Essay on Exploring Imperialism, Sex, and Science: Author's Purpose in Book on U.S. Policy in Puerto Rico

Introduction

The author's point of view in the book seeks to elucidate the context through which American policy in Puerto Rico came to be so profoundly entangled with questions of reproduction and sexuality. The author's view explore the subject of sexuality and reproduction through locating the research with a broader international set of imperialism, sex, and science.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Author's Purpose

The author's purpose in writing the book is geared towards extending broader knowledge, regarding how colonial imperialism has affected the gender in Puerto Rico and the rest of the world, through adopting American policies, that later came to erupt its volatile side. For instance, "Colonial prostitution and its regulation were the subjects of considerable debate in the nineteenth century, centering particularly around the British Contagious Diseases (CD) Acts" (Briggs, 2002).

The CD Act required prostitutes working in and around areas where soldiers stationed in England resisted. Even though the registration was one of the means on regulating the number of prostitutes around the region, what most of the candidates taking the registration failed to understand, was that the registration was geared towards the inspection. The inspection was aimed at observing any vaginal signs of syphilis at regular intervals, where they infected prostitute will be confined into a lock hospital if they were found infected (Briggs, 2002).

The inspection poly under the CD Act was widely enacted in several Britain colonials, which included British India that lasted until the end of the eighteenth century (Briggs, 2002). Even though the British and the Americans may be deemed as the communities exercising this concept in a diverse manner, the origin of the ideology emanated from Paris, as the French colonies enacted the idea. However, the relentless of the British Empire assured the divergent spread of the Act across many English legislations.

According to Briggs, (2002), " A Rockefeller Foundation official, writing in 1916 of the history of opposition to the CD Acts, claimed that they "enforced a medical examination of prostitutes for the protection of the troops against venereal disease both at home and in India" (Briggs, 2002). In the bottom line, the author's point of view and objective is to expose how economic and political power can be used to undermine female gender across the world, using Puerto Rica as the case study.

The Author's Values and Biases

The author has taken a firmer grip on the civilian sector, and how power in the military has been exploited to benefit them. Power and control over prostitution has been exercised in a very long time, with the army paying a more significant concern on the effects of engaging with the natives. The author's point of view explores the effects of the power and how it has been exercised against the locals to best suit the interests of the army. The author seeks to explore how the concept of self-concern has been enacted to the civilians, and how it has been handed from one generation of the army to the other "Up to the present, prostitution remains one of the key questions for any army engaged in the garrisoning of troops outside of domestic borders" (Briggs, 2002).

The Sources of the Author's Data

The research conducted by the author covers a broader scope of military engagement beyond the border campaigns. Some of the data used by the author in the research date back in the mid-1800, elucidating the significant involvement of the British colonies, and the army in cross-border activities. For instance, British India is one of the early causes of military power exercise and in the human lockdown of prostitute women due to the presence of syphilis.

Questions Asked by the Author on the Subject.

Among one of the important questions that the author considers asking is the possibility of rape if military men were not provided with prostitutes. "If prostitution were not provided, these men would disobey orders, go to Mexican villages and get mixed up with [rape] the women and thereby possibly bring on war." (Briggs, 2002). While the magnitude of this question remains to be one of the curtail matter in the violation of women and their rights, the author further explores the solution of the matter. A barbed-wire fence surrounded the prostitutes provided in their location at the camp. Every woman present was examined, and those found infected were not allowed for the duty.

The author's style with the writing and organization of the book.

The eloquence of the book

The author's approach is based on historical events and how each event came to exist. While the focus of the book is geared towards the US and the Puerto Rico involvement in the scientific and sex approach, the author instead takes a distance approach in elucidating this concept. For instance, the question regarding prostitution remaining to be the key question for any army engaging the troops outside their domestic borders has been well explained from a historical perspective and how the events transpired to lead to the adoption of the CD Act.

Author's Argument

The author understands the means to keep the audience engaged in the reading, which has been enhanced through asking questions, and explaining what transpired to the event. The author's approach to the questions in the book explicitly answers the way in which the US involvement in Puerto Rico regarding sex and science emanated from a distanced spread of the CD Act from the British Empire, which not only spread to the US but also in other parts of Africa such as Uganda, and Egypt.

Personal Evaluation

The author understands the magnitude of the subject in an in-depth manner, making it cumbersome for the ordinary reader to comprehend the message. The book requires a critical observation from not only the author's thesis and point of view but also a general understanding of the topic. In most cases, the author approaches a single topic format distinct angle, which includes the historical perspective, and how the idea later came to existence. Through this, it becomes difficult for the readers who are not observant of these points to tag along.

For instance, the argument based on the US involvement in Puerto Rico does not instantly surface in the reading without a prolonged historical approach of the Britain army coming into the map. The involvement of the Britain army forms the basis of undermining women and their rights through conducting a mandatory treatment and confinement to the suspected syphilis victims. Later on, the consequences of adopting these scientific studies in sex, later surface, translating to the main topic and the involvement of the American troops in Puerto Rico.

Reference

Briggs, L. (2002). Reproducing Empire: Race, Sex, Science, and US. Imperialism in Puerto Rico (Berkeley: California University Press, 2002), 4.