The Price of Discretion: Prostitution, Venereal Disease, and the American Military in France, 1944–1946

The article discusses conflicts between the French government and the U.S. Army over prostitution and the control of sexuality during and immediately after the liberation of France at the end of World War II. U.S. commanders seeking an outlet for the sexual urges of their soldiers turned to the legal and regulated French sex industry, control of which became part of the larger struggles over authority between the French and their American occupiers. Topics discussed include venereal disease, U.S. stereotypes of the French and French women, concerns in the U.S. military about public perception in the United States, and others.