Question: Are there brothels in Iraq like in Vietnam?

[Bonobo]

I saw a program last night discussing sex and the Vietnam War. I'm sure everyone knows all about the bars, massage parlors, etc. in Vietnam that were set up with the assistance and knowledge of the US armed forces -but what about Iraq? What are the soldiers doing for their sexual needs? I think this is a legitimate question as people (especially those under extreme stress) need sex. Furthermore, I think that without some "system", we are only increasing the likelihood for rape of Iraqis and our own female G.I.s.
Interested to hear thoughts, facts, links.

[OpSomBlood]

1. From what I've heard, the female soldiers seem to be filling that role.

Lots of them coming back pregnant.

[asthmaticeog]

7. That could be because

it's a surefire way to get sent HOME.

[Solly Mack]

2. Yes

They're called "gypsy camps"

however, I don't agree that brothels in any way curtail rape. A man pays a prostitute for sex...and though there is an element of power in play in some cases, rape is all about power and control... and not about sexual gratification. There is a difference


that said...


the gypsy camps contain children...and ANY sex with a child IS rape.

My husband served in Iraq. He told me, with great disgust, about the "gypsy camps"

[bryant69]

3. No way will this be talked about openly for a while

I mean think how that would look to John Ashcroft and his ilk? He'd probably run to Iraq to shut such parlors down.

On the other hand maybe he'd be for them so long as it was Iraqi woman being exploited. I mean Iraqi woman, not being really human like us Americans, don't really need protection from the depradations of the sex industry.

So it's hard to know which way he (and people who think like him) would jump.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[not systems]

4. An article I saw last month said hookers were being let into the...

"green zone". It also said they wrote anti-occupation
slogans on a mirror with lipstick. I'm was guessing this
was at a bar not at brothels.

As for the soldiers needs let them get hairy palms.

Turning a nations young girls into hookers will only
increase the indignation against the occupation.

[graham67]

5. Well...

I don't have any real information about this, but I would think that a brothel in Iraq would be the first victim of an "improvised explosive device". I had heard that some Iraqi women turned to prostitution to feed their families after Baghdad fell.

[Monte Carlo]

6. Hey, if there's enough demand, the supply will eventually appear.

A few hundred thousand troops, alternately bored out of their minds or scared for their lives, stuck in oppressive heat surrounded by a population they can't trust... that sounds like a recipe for brothels to me.

[geek tragedy]

8. Probably.

Those brothels spring up everywhere US troops are stationed in the field. They need to "blow off steam," so goes the argument (which I reject).

[donsu]

9. hogwash - people (especially those under extreme stress) need sex

humans don't need sex, even under stress.

sex can be a comfort and/or distraction but it isn't 'needed'.

you don't get sick or die or go mad if you don't get sex. that's male propaganda.