American Doughboys and German Fräuleins: Sexuality, Patriarchy, and Privilege in the American-Occupied Rhineland, 1918-23

This article investigates how the U.S. military occupation of the German Rhineland after the First World War helped to reconstruct patriarchy in the occupied zone through the control of doughboys’ and Frauleins’ sexuality. The relative stability enjoyed in the American zone in turn enabled the United States to mediate conflicts and operate as a reconciling influence among the other, more quarrelsome occupying powers. The two systems of power and privilege-patriarchy and international relations-operated simultaneously to produce the desired result of maintaining the American international advantage in the postwar world.