipino government, the
Korean government also condoned, if not openly encouraged the prostitution of young women to
U.S. troops to earn foreign currency. These women were referred to as “kisaeng” otherwise
known as “professional female entertainers.”118 The demand for these kisaeng started the first
across-the-board domestic trafficking of Korean women to brothels around military bases.119
From the 1960s to the 1980s, the U.S. military had a direct hand in the sex trade of women.120 Its
bases became an international hub for the trafficking of women for various forms of sexual
exploitation such as prostitution and live sex shows.121 By 2007, 100 U.S. military bases had
114
Jung, Dan. “Sex Trafficking.” San Francisco Chronicle. Video on-line. Available from
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2006/10/06/MNGR1LGUQ41.DTL&o=0.
115
Dan, “Sex Trafficking.” And Salmon, Andrew. “South Korea Targets Sex Trade, for Now.” The New York
Times, 19 October 2004, Article on-line. Available from http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/18/world/18iht-
sextrade.html.
116
Purcell, Conor. “Sex Life Active, Sex Trade Thriving in Korea.” The Seoul Times, 22 May 2009.Article on-
line. Available fromhttp://theseoultimes.com/ST/?url=/ST/db/read.php?idx=260.
117
Salmon, “SouthKorea,”
118
Soh, “The Korean,” 1231.
119
Hughes, Donna M., et al, “Modern-Day,” 901.
120
Sang-Hun, Choe. “Ex-prostitutes say South Korea Enabled Sex Trade near U.S. Military Bases.” International
Herald Tribune, 8 Jan 2009. Article on-line. Available from http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=19174342
121
Hughes, Donna M., et al, “Modern-Day,” 901.
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 35
been established in South Korea with over 37,000 troops and over one million women had been
used in prostitution by these troops.122
Politically
Not only did military prostitution contribute economically to the development of the sex
industry in the Philippines and Korea, but the sex industry also played an important political role
in U.S./Filipino and U.S./Korean relations. Similar to the Japanese comfort system, the creation,
maintenance, and availability of prostitution became institutionalized as a central part of U.S.
military's strategies for promoting troop morale and good relations between the U.S. and both the
Philippines and Korea. Particularly in Korea, from the 1950s to the 1970s, rest and relaxation
centers were set up for U.S. troops by the United States Forces in Korea (USFK) to provide
entertainment to troops to improve overall morale. 123
Inherent to upholding troop morale was guaranteeing their safety. The U.S. adopted
stringent regulation strategies similar to those of the Japanese comfort system to ensure soldiers
were not only sexually satisfied but also healthy. One strategy they implemented in both
countries was the systematic regulation of soldiers and prostitutes through the creation of social
hygiene clinics. These medical clinics were located in towns near various military bases.
Specifically in the Philippines, the regulation process required at least 75% of women in an
establishment to be registered with a clinic. If an establishment failed to do so, they were off-
limits to U.S. servicemen.124 In Korea, the U.S. military in cooperation with local authorities also
attempted to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases through regulating prostitution
122
Hughes, Donna M., et al, “Modern-Day,” 904.
123
Ibid., 903.
124
Enriquez, “Filipinas…”
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 36
in towns around bases.125 Local authorities frequently rounded up prostitutes by U.S. bases and
brought them to nearby clinics where they were forced to have penicillin injections and group
venereal disease examinations. According to Zimelis, women at these clinics were often given
insufficient doses of medication or quarantined without food or water. Women were also given
tags to wear so that soldiers were able to identify their sex partners.126
Culturally
There are also several cultural ways in which U.S. military bases contributed to the
development and maintenance of Filipino and Korean sex industries. These cultural features
pertain to the following: the “law of the penis,” the cycle of prostitution among “Amerasian
children,” and the notion of silence. 127 In both Filipino and Korean patriarchal societies, a
culture developed that both justified and facilitated the sexual exploitation of women. This
culture can be referred to as the “law of the penis.” The law of the penis is the idea that it is not
only socially acceptable but a right of a man to purchase sex.128 Through institutionalizing
prostitution, U.S. forces implicitly promoted the social acceptability of sexual exploitation of
women and likewise advancement of this ideology. Gradually, the law of the penis was accepted
throughout not only Korea and the Philippines but many parts of Eastern Asia. Now, despite
international declarations and national laws, which Brown claims are nothing more than “empty
gestures” to appeal to moral sensitivities, the law of the penis remains an unspoken and well-
respected authority. Along the same lines, while not openly recognized in any legal code, its
widespread acceptance permits prostitution and the business of sex trafficking to take place.129
125
Sang-Hun. “Ex-prostitutes”
126
Zimelis, “Human Rights…,” 52.
