Between metropole and colony: Bordels militaires de campagne in colonial Morocco and France in the twentieth century

Abstract

Bordels militaires de campagne (BMCs) were French military brothels in North Africa under colonial occupation. This system was extended to metropolitan France during the First and Second World Wars due to fears of sexual violence or consensual relationships between Moroccan men and French women. Even after brothels were banned in metropolitan France in 1946, French military authorities illegally brought hundreds of Moroccan women to France to work in BMCs because of the Moroccan soldiers still present in the metropole. With poor living conditions, underage labour and a high workload, French military brothels exploited Moroccan women to theoretically ‘protect’ European women against sexual violence from Moroccan men. This was based on a racialized understanding of Moroccan masculinity. This article uses the experiences of these Moroccan women and details of the sex work system in Morocco to understand the systemic cruelty behind the operation of these French military brothels.