C9 - The sexualized Industrialization Cartes | Quizlet

THE LEGACY OF COLONIAL SYSTEM

- Systemic sexual service facilities had emerged in the

Japanese military in the 1930s, based on the idea of controlling women's sexuality to pacify the troops

• Civilian brokers [pimps] recruited women from across

Japanese territory, including the mainland, colony, and the occupied areas ─ collaborated with the military and police

• The Japanese military supervised and controlled stations ─ women faced intense violence and medical problems with no freedom of movement or right to cancel a contract

"COMFORTS" DURING THE KOREAN WAR

- After the end of the Pacific War, prostitution for military

forces continued during the US occupation, and the

Korean War made it official and expanded

• The Korean government also operated comfort stations for its army and the UN troops ─ the government selected civilians to manage stations under military control

• Most of the military leaders in Korea had formerly served in the Japanese army ─ using female sexuality through comfort stations was a familiar idea, representing yet another legacy of Japanese colonialism

CAMP TOWNS: SPACES OF EXCEPTION

After the armistice, comfort stations became clubs or bars ─ the service industry grew up around the US military bases

• 60,000 sex workers in 1956 ─ Korean government controlled, exploited, and encouraged them to get more dollars and help sustain US-Korean relations

• Right after Park's group obtained power in 1961, they officially banned prostitution ─ 1 year later, the government set up the special permitted zones

• As the US government relied on Korean troops in the Vietnam War in the 1960s, it largely overlooked the issue of camp towns

CAMP TOWNS: SEXUALITY & DIPLOMACY

During the early 1970s, under the global Détente,

the US government tried to reduce the US army in Korea ─ pressure for improvements in the conditions of camp towns

• The Camp Humphreys case prompted widespread criticism in the US Congress regarding the government's policy on US military bases in Korea

• In response to diplomatic pressure and congressional criticism, the Camp Town Purification Project

— aiming to improve Korea's image and promote proKorean sentiment within the US military stationed in Korea

CAMP TOWNS: COMPARATIVE CASES

Following the stationing of US troops in Asia after WWII,

camp towns developed as a common issue around

American military bases throughout the region

• In the Philippines: US military bases also served as a means for the US to intervene in domestic politics

• In Japan: After the peace treaty, protests broke out against US military bases in Okinawa, where many Japanese citizens opposed renewed militarism, unlike their politicians

THE OUTSIDE CAMP TOWNS: TOURISM POLICY

During the Park administration, female sexuality was treated as a useful resource for national development— a pattern common across postwar Asia

• Tourism was developed as a new frontier to earn dollars ─ The Korean government promoted it in response to the economic crisis following the 1970s oil shocks

• The main program was state-tolerated prostitution, targeting US military personnel and Japanese tourists, often framed as Gisaeng Tourism

• From the late 1970s, Japanese tourists played a major role in this industry, with tacit approval from the Korean government

CAMP TOWNS: RECRUITING

- Female Migration : job ad in the newspaper

- Job fraud : brokers attracted girls from rural areas xith fake job offers

- Human trafficking : became a social issue in the indu periode --> conrol with debt

CAMP TOWNS: WORKING CONDITIONS

- Gov control = korean gov checked health cond to keep US soldiers safe

- Employer's abuse : told women how to behave

- customers violence = korean court could not punish US crimes

- social stigma : a sens of inferiority towars the us made peopple take their anger out on the workers

CAMP TOWNS: CUSTOMERS

- Unlike US soldiers in Europe, those in Korea did not get

money to support their families─ sex workers were often their only connection to Korean society

• Korean government believed that keeping American soldiers

happy could help the US-Korea relations and make more US army stay longer in Korea

• Conflicts in the bases also changed the business ─ Workers

in the camp towns tried to serve the strongest or richest soldiers to make more money

CAMP TOWNS: RACISM

Koreans' racism in camp towns:

Bars and clubs adopted segregation policies

• The civil rights movement in the US influenced

African-American soldiers in Korea ─ fighting against racism

• Camp Humphreys case (1971): black soldiers vs residents

Violence, vandalism, hate speech became diplomatic issues

Both the Korean and US governments blamed sex workers

• Forceful governmental policies without enough consideration usually made the situation worse

CAMP TOWNS: STD CONTROL

From the 1950s to 1970s, sex workers in camp towns had to take STD tests twice a week─ stressful and insulting

• Police forced them to take the tests ─ if someone had an

STD, they were sent to a medical center by force.

• In some cases, women were stopped and tested based

solely on their appearance ─ any woman suspected of

having relations with US soldiers could become a target

• Unlawful detentions and medical accidents were not

uncommon ─ this practice was often called the Hunt

CAMP TOWNS: TO THE MAINLAND

For sex workers in camp towns, the most desirable future was to marry an American citizen and migrate to the US─ this would offer more anonymity and less discrimination

• Their American Dreams often failed ─ as Asian women without language skills or formal education, many faced harsher discrimination, or domestic violence

• After divorce, they were often left without legal or social

protection ─ many fell into poverty, and some even became targets of crime or exploitation

CAMP TOWNS: MIXED-RACE CHILDREN

birth of mixed-race children ─ often abandoned by both Korean and American societies

• The so-called Mixed-Blood Children challenging the myth of One Nation with the existence,never accepted as an adult member of Korean society

• Due to strong social stigma, childbirth and child-rearing

were extremely difficult for women in camp towns ─

abortion or adoption became common around these areas

ANTI-PROSTITUTION ACTIVISM: AGAINST GISAENG TOURISM

Criticism of government-sponsored prostitution in Korea began with the Anti-Gisaeng Tourism movements

• Various feminist organizations in Korea launched protests against Gisaeng Tourism ─ sometimes collaborating with

feminist activists in Japan to organize joint demonstrations

• Even after the Park administration ended, sex tourism

targeting Japanese men continued until the 1980s— when Korea saw economic growth and a rise in domestic tourism—that it began to decline

CRIMES AGAINST CAMP TOWN LADIES

Women in camp towns were often easy targets for crimes ─

however, when they reported to the police, they often

faced more violence or pressure from their employers

• US soldiers' crimes in Korea were not judged under Korean

law ─ because of this extraterritoriality [치외법권, 治外法權]

it was hard to punish crimes by US soldiers

• The most well-known case was Yoon Geum-yi, a female sex

worker, found dead in the camp town Dongducheon─

a US soldier named Kenneth Markle raped and killed her

ANTI-AMERICAN PROTESTS

Yoon's damaged body triggered public anger against US Army crimes in Korea and people criticized the lack of a legal

system to punish them ─ the Anti-American protests exploded

• Even with SOFA (Status Of Forces Agreement), the Korean

police could at least arrest the criminal before the court,

however, in Yoon's case, they gave up this right

• These nationwide anti-American protests later faced

feminist criticism for just using Yoon's death for anti-American

sentiment, while ignoring their human rights ─

Prostitutes must be dead to become the nation's daughters

THE LEGACY OF THE CAMP TOWNS

Korean society had treated the camp town ladies as tools─

to earn more dollars or protect other women in families

• Since the 1980s, with the economic growth,

prostitution among Koreans also became more common ─

some camp towns became centers of domestic prostitution

• Who Can Be Decent Victims in Korean Society?

Koreans used to call camp town ladies Comfort Women,

but after the Japanese war crime became controversial,

society began to distance them from the wartime victims