Let the Good Times Roll: Prostitution and the U.S. Military in Asia [Paperback]

Saundra Pollack Sturdevant (Author), Brenda Stoltzfus (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1993

In Let the Good Times Roll, the women of the bar areas around the U.S. bases in Okinawa, the Philippines, and the southern part of Korea speak about their lives with remarkable candor. In gripping and poignant narratives they describe their families and childhoods, the poor rural and urban areas they come from, life and work in the bar areas, and their attitudes toward the bar owners, the American customers, and themselves. Two hundred powerful black-and-white photographs make vivid the lives, cultures, and economies that have been hidden from most Americans for so long.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Even in peacetime, the U.S. operates a string of strategic military bases across the Pacific. In the Philippines, South Korea, and Okinawa, a sprawling sex industry serves the hordes of soldiers, sailors, and Marines set loose on ironically misnamed "rest and relaxation" tours. Let the Good Times Roll presents personal accounts of bar hostesses who make a scant, painful, and often quite dangerous living as prostitutes.

"There is a saying," one Filipina relates, "When a person is poor, they will hang on, even to a sharp instrument. That's what happened to me. That's what happens to the women working in the bars of Olongapo." Complaining about her customers, a Korean woman says, "They say they don't hit women while they're drinking in their own country, but they can do as they please since they are in Korea..." Many of the women are supporting children long abandoned by G.I.s; others send money home to families. Told plainly and simply, their stories indict the military system that props up the industry exploiting them and raise questions about how such opportunities to act "manly" keeps the troops in line. --Francesca Coltrera

Review

A forceful depiction of Pacific Rim countries as militarized colonies and sexual playgrounds. -- Feminist Collections

In the pages of Let the Good Times Roll, one encounters engrossing stories told by complex women who are variously thinking, assertive, passive, passionate, cold, contradictory, etc. -- Phoebe

Let the Good Times Roll manages to give us fresh, frank and even self-ironic insights. -- The Women's Review of Books

The interviews. . . are extremely candid, honest and frank. . . Let the Good Times Roll is extremely thought-provoking. -- Amerasia Journal

Product Details

• Paperback: 354 pages
• Publisher: New Pr; First Edition edition (January 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565840496
• ISBN-13: 978-1565840492
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,159,185 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The issues are still relevant today, March 16, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Let the Good Times Roll: Prostitution and the U.S. Military in Asia (Paperback)

I first read this book after I graduated from college in 1994 and I was disgusted by what I read yet motivated to know more. I knew some details about prostitution in Asia, but I had no idea that it was a government sanctioned industry, supported by both the Asian host country and by the Western powers who inhabit the military installations. The information in this book changed the way I veiwed foreign policy and the U.S. military. I now teach Asian American History and the lesson and assigned reading for today's class was from this book. My students were equally as sickened yet fascinated to learn about this form of sexual labor as I was when I first read it. Granted the research is somewhat dated, but we are on the eve of military bases in Asia being re-opened and the industry will flourish once again. Of course, it never really did go away since sex tours and recreation for business-types replaced the military during the 90's. My students appreciate the information from this book as much as I do. We strongly recommend this book to anyone who cares about human rights issues.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars ex serviceman who could relate to this book, March 11, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Let the Good Times Roll: Prostitution and the U.S. Military in Asia (Paperback)

enjoyed reading the book because of it's no nonsense approach to the business of servicing men in our armed forces. I have used these same services while in korea and am sure they still operate just as the book describes. A somber but true look at woman stuck in a deep hole and trying to dig themselves out.Sad but real details of the bargirls in philippines. Angeles city still a hot spot for tours as well as thailand in the patpong district. Check out PATPONG SISTERS for a detailed read of commercial sex workers in thailand. Enjoyed both books.

6 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The 'Comfort' Trade is Alive and Well in the 21st Century, August 6, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Let the Good Times Roll: Prostitution and the U.S. Military in Asia (Paperback)

My comments are in reference to the review submitted by "Chris Sanchez."

I am an American who is currently living in the Republic of Korea, in the vicinity of several large-scale U.S. military installations. The issues brought forth in this book are still entirely relevant. Over the past 5 years, the 'comfort' business directed toward American servicemen has been vacated by most of the native-Korean women who previously constituted the largest percentage of its actors. The Koreans have been replaced by thousands of Filipino and Russian girls and women. I have seen, firt-hand, households of as many as 12 Russian or Filipino comfort women living together in small, one-room apartments and houses.

There is no viable defense for the United States' role in these circumstances. The bars and night clubs that operate comfort services in the Republic of Korea are sanctioned by the Status of Forces Agreement (the long-standing agreement between the US and ROK that provided for the former nation's presence on the Korean Peninsula), and are even awarded a tax exemption in exchange for their exclusive servicing of Americans. Comfort women are not only patronized by 18-25 year-old soldiers, but also 35-40 year-old Majors and Colonels.

If the U.S. military took more extensive steps to promote decent behavior on the part of its members, the lives of thousands of women could be greatly improved.