Customer Reviews

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

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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.

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.

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 The Koreans have been replaced by thousands of Filipino and Russian girls and women.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.

Having worked for the US military throughout Asia, and having been to every area described in this book, I will concede that the authors DO accurately portray working conditions for the women described at the time the research was done. However, by the time the book was published (1992) US Subic Naval Base at Olongapo had closed, and Okinawa and Korea's upwardly mobile economy had drastically changed the night life district, making sexual services prohibitively expensive for most active duty US military. The effect is that whilst reading this book, one is thinking "OK, interesting to see how things WERE, but none of this is applicable today". If we're going to complain about GI's messing around with Asian bargirls in the late 80's/ early 90's, then heck while we're at it let's complain about them using French bordellos during World War I. Also tiresome is the underlying tone of "Look at these poor women and what the big bad US military is doing to them". As if the US is responsible for seedy bartowns in Asian countries. If all the base bartowns disappeard overnight, sure a few GI's might be disappointed, but you wouldn't see the Command structure demanding that they return. It's as simple as this guys, if you REALLY don't want the American GI's to buy something- then don't sell it! Sure, I know the girls are poor, and working as bargirls may be the only way to make money for some of them. But the single US soldire can't do anything about the economic stratification between his country and another's. And if you open up a bar next to a base full of 18-25 yr old GI's, well, what do you expect is going to happen?

Great book depicting the realities of the US Military presence in East and SE Asia. I used this book as a primary source in my senior thesis about exploitation of women by multinational corporations (MNCs). The US Military filled the role of an MNC very well.