The Price of Discretion: Prostitution, Venereal Disease, and the American Military in France, 1944–1946
TL;DR: In this article, Asa Gardiner, the local civil affairs officer, called upon his contacts in the French police force, who produced a pimp named Morot, in turn, recommended four prostitutes currently refugeed nearby.
Abstract: IN SEPTEMBER 1944, WHILE LEADING the 29th Infantry Division across Brittany to liberate France, the American general Charles Gerhardt decided that his boys needed sex. So he instructed his chief of staff to start a house of prostitution.1 The task went to the St. Renan office of Civil Affairs, the military section assigned to address the needs of the liberated civilian population. Asa Gardiner, the local civil affairs officer, called upon his contacts in the French police force, who produced a pimp named Morot. The pimp, in turn, recommended four prostitutes currently refugeed nearby. Gardiner and Morot rode an army jeep to interview them, and on the way back Gardiner asked Morot to manage the business. For the actual brothel, they billeted a house outside St. Renan that had recently been vacated by the Germans.2
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01 Jan 2016
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01 Jan 2017
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01 Jan 2015
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02 Mar 2015TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a survey of the history of transatlantic transatlantic commemoration and the Americanisation of memory, focusing on D-Day and transatlantic memory.
Abstract: Introduction Part I. Remembrance and Reconstruction, c.1917-1969: 1. Old World and New World: interwar transatlantic commemoration, c.1917-1941 2. 'Here we are together': air war and the anglicisation of American memory, c.1941-1963 3. 'These memories shall not be forgotten': D-Day and transatlantic memory, c.1944-1969 Part II. Americanisation and Commercialisation, c.1964-2001: 4. 'It looks so different now': veterans' memory, c.1964-1984 5. 'The last good war': Vietnam, victory culture and the Americanisation of memory, c.1964-184 6. 'One last look': the commercialisation of memory, c.1984-2001 Conclusion Bibliography Index.
16 citations
01 Jan 2011
TL;DR: Examination of public health policies related to venereal disease control from 1920-1945 and how these regulations affected women in the United States finds women essentially were marked as the diseased dangers to America’s health.
Abstract: OF THESIS “OBTUSE WOMEN”: VENEREAL DISEASE CONTROL POLICIES AND MAINTAINING A “FIT’ NATION, 1920-1945 Public health officials and social reformers grew concerned over the prevalence of gonorrhea and syphilis following World War I. The initiatives put in place by authorities to control the spread of venereal disease lacked any concern for women’s health and sought to control their newly found independence and mobility. This thesis examines public health policies related to venereal disease control from 1920-1945 and how these regulations affected women in the United States. Laws and social reform measures such as pre-marital blood tests, the Sheppard-Towner Maternity and Infancy Act, and the use of quarantining prostitutes during World War I and World War II were passed by government officials to ensure the future of America as a fit fighting force of men, placing women’s health concerns last in its race for domination. Women essentially were marked as the diseased dangers to America’s health.
8 citations