COMFORT WOMEN

Jugun Ianfu慰安婦

Tessa Castellani

DEFINING COMFORT WOMEN:JAPAN FOCUS

INTRODUCTION: HISTORY OF COMFORT WOMEN

Comfort Women (Jugun Ianfu) were the victims of sex slavery by the Japanese military troops before and during World War II (1942-1945)

Women were kidnapped, forced, and/or tricked into becoming prostitutes for Japanese troops

Earlier comfort women were Japanese prostitutes who volunteered for such a service

The military found itself short of these women as Japan continued military expansion

Turned to the local population to coerce women to serve the troops

Soon the search was expanded to controlled territories:

China, Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan, and Korea. “Three Alls Policy”-- indiscriminately kidnapping and

raping local civilians

COMFORT STATION: SHANGHAI, CHINA

•The first "comfort station" was established in the Japanese concession in Shanghai in 1932.

•Many women responded to calls for work as factory workers or nurses – unaware of the military’s true intentions.

•Women were shipped all over the territories and many lost track of where they were and where their home was in relation.

WHO ARE COMFORT WOMEN?

Comfort Women, Military Sex Slaves, MSS, Jugun Ianfu There was no one specific type of “comfort woman”

They ranged from all walks of life – from the very young and prepubescent (11) to the middle-aged (35) – and were from all over Southeast Asia – Japan, China, Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan, and Korea.

It’s difficult to determine just how many women were involved in this mass military sex slavery. Most have sworn themselves to secrecy, too ashamed to ever speak of the atrocities they faced

The number of comfort women is estimated to have been between 50,000 to 200,000

Remaining survivors are well into their eighties and do not have very long to tell their tale.

It is estimated that only 25 percent of the comfort women survived

WHAT WAS INVOLVED? According to the House of

Sharing, a human rights museum and a safe house for former comfort women, when a woman was captured or lured into comfort stations, she was given a medical examination to determine if she was a virgin or diseased

She was then raped by the medical examiner and sent to her station

Her identity was quickly stripped of her as she was given a Japanese flower name by the first person to rape her.

The women's names were written on wooden blocks and hung up much like menus are at restaurants in Japan.

On average, comfort women served 30 men daily on weekdays

Served up to 50 men daily on weekends

The days leading up to the soldiers shipping out to the front lines were the worst times Having sex before going

into battle was a sign of good luck and vitality

Some men would even take pubic hair for good luck

Women were beaten if they failed to act as if they enjoyed it or showed resistance

Extremely sore after just a few men with dozens still left until the day’s end Some were given a few

minutes to a half hour in-between to rest, but most were given only a jar of cotton swabs soaked in disinfectant and told to quickly clean before the next man

Sometimes they were given a single condom which had to be washed in between uses

MEDICAL MALADIES

Women were checked biweekly for STIs/STDs Contracting one or becoming pregnant would

lead to severe punishment If given a “clean” bill of health, the woman

would be raped by her physician(s) after check-up

To combat STIs Injections of Mercury 606

Their internal organs including their uterus were mostly destroyed through this method

Forced hysterectomies

PREGNANCY: THE WORST OFFENSE

The most brutal punishment was reserved for women who had “let” themselves become pregnant

Babies were forcibly aborted: Kicking or knifing by a group of soldiers Raped with hot irons until the baby died

Babies were subsequently chopped up and fed to dogs in front of the women to serve as an everlasting reminder

THE AFTERMATH

After the Japanese were defeated, most comfort women were abandoned on siteComfort women who survived and were discovered by the Allied forces were not returned to their homelands; there was just too many of themThere is evidence supporting that American and European military personnel "recycled" many of the women for their own sexual useMany were considered prostitutes rather than victims

KIM HAK SUN

In 1991, former Korean comfort women Kim Hak Sun filed the first-ever lawsuit against the Japanese Government for its war crimes against women. Many others began to end their own silence and demands justice be brought before them.

