# Should the military have its own brothel arm? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 25, 2011, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-military-have-its-own-brothel-arm/575960 "2011-03-25T13:39:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-military-have-its-own-brothel-arm/575960/1 "2011-03-25T13:39:47Z")
Modern white slavery, as with women sold into sex-slavery, was largely kick-started or got a large boost with the UN stationing of troops in Bosnia. And perhaps it is not so surprisingly that when a large number of young men is put in a stressful situation far from home and with a lot of idle time, then the local brothels will see a surge of activity. Isn’t it better to keep these activities within the military, to try to ensure some better control and monitoring with these activities? To help make sure, for instance, that the girls go into it willingly and freely, that they are not cheated of their pay or have their profit stolen by middle men, that disease is kept down, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-military-have-its-own-brothel-arm/575960/2 "2011-03-25T13:42:07Z")
You could make pretty much the same argument for legalized prostitution outside of the military. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-military-have-its-own-brothel-arm/575960/3 "2011-03-25T13:49:03Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > You could make pretty much the same argument for legalized prostitution outside of the military. Indeed. The whole business should be brought out of the shadows, regulated and taxed. There would still be abuses but they’d be more controllable and the girls and clients would be safer. ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-military-have-its-own-brothel-arm/575960/4 "2011-03-25T13:51:13Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > You could make pretty much the same argument for legalized prostitution outside of the military. Prostitution is legal around here. But I think the combination of a lot of young men in a stressful/boring situation, far from home and with the lawlessness that abounds in war-zones, failed states, etc. this creates an especial fertile ground for things like abuse and sex-slavery. > [@yojimbo](#): > > Indeed. The whole business should be brought out of the shadows, regulated and taxed. There would still be abuses but they’d be more controllable and the girls and clients would be safer. Not taxed. Don’t want the state to profit from the trade, like some giant pimp. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-military-have-its-own-brothel-arm/575960/5 "2011-03-25T14:00:17Z")
Many deployed locations have high speed internet, and fleshlights exist. I’m not saying it’s pretty, but being deployed now isn’t as rough on the junk as it was in the early 90s. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-military-have-its-own-brothel-arm/575960/6 "2011-03-25T14:03:33Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > Not taxed. Don’t want the state to profit from the trade, like some giant pimp. Like with cigarettes or booze or something? By that logic, the guv’mint’s already in the drug pushing trade. Pimping is in the same moral area, as far as a lot of people are concerned. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-military-have-its-own-brothel-arm/575960/7 "2011-03-25T14:04:54Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > Not taxed. Don’t want the state to profit from the trade, like some giant pimp. Taxed like everyone else with a job. If they earn enough to reach the tax treshold they pay their share like everyone else. Anyway you didn’t start this to talk about legalisation and taxation of prostituation so I’ll lay off the hijack. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-military-have-its-own-brothel-arm/575960/8 "2011-03-25T14:18:59Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > Not taxed. Don’t want the state to profit from the trade, like some giant pimp. Over here, prostitutes are definitely taxed, even though brothels aren’t legal (prostitution is). Any kind of legal income is taxed. Now, I’ve no clue how the veracity of their tax statements can be verified 😕 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-military-have-its-own-brothel-arm/575960/9 "2011-03-25T14:22:41Z")
I’m just trying to imagine the hard-working soldiers of the 122nd Sexual Relief Brigade turned out for parade . . . What would their uniform be like? ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-military-have-its-own-brothel-arm/575960/10 "2011-03-25T14:23:35Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Over here, prostitutes are definitely taxed, even though brothels aren’t legal (prostitution is). Any kind of legal income is taxed. > > Now, I’ve no clue how the veracity of their tax statements can be verified 😕 They keep their receipts in case of an audit. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-military-have-its-own-brothel-arm/575960/11 "2011-03-25T14:45:37Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > Modern white slavery, as with women sold into sex-slavery, was largely kick-started or got a large boost with the UN stationing of troops in Bosnia. Surely the fall of the Iron Curtain and the sudden free movement from relatively impoverished eastern European nations to wealthy western European nations was the main catalyst, not a couple thousand troops stationed in the middle of the Balkans. Obviously, the lawlessness of the region, mixed with occupying soldiers led to a huge bloom in human trafficking but it seems odd to blame this on the UN when greater historical trends were happening. I’d be happy to be proven wrong, though, if someone has a good cite or article about this. > [@Rune](#): > > Isn’t it better to keep these activities within the military, to try to ensure some better control and monitoring with these activities? To help make sure, for instance, that the girls go into it willingly and freely, that they are not cheated of their pay or have their profit stolen by middle men, that disease is kept down, etc. Didn’t the Japanese Imperial army and the Nazis already try this? The problem is that no one would sign up for this punishing and degrading experience willingly. The only people to do this have to be truly desperate and poor (mostly women from the third-world) or coerced in some manner. Both of which raise disturbing moral and ethical questions. You are right, of course, that the status quo is perhaps no more ethical. We purposefully look the other way and out-source the servicing of our armed forces to third-world nations like the Philippines and Thailand. I don’t know what the correct answer is, but surely institutionalizing this brings even bigger problems. ---