127
Enriquez, “Filipinas…,”185,
128
Brown, Sex Slaves, 185.
129
Ibid.
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 37
For example, in spite of the fact that South Korea enacted an anti-sex trafficking law
forbidding the buying or selling of women, its sex industry clearly continues to thrive.130 Sex
trade is not only orderly and well established but also located is practically every city throughout
the country. 131 The selling of sex visibly takes place in barber shops, room salons, hostess bars,
strip clubs, massage parlors, brothels, juicy bars, and glass houses. For example, two barber shop
poles are a well-known sign for prostitution. 132 Room salons and juicy bars are also common
locations for prostitution. Room salons are well-established high-end corporate entertainment
outlets where businessmen go to relax, make corporate deals, and buy sex.133 Juicy bars, on the
other hand, are lower-end brothel-like establishments especially common in large cities. Lastly,
glass houses, a popular Korean invention where women literally sit in glass boxes all day until a
men purchases them for sex, are visibly located throughout the city. 134 Overall, from these
examples, it is evident that prostitution continues to occur despite any national law.
Along with promoting the social acceptance of prostitution, U.S. forces also fostered the
cycle of prostitution through their disregard of Amerasian children. The term Amerasian refers to
children that were born to Filipina and Korean prostitutes and American GIs. Specifically, in the
Philippines, an estimated 30,000 Amerasian children were born around U.S. military bases. Todd
discusses how Amerasian children are particularly susceptible to being lured into prostitution
because they do not receive financial assistance from the U.S. or their national government
placing them in an economically desperate situation. This cycle can persist for multiple
generations.135
130
Dan, “Sex Trafficking.” and Salmon, “South Korea.”
131
“Sex Among Allies-but not Sex by the Ally: Korea‟s Focus on the Evil of USFK Prostitution but in Broader
Korea Society.” Article on-line. Available from http://usinkorea.org/issues/prostitution/.
132
Purcell, “Sex Life Active,”
133
Dan, “Sex Trafficking” and Salmon, “South Korea.”
134
Dan, “Sex Trafficking.”
135
Todd, “Prostitution.”
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 38
Lastly, a culture of silence also accompanied U.S. military prostitution. A culture of
silence refers to the role silence plays in averting shame and dishonor to one‟s family and
society. A culture of silence discourages voicing one‟s suffering and mistreatment for it is often
accompanied with shame. This notion played an important role in the growth of the sex industry
in both the Philippines and Korea. In the Philippines, a “blanket of community silence” passively
permitted U.S. soldiers to sexually exploit Filipina women. The blanket of community silence
refers to the communal and implicit agreement of compliance by Filipino towns. It first arose in
liberty towns. Liberated by U.S. troops from the Japanese army, liberty towns felt indebted to
U.S. forces. Along with providing their women, liberty towns paid back their debt by
maintaining silence and in other words compliance. 136 This action had several critical
consequences for victims and the sex industry as a whole. As I previously mentioned, Filipino
society is patriarchal and has a significant degree of gender discrimination. In this context, the
rights of Filipina women forced into prostitution for U.S. soldiers were waived for the betterment
of the community. Essentially, victims were discouraged to voice the injustices committed
against them by U.S. soldiers.
Through accommodating silence, the community also hinders any legal action from
taking place against perpetrators of serious crimes. For example, in the city of Olongapo fifteen
Filipino children, aged twelve and up, were admitted to a local hospital for multiple unknown
sores found on their bodies. Doctors diagnosed the sores as being symptoms of syphilis,
gonorrhea, genital herpes, on top of numerous physical beatings. After further investigation,
local authorities discovered that these children were all victims of the same prostitution ring
arranged by a Filipina businesswoman for an American navy officer stationed at Subic Bay
136
Enriquez, “Filipinas…”
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 39
Naval Base. Local authorities, not wanting to strain relations with the U.S. base, were unwilling
to pursue further action against the naval officer. The local Irish priest, taking responsibility into
his own hands, leaked the story to the press. Ultimately, the officer was only sentenced to a few
months in prison in Guam for rape, the Filipina conspirer was never charged, and the priest was
threatened with deportation.137 As witnessed in the previous story, the sexual exploitation and
abuse of Filipina women and children continued to occur throughout the 20th century with very
few barriers.
