Chris Lowe's response on the Moroccan question misses Cora Presley's
point, which is that we need evidence. Lowe's reflections are based
on an almost total absence of evidence. It is the kind of conjecture
that gets reported as fact in the next re-telling. The French had a
tradition of military brothels. They were not colonial women.
Students of the tirailleurs can probably enlighten you about the
question of sexual relations between black soldiers and white
prostitutes. But there is no evidence that any colonial exploitation
was involved.
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Editor's note,
Chris Lowe's subsequent post with
some evidence was delayed by me,
waiting to see if there were
further interest in this subject.
My apologies if this has caused
any confusions.
mep
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There is another question. Soldiers at war often rape. The Russians raped
their way across Prussia and East Germany. The Serbians seem to have rape
camps, and the Hutu militia seem to have systematically raped Tutsi
women. War-time rape probably involves a number of variables: the desire
for sexual release after a period of danger, the absence of law, and a
desire to humiliate the enemy. But I too am conjecturing. We really need
evidence.