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Rating: 
Summary: The issues are still relevant today
Review: 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.
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Summary: The 'Comfort' Trade is Alive and Well in the 21st Century
Review: 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 The Koreans have been replaced by thousands of Filipino and Russian girls and women.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.
Rating:
Summary: Accurate reporting................
Review: This book was published several years ago, but, in many respects is still very useful in helping others understand the social relationship issues with regards to the U.S. military and prostitution in Asia. What the authors write in the book is accurate reporting. Yes, prostitution is rampant in Asia. At the root of this social problem is poverty. And, still deeper at the root is governmental neglect. Many Asian governments don't improve economic opportunities and many women are forced into prostitution. In the Philippines, alone, I can recall seeing thousands upon thousands of prostitutes working the streets, clubs, just about any where to make money to help support themelves, family members, friends, and others in need. But also at the root are the moral issues. No woman, no matter how difficult life is should risk getting pregnant and not knowing who the baby's father is, left husbandless and her child fatherless, risk rape, sexual diseases even AIDS, and, moral decay and collapse. I still believe it is a very difficult "human" problem to solve. Out soldiers are, typically young and immature and lonely. (...), women are pushed to doing things they would not normally do, such sell their bodies. But there are some who would sell their bodies for money; they only add to the moral decay and collapse that already exist. It is a very troubling and sad reality of what really goes on in Asia. This book will shed much light on this subject matter.
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