**Author:** ![Crackrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Crackrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crackrat)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-military-have-its-own-brothel-arm/575960/12 "2011-03-25T14:50:31Z")
How exactly are you planning to populate this brothel arm? I would expect you’d get a much larger male volunteer group than female, certainly too large for the ratio of male:female combat troops. Are they going to be trained by the military? Do they have to go through basic training? ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-military-have-its-own-brothel-arm/575960/13 "2011-03-25T14:54:13Z")
…and of course with DADT potentially gone, you will need to fund lesbian and gay prostitutes. How politically viable do you think that would be in America, the Terrified of Anything Different? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-military-have-its-own-brothel-arm/575960/14 "2011-03-25T15:07:18Z")
How many lesbians do you know that visit prostitutes? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-military-have-its-own-brothel-arm/575960/15 "2011-03-25T15:10:36Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > Like with cigarettes or booze or something? > > By that logic, the guv’mint’s already in the drug pushing trade. Pimping is in the same moral area, as far as a lot of people are concerned. I think prostitution is less of an ideal occupation than selling cigarettes or booze. YMMW, but this is another discussion. > [@Erdosain](#): > > Surely the fall of the Iron Curtain and the sudden free movement from relatively impoverished eastern European nations to wealthy western European nations was the main catalyst, not a couple thousand troops stationed in the middle of the Balkans. Obviously, the lawlessness of the region, mixed with occupying soldiers led to a huge bloom in human trafficking but it seems odd to blame this on the UN when greater historical trends were happening. I’d be happy to be proven wrong, though, if someone has a good cite or article about this. No, I don’t think so. The collapse a few years earlier provided the material. The lawlessness in Bosnia together with the market of UN soldiers provided the first large-scale experience with trading girls and sex-slavery and created the first routes and organisations that profited from these. I looked into it a few years back, and the first cases I could find were from Bosnia. There was also a UN report that stated that UN troops had been heavily involved in the trade. > [@Erdosain](#): > > Didn’t the Japanese Imperial army and the Nazis already try this? The problem is that no one would sign up for this punishing and degrading experience willingly. The only people to do this have to be truly desperate and poor (mostly women from the third-world) or coerced in some manner. Both of which raise disturbing moral and ethical questions. No. The Japanese girls were not volunteers, or at least not those of Korean or Dutch origin you hear about. Don’t think the Nazis had anything like it at all. And I think the whores should come from the same country as the military, but even so I cannot see why it should especially difficult to get girls to sign up. There have never been a lack of whores doing the same, but under less controlled and safe circumstances, in every major and minor city. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-military-have-its-own-brothel-arm/575960/16 "2011-03-25T15:16:57Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > How many lesbians do you know that visit prostitutes? > > Regards, > Shodan It’s irrelevant how many I personally know. What is relevant is that lesbian prostitutes exist and that women do seek them out. I think this is actually worse than arguing how many angels can dance on the head of a 1948 Zenith osmium record stylus, as the odds of the military having a brothel arm are slightly worse than that of Eleanor Clift becoming our next President. ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-military-have-its-own-brothel-arm/575960/17 "2011-03-25T15:22:52Z")
> [@Crackrat](#): > > How exactly are you planning to populate this brothel arm? I would expect you’d get a much larger male volunteer group than female, certainly too large for the ratio of male:female combat troops. Are they going to be trained by the military? Do they have to go through basic training? We all know it’s not going to happen so there is no need to plan it in detail. The primary thing is that the girls should be voluntary and in no way coerced to sign up. I also think it is important that they are from the same naton. For the rest I suppose they can enter into the military on the same terms as the many other civilians already there; I hesitate to say chaplains, but nurses for instance. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-military-have-its-own-brothel-arm/575960/18 "2011-03-25T15:24:01Z")
> [@Una\_Persson](#): > > It’s irrelevant how many I personally know. What is relevant is that lesbian prostitutes exist and that women do seek them out. To the same extent that heterosexual or homosexual male soldiers seek out prostitutes, and thus create the demand the OP says should be managed by the military? I doubt it. > [@](#): > > the odds of the military having a brothel arm are slightly worse than that of Eleanor Clift becoming our next President. That’s certainly true, for a lot of reasons. Another aspect of this is if the military decided to implement officially subsidized prostitution, and outsourced it to the indigenous population. In any kind of a war situation, there is too much of a power differential between the military and civilians for this to be anything but coercive - the Korean “comfort women” of WWII Japan, for example. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-military-have-its-own-brothel-arm/575960/19 "2011-03-25T15:55:35Z")
> [@Crackrat](#): > > How exactly are you planning to populate this brothel arm? I would expect you’d get a much larger male volunteer group than female, certainly too large for the ratio of male:female combat troops. Are they going to be trained by the military? Do they have to go through basic training? Presumably remote controlled drones could be developed for the purpose. Horny soldiers stationed in Iraq having sex with drones controlled by bored[sup]_[/sup] airmen stationed in Las Vegas. [sup]_[/sup][sub]I assume they’re bored, because if they’re into that sorta thing, they wouldn’t be allowed in the military in the first place.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-military-have-its-own-brothel-arm/575960/20 "2011-03-25T16:29:42Z")
I can see it now! The NEW US Army prostitute corps…the 69th Division (Motto: “we serve and screw you”). Emblem: a bed. Question: would the army award any special decorations to this elite group? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-military-have-its-own-brothel-arm/575960.md?page=2)