Gender and Globalization
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WGST205_23april2018.pptxWeek 13: Gender, War, and Militarization
WGST 205:
Gender and Globalization
Tuesday, April 24, 2018
Militarization is a global process by which a nation-state mobilizes its citizens and institutions (i.e., military, law enforcement) in the interests of national security.
Militarization contributes to greater global interconnection by creating international political ties, and encouraging global trade and transnational migration.
People migrate from countries in the Global South to the US because the US was there first.
Political Globalization: Militarization
Military Prostitution in Asia/Korea
An estimated 200,000 “comfort women” were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial Army during WWII.
80% of “comfort women” were from Korea; the rest from China, the Philippines, Vietnam, and other Japanese-controlled territories in Asia.
Military prostitution continued unregulated in Korea during the US occupation period (1946-1950) and through the 1960s.
It is estimated that up to 1.2 mil Korean women participate in the sex industry today despite the passage of the Anti-Prostitution Law in 2004.
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SF Chronicle video after slide 2
Protesting the Anti-Prostitution Law (2004)
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US-ROK Mutual Defense Treaty (effective 1954)
Signed at the end of the Korean War; “guaranteed” S. Korean national security and formally granted the permanent stationing of US troops in S. Korea.
S. Korea contributes 35% of the cost of stationing US troops in Korea.
In the 1960s, 55,000-63,000 US troops were stationed throughout S. Korea, and from 1970 to 2003, 34,000-45,000. In 2008, USFK counted 28,000 troops but reduced that number to 25,000 in 2009.
ROK Military and Economic Dependence on the United States
It is estimated that US troops contributed 25% to S. Korea’s GNP in the 1960s.
In the 1990s, US troops were responsible for over half of the economies of local camptowns.
In an attempt to establish Korea as a morally-upright, economically productive nation, then-President Park Chunghee established a Prostitution Prevention Law in 1961; however, the law was never enforced.
From the 1970s through the 1990s, S. Korean policies toward prostitution were aimed less on prevention and more on regulation.
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Kijich’on (Camptown Prostitution) Regulation
Joint US-Korean campaign to “clean-up” the camptowns in the 1970s; aimed at creating a “safer” and “healthier” environment for US soldiers, and redefined sex workers as “patriots.”
Registered sex workers were called “special entertainers” and required to register with their local governments.
Required to undergo weekly VD exams and carry a VD card
Illustrates the use of women as tools to protect national security and economic interests.
Women’s Work: The Backbone of Korea’s “Modernization”
Camptown prostitution emerged in S. Korea during the Korean War (1950-1953) and continues through the present-day.
During the period of export-oriented industrialization beginning in the 1970s, impoverished women from rural areas migrated to urban areas in search of light-manufacturing and service jobs.
Many women were tricked by promises of employment through fraudulent ads. Others were met at rail and bus stations, and often “initiated” into the system through sexual violence.
Debt Bondage System: Modern Day Slavery
Club workers start out with a large debt -- “agency fee” and advance pay.
Costs for clothing, cosmetics and furnishings are added to her account at inflated costs and interest.
Women borrow money from club owners -- for medical treatment, money to send to families, emergencies, and bribes for police and clinic workers.
Club workers receive only about 10-20% of the income from the drinks/sexual services she sells, while the rest go to the club owner.
“Formalizing” the “Informal”
Despite the perception of military prostitutes as “bad girls” or “fallen women,” the social hierarchy within the kijich’on suggests a desire for “normality.”
Marriage to American GIs
“Contract Cohabitation”
“Club Work”
Streetwalking
This labor hierarchy is in part shaped by the policies governing American GI tours of duty.
Sex Trafficking, Sex Tourism, and the Global Economy
US demilitarization –> growth of sex tourism (watch R&R video)
Currently, it is estimated that prostitution makes up 3-5% of the economies of Korea, Thailand, and the Philippines.
Sex tourism linked to sex trafficking and transnational migration.
The US State Department estimates that 6-800,000 persons (mostly women and girls) are trafficked worldwide annually; 15-18,000 annually into the US.
