Introduction

A powerful propaganda approach relied on the idea of the Japanese as “sex predators” preying on virtuous, defensless white women. The images used here perpetuated the idea that white masculinity was threatened by the potential for the Japanese to invade American homes.

Enlistment advertisment that shows a yellow hand trying to grab a young white woman

The image on the left was a magazine ad calling for the enlistment of American men into military service. The racial and sexual imagery is obvious; someone's “sister” could be the victim of Japanese sexual brutality unless America intervenes. The ad's conclusion asks its readers to show that they are “white”, not “yellow”.

Comic poster of a knife-wielding Japanese soldier chasing a white woman

This images depicts a Japanese soldier wielding a knife on a white American woman.

Magazine cover showing two armed Japanese men standing over a white woman

The message conveyed on the cover of this magazine is one of rape and destruction wrought by the “Jap Beast”. A helpless white woman lays on the ground at the mercy of armed Japanese soldiers. The magazine claims to contain “uncensored photographs”, presumably of the atrocities the Japanese perpetuated on the world.