KIM HAK SUN

MOTIVATIONS & REASONING

To increase the morale of troops To more efficiently prevent the spread

of STDs To prevent leakage of military secrets To prevent soldiers from raping women

in the territories they controlled

Adam Souza

THE RAPE OF NANKING: A COMPARISON

HISTORIC CONTEXT

Took place between December 1937 and January/February 1938 (Japanese military records show orders to leave by January, Chinese records claim occupation didn’t fully end until later)

Death toll among Chinese defenders was nearly 80%. Occupation raised this total to nearly 100%.

Several verified war crimes committed before invasion began

Looting Rape “Race to 100”

COMFORT WOMEN

“Safety Zone” established with the ostensible goal of protecting civilians, promptly ignored by Japanese military.

Roughly 20,000 women taken – exact statistics unknown, possibly higher.

There was no pretext of these women being “used” in any humane manner. Women were raped and then sterilized by brute force and trauma, or simply killed.

Pregnant women were aborted via bayonet, broomstick, or blunt force trauma.

Foreign businessmen and missionaries attempted to stop violence, Chinese unable to open negotiations, official Japanese protocol gave them no chance. Emperor Hirohito ratified military proposition that declared all Chinese exempt from international law regarding prisoner treatment.

JAPANESE REVISIONISM

Official Japanese response has varied, originally denied massacre ever took place.

Public response mixed; some believe it happened, others deny.

Several noted Japanese historians published essays refuting claims by Chinese citizens who lived through attack.

Apparently, a vocal minority of “Massacre Deniers” are spreading their views wherever they can. Videos arguing that the Nanking Massacre never happened as reported outnumber videos about the Massacre itself. The first video I found was from a Japanese talk show denying the event.

Survivors have petitioned for reparations from Japanese government, but none have been forthcoming, although a formal apology has been issued.

Kaitlyn Coons

COMFORT WOMEN OUTSIDE JAPAN:A GLOBAL MENACE

“COMFORT WOMEN” OUTSIDE OF ASIA In war-torn cities,

women are sometimes forced into sexual exploitation in order to survive

Also subjected to sexual violence as a war tactic

May not be called “comfort women” or have come into this life by the force of their government, but the violence is still the same

RELATED VICTIMS: THE CONGO

Panzi Hospital in Bukavu is known for its aid to women who are victims of sexual terrorism

Sexual terrorism: individual rapes, sexual abuse, gang rapes, mutilation of genitalia and rape-shooting or rape-stabbing combinations Most times done with family members forced to watch

Sexual terrorism causes devastating internal injuries and other complications from rape

“In the Congo, traumatic fistula is a common form of sexual torture inflicted with guns, tree branches or broken bottles…the victim smells bad, causing her to be rejected by her family and community.” – A Thousand Sisters

RELATED VICTIMS: IRAQ

Since the United States has occupied Iraq, some 3,500 women have gone missing. Most of these women will be

traded for sex work

Families are desperate for money to feed their families and oftentimes do not know that they are selling their daughters to sex traffickers

These women’s bodies are then sold by their pimps who collect the money as the women are raped

Alex Zacharczenko

COMFORT WOMEN OF TODAY:

GOVERNMENT RESPONSES

Many women today are seeking apologies and reparations from the Japanese government

As late as 1990 Japan has denied government involvement in the use of comfort women

KONO STATEMENT

1991, a Japanese historian discovered government documents directly linking the government to use of comfort women

This information was published in a national newspaper

1992, Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa formally apologized to comfort women

Despite the apology, Japan has never admitted legal responsibility, insisting it wasn’t a war crime, wasn’t an organized system

ASIA WOMEN’S FUND

Set up in 1995, came with signed apology: "As Prime Minister of Japan, I thus extend

anew my most sincere apologies and remorse to all the women who underwent immeasurable and painful experiences and suffered incurable physical and psychological wounds as comfort women.“ –Tomiichi Murayama

