Prostitutes and War Brides: Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders on Military Bases
"...this guy came up to my counter to check out his shit, he asked me if i was Asian I said yeah. I forgot what he said but he said 'I love Asian Women'. It just felt weird and uncomfortable. I don't know this man. He was definitely older than me. I’ve heard in the past from men talking about preferring asian women. it’s always felt off” - Isabelle Couto, Student
What the hell is up with old men and their obsession with young, Asian women? Isabelle's encounter reflects attitudes among an older generation who have only viewed Asian Women through lenses of war, immigration, and prostitution.
The United State's overreach abroad has also contributed to the portrayal of Asian American and Pacific Islander women as inherently sexual. Military bases have a history of serving as a popular customer base for prostitution and it is a common phenomena to serve abroad and come back with a so called "War Bride". Military bases can be found in many Asian and Pacific Islander countries and often have long histories with those places because of colonization and/or imperialism (sometimes in forms of "intervention").
Labor- Page Act of 1875, Portrayal as Prostitutes
The Page Act of 1875 was an act that portrayed Chinese women as prostitutes and therefore banned almost all Chinese women from entering the United States. This act was based on the stereotype of all Asians being prostitutes or sexually promiscuous and used that to justify limits on women immigrating from China. This resulted in very few Chinese women being able to immigrate to the United States during this period. For the women who could immigrate to the United States, many of them had to result to domestic or reproductive labor, including prostitution. This is due to the fact that for WOC, labor is racialized. In order to support their families, WOC need to also pick up jobs, which tend to be low paying, exploitative domestic/reproductive jobs. Asian prostitutes were also villainized as they were seen as threats to the white, nuclear family because they were seen as the cause for STDS/STIS and against Christianity/Christian ideals.
Notably, the Page Act of 1875 produced a Chinese bachelor society, which contributed to the stereotypical portrayal of Asian men as simultaneously sexual predators (specifically towards white women) and as asexual men. This production of a bachelor society also fed into fears about interracial marriage and race impurity.
"Sex Among Allies" Katharine H. S Moon
"Sex Among Allies" by Katharine H.S Moon discusses the US military presence in South Korea and the prostitution that revolved around these bases. Moon discusses how essential the prostitution of South Korean women was to US- South Korea relations as prostitutions were deemed "patriotic" and "nesscary" but shunned from Korean and American society. Prostitutes were seen as important because both countries believed that prostitution contributed to the morale of GI's. It was also believed that by having a sector of prostitutes "normal" South Korean women would be shielded from American GI's.
“Where there are soldiers, there are women who exist for them. This is practically a cliché. History is filled with examples of women as war booty and “camp followers,” their bodies being used for service labor of various kinds, including sex. Contrary to common assumptions in the West, prostitution is not “part of Asian culture”
Historically, we can see that Asians and Pacific Islanders have been designated the role of prostitutes in American military history, which explains the continued portrayal of Asian and Pacific Islander women as inherently sexual as they have been commodified/frame as sexual products for the American military.