Additional Theories of Eastern Asia’s Sex Industry Development
Several other theories also exist regarding the development of Eastern Asia‟s sex
industry. The most prominent of these attribute development to factors of Eastern Asian
infrastructure and society which include the following: the cultural legacy of patriarchy,
prevalence of poverty, and the weakness of civil society. After examining these various theories,
I argue that the role of infrastructural factors does not invalidate the role of military occupation
but instead operates alongside it in the growth of Eastern Asia‟s sex industry.
Cultural Legacy of the Patriarchal Society
The first theory focuses on the role of gender discrimination and the subordination of
women in patriarchal societies. This theory states that throughout the latter half of the 20th
century, the subordination of women economically and educationally fostered growing
opportunity disparities between men and women. According to Brown, Asia is also the home to
some of the worst gender discrimination in the world.138 Women had significantly fewer job
opportunities than men. Poor women from impoverished countries especially experienced the
137
Todd, “Prostitution.”
138
Brown, Sex Slaves,4.
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 40
burden of these inequalities. Poverty coupled with lack of opportunities for women greatly eased
the recruitment process for traffickers.139 For example, in Thailand and the Philippines, poverty
was the main reason women were vulnerable to false job offers from trafficking gangs.140
Likewise, this theory also argues that the sex trafficking business developed in Eastern
Asia to meet the sexual needs of men that could not be met by their own women. In the
patriarchal state, power is predicated on male control of female sexuality.141 Around the middle
of the 20th century, a socially accepted dichotomy, involving the high moral value on female
chastity and the commoditization of the female body, developed in mainstream Asian culture. 142
Essentially, they were two sides of the same coin. They were both ways in which men controlled
the sexuality of women. According to Lie, the basic rationalization of patriarchy is paternalism:
“the duty of men to protect women.” One aspect of this notion includes protecting female honor,
or chastity. However, the protection of certain women required the sacrifice of other women.143
Therefore, vast numbers of foreign women and women viewed as less respectable such as the
poor were trafficked to countries like the Philippines and Korea and sold on the East Asian sex
market.144
Role of Poverty
The second theory argues that poverty played the most imperative role in the
development of Eastern Asia‟s sex tourist industry. Throughout the 20th century, countries like
the Philippines, Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam were extremely poor and had high levels of
unemployment. As a result, the sex business established an unofficial partnership with the
139
Hughes, “The Demand,” 1.
140
Intathep, Lampai. “Thailand Remains Centre for Human Trafficking.” Bangkok Post, 2008. Article on-line.
Available from http:www.bangkokpost.com/141208_News/14Dec2008_news08.php
141
Lie, “The State as Pimp,” 251.
142
Hicks, The Comfort Women, 21.
143
Lie, “The State as Pimp,” 252.
144
Brown, Sex Slaves,7.
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 41
government and tourist industry to attract foreign capital.145 Package tours were created that
included airfare, accommodations, and women for sexual pleasure.146 Throughout the 1960s
and70s, governments in these countries took various steps to facilitate growth in the business of
sex. Hughes argues that these governments used their power to shape policies that facilitated the
flow of women into their sex industries to meet the rising demand from tourists.147 Thus, this
theory argues that through a process of normalization through legalization, governments
redefined prostitution and sexual exploitation as “sex work,” a mode of employment for poor
women.148 For example, Thailand passed the Entertainment Places Act in 1966 which included a
policy called the Hired Wife Services that aided the employment of 800,000 prostitutes in
Thailand by the 1970s.149 Gradually, traffickers began flooding foreign women into Eastern Asia
eventually causing it to develop into an enormous industry.150
Weakness of Civil Society
The last theory attributes the expansion of East Asia‟s sex industry to the weakness of its
civil society. In countries like the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Korea around the middle
of the 20th century, civil society was weak and undeveloped.151 Civil society, which encompasses
civic and social organizations and institutions like religious groups, professional associations,
citizen advocacy organizations, and labor unions, provides voice and power to different sectors
of society.152 For example, having a strong civil society gives women political and social
agency, without which they are vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. In the case of Eastern Asia,
145
Brown, Sex Slaves,9.
146
Mirkinson, “Red Light.”
147
Hughes, “The Demand,” 3.
148
Ibid.
149
Mirkinson, “Red Light.”
150
Ibid.
151
Hughes, “The Demand,” 3.
152
“What is Civil Society.” Civil Society International, 2003. Article on-line. Available
fromhttp://www.civilsocietyinternational.org/whatisCS.htm.
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 42
a strong civil society would have held governments accountable for both tolerating and
legalizing prostitution. However, having a weak and corrupt civil society, governments were able
to both passively and actively contribute to the demand for sex trafficking victims and likewise
the expansion of the sex industry.153
Role of Military Occupation
The roles played by these infrastructural factors do not invalidate the impact of Japanese
and American military occupation. On the contrary, factors like patriarchy, poverty, and civil
society have operated alongside Japan‟s imperial army and U.S. military to launch the expansion
of Eastern Asia‟s sex industry. For instance, in the intricate environment of global power
relations, patriarchy and military go hand in hand.154 The concept of patriarchy reinforces and
upholds “male power hierarchies” in the military structure.155 Along the same lines, both
patriarchy and military emphasize power and authority of men over women and contend that
men have access to women‟s bodies because of this power.156 In regards to the second theory,
while sex tourism cultivated out of poverty it also developed in response to a new clientele that
substituted the previous demand of military personnel. For example, the following excerpt
confirms that the military initiated the sex industry as evidenced by the explained transition from
the military as consumer to the tourist as consumer.
The sex business, in unofficial partnership with the tourist industry and the government, decided to
diversify and to attract a new type of client. Tourists would replace military personnel. Consumers were
sought from developed nations of the west and also from Japan. These consumers provided the third
stimulus to the industry.157
Lastly, the weakness of civil society enabled both Japan and U.S. military personnel to
institutionalize prostitution and exploit the bodies of local women. For example, as previously
153
Hughes, “The Demand,” 2.
154
Lie, “The State as Pimp,” 254.
155
Mendoza, “Freeing the…,” 249.
156
Brown, Sex Slaves,9.
157
Ibid.
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 43
discussed, Korean and Filipino public agents permitted and sometimes aided the trafficking of
local women for both Japan‟s army and U.S. military. Like so, a weak civil society worked in
tandem with military prostitution in constructing East Asia‟s prevailing sex industry.
Conclusion
Although complex in nature, the military‟s historical role in the creation, development,
and expansion of Eastern Asia‟s sex industry is certain. Eastern Asia is one of the first areas in
the world where prostitution and sex trafficking expanded through militarization. Not only did
this take place in Korea and the Philippines, but Vietnam and Thailand as well during the
Vietnam War with the creation of rest and relaxation centers.158 From this time, the Eastern
Asian sex industry has continued to thrive. In 1993, sex tourism accounted for $5 billion a year
in Thailand alone. It has continued to grow exponentially.159 Between 1988 and 1992, an
estimated 286,000 Filipinas and 50,000 Thai women were trafficked to Japan‟s sex industry.160
Korea is currently one of the top destinations for Filipino entertainers.161 An additional 200,000
Thai women presently work in brothels throughout the EU and an estimated 50,000 Filipinas are
living in the U.S. as mail order brides.162
Even within the past decade, unprecedented advancements in technology and
globalization have introduced not only a new type of client, “the tourist” but also a new era of
evolution for the global sex industry. For example, due to the advent of the internet, sex
trafficking networks have vastly expanded. This era of globalization has ultimately propelled the
158
Bertone, Andrea Marie. “Sexual Trafficking in Women: International Political Economy and the Politics of
Sex.” Gender Issues, 2000, 9.
159
Petras, James and Tienchai Wongchaisuwan. “Free Markets, AIDS and Child Prostitution.” Economic and
Political Weekly, 13 Mar 1993, 440-442. Article on-line. Available from http://www.jstor.org/stable/4399484, 440.
160
Bertone, “Sexual Trafficking,” 9.
161
Enriquez, “Filipinas…”
162
Bertone, “Sexual Trafficking,” 12, and Mirkinson, “Red Light.”
Sex in the Company of Soldiers 44
sex industry forward in an unprecedented manner. Yet hope survives and the international
community (IC) remains optimistic. Organizations like the United Nations Development Fund
for Women (UNIFEM) and the International Organization for Migration (IMO) create strategies
for governments, NGOs, and the IC to combat and eliminate trafficking in women and children
for sex.163 Nonetheless, above anything it is important to remember that sex trafficking is a form
of slavery and slavery has time and time again proven to be an unsuccessful method of economic
service. Not only does sex slavery not provide an economic gain equal to that of large-scale
production, but women‟s bodies are in essence nonrenewable resources.164 Accordingly, if
Eastern Asian economies continue to grow decreasing the gap between rich and poor, their
presently abundant and nonrenewable resource, women, may eventually dry up.
163
Bertone, “Sexual Trafficking,” 13.
164
Ibid., 12
