The rape of Rosie the Riveter: A history of sexual violence in the Bay Area during World War II

• In Event: Historical Perspectives on Crime and Punishment

Abstract

A wealth of literature links patterns of sexual violence to variations in social structure. However, this literature has overlooked the specific effects of World War II in introducing discontinuities, including the rapid injection of women into the labor force and massive domestic migration within a short and neatly circumscribed time period, to relate social structural change to rape and sexual violence. These changes were especially concentrated in the Bay Area, which became a manufacturing hub for the American wartime economy. Drawing on a variety of source materials, including official and archival records and oral histories, this paper will exploit this acutely transformative time period to explore two possible explanations for patterns of sexual violence in the Bay Area during Word War II. Firstly, consistent with a routine activities effect, the entry of thousands of women into the labor market exposed more potential victims to potential attackers in circumstances conducive to that aim. Secondly, rape and sexual harassment formed part of the effort to keep women workers subordinated to men within the work place, and to ensure their discomfort at remaining in their jobs upon the war’s conclusion.

Authors

• Johann Koehler, University of California, Berkeley

• Jonathan Simon, University of California, Berkeley