Mary Louise Roberts in “The Price of Discretion: Prostitution, Venereal Disease, and the American Military in France, 1944-1946” discusses what American GIs did in France with regard to sexual relations, and Roberts criticizes American hypocrisy by having self-contradictory (double-standard) attitudes toward sex. Jeffrey Burds in “Sexual Violence in Europe in World War II, 1939-1945” points out the sexual brutality during World War II conducted by both German Soldiers and Soviet Soldiers. Roberts discusses the relationship among prostitution, venereal diseases, and the U.S. army in France. U.S. officials believed that sex with other men other than the Americans contributed to the spread of VD, and sought to control the men with whom the women in the brothel had sex. The Americans had invaded France, although the country was still an ally of America, confusion was raised when it came to sexual policy management because American on the one hand blame high venereal …show more content…
Even though civilians and soldiers were equally responsible for the sexual atrocities committed against the women, there is barely a single lawsuit case against them, and I think it may have been due to the lack of clarity of the laws regarding rape. Soldiers were allowed to get away with such crimes without punishment, and punishing the civilians and soldiers could have been double standards. Also, for Soviet soldiers, by using the term ‘vengeance’ to explain their abuse of sex on German women seems not sufficient. I argue that originally making female subject to male dominance in any sense is a way of showing men’s masculinity. Apart from protecting women and children in Soviet villages, Soviet soldiers in Germany were showing their strength and virility to German soldiers that they were able to beat and defeat them, not only from battlefield (physically) but also in Germany women’s bedrooms.
During the United States’ infancy, many French influences began to affect American policies. France colonized the middle of the United states from Newfoundland to the Rocky Mountains to New Orleans. This vast land colony was lost after the peace treaty following the Seven Years War. Forced to cede their American lands to the English and Spanish, France never forgot their prized possession. Choiseul’s plan to recover the lands started with the unrest in America before the American Revolution, “In 1766, Choiseul ordered Edmé Genet to send a naval officer-turned-spy— Sieur Pontleroy— to America to evaluate colonist dissatisfaction and determine whether French arms and money might help incite rebellion.”
Upon arrival Dr. Mengele ordered, “Men to the left! Women to the right!” (Weisel 29). Directly from the beginning women were immediately judged to be unfit to live. Skills were not taken into consideration for survival; prejudice was solely based on sex.
(switch slide)The German army in the east hoped to take the Russian city of stalingrad as the city beared the name of the leader of the soviet union joseph stalin. The city was a high importance for the Germans to take as the city was also a strategic city on the volga river. When the Germans reached the city they were advancing quickly and the Russians were making guns and tanks none stop. The Russians were in such a hurry to make weapons to fight the Germans that sometimes the tanks and guns would not be painted or have a sight.(switch slide)Men that were not in the soviet army were formed into militia and sent into battle most of the men and women in the militia did not even have proper training.(switch slide)most of the women and children would build trenches and defences for the Russians. Women would mostly fight as snipers and gun crews.
As research on the Holocaust began to take off, an ignored niche of research on perpetrators of genocide became more prevalent, such as female perpetrators of genocide. Hitler’s Furies by Wendy Lower examines conditions and indoctrination of 12 women as it may lend itself in understanding how a crime such as genocide can be perpetrated by regular people or citizens. As she states in the her final words in Hitler’s Furies
However, during the war, soldiers reacted to these sexual desires as instances that helped them escape the world around them. Thus, making sexual desires the ultimate distraction and topic during the war. During the war, a multitude of the soldiers were exhausted, famished, terrified, and praying for the experience to end. They were simply going through the motions.
All Quiet on the Western Front: The Greatest Anti-War Novel The honor of defending your country, the pride of fulfilling a purpose greater than yourself, and the unwavering sense of patriotic duty felt by soldiers are some of the calling cards that invite citizens to join the army. Unfortunately, war proponents simply use these reasons as a guise to hide the true nature of war. Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front pulls the veil off of this facade and reveals the dark and twisted realities of war.
The unnecessary death of millions in Europe and thousands in Asia were considered “Crimes against humanity.” They were not war casualties, but murders based on prejudices and officers that had no regard for human lives. The anti-semitic beliefs led to high demand for the death of Jews and the Japanese started as killing soldiers and escalated into raping thousands of women. Although the mass death rates in Europe and Asia were high, the reasons for the high death rates differed
The collapse of France during World War II was as abrupt as it was unforeseen. A major work of art that reflected the provocative history of France during the German occupation and the lives of the captives was that of Irene Nemirovsky’s Suite Française, a book she wrote in 1941. The French women that were portrayed in the novel come from different backgrounds and played different roles. The roles that these women depicted in the book were roles that women in reality played; roles that they didn’t necessarily choose, but rather was forced upon them by the French society and the circumstances that the war has brought upon them. Irene Nemirovsky was born in Kiev in 1903 to a wealthy family, and like most prominent Russian-Jewish families, hers had made the transition to French life impeccably (Kaplan 4).
Both the North and South are acquiring different ways to treat their injured soldiers, but both are ill-prepared for removing and transporting the wounded men to hospitals. The consistency and work put into both region’s medical department’s very crucial in winning this war. So far, the Civil War has been bloody for both sides battling, and it is up to the medical care given to support the injured fighters. Many soldiers are either getting wounded from gunshots, obtaining infections or catching diseases. These multiple factors are ending the lives of the thousands of people who are fighting in this war.
Massacres and Watchmen: How the My Lai massacres Changed War Reporting Freedom of the press is a right held very dear by Americans, but out of what was this devotion to the media born? Unfortunately, that answer is not as simple as one event, one person, or one story. The government is an integral part of our daily lives which oversees all and controls most. Many of the instances that have gleaned the admiration of the American people for the press have undermined this, occasionally, overreaching powerhouse.
While the effort of America was important in winning the war, there was a lot of discrimination and prejudice against blacks, Native Americans, women, and homosexuals within the military. The men who fought in the war saw terrible conditions and many had mental breakdowns. This chapter in the book explains the deaths that many soldiers witnessed and how many men became separated from humanity. This caused many soldiers to become insane. The final two chapters in the book talk about changes in the American society throughout the war and the results from the war.
The chapter, “Soldier Boys” analyzes the homoerotic literature and the relationships between men on the frontline during World War I. The first part of the chapter discusses war and sex and then relationships between men, and the nature of these relationships. Fussell has several very progressive statements in there, especially when one considers that this was published in the 1970’s. ““In times of war even the crudest kind of positive affection between persons seems extraordinarily beautiful, a noble symbol of peace and forgiveness of which the whole world stands so desperately in need.”
He talked about how the experts began examining sexuality in a scientific manner in order to learn the “truth” of sex. He dismissed the notion that sex was a repressed topic to talk about in the 17th, 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. He said that in fact, it was during this time that people started talking more about sex. He argued that this hypothesis of not
In German Unification: A Feminist Moment, Kathryn Roy presents the history of German women, their roles and rights in the 19th and 20th century. Kathryn Roy, a Historical fiction Writer with a history degree with a minor in german from Connecticut College. The book pulls from more than 50 sources, majority are in German. The sources range from German Constitutional Court Decisions made in 1975 to women’s magazine articles from 1990. When Roy mentions any german terms, they are immediately translated for the reader’s understanding.
For instance, Nicolae Ceauşescu was manipulated by his wife. We should not judge a book after its cover or after reading a paragraph. There are criminals and rapists who should be punished for their deeds, but not all men are that way. Moreover, this is a “big, fat” contradiction and this is why most women disagree with the idea that men are not so “worthy” as women. It goes against everything they have done until now because “feminism” means “equality of the sexes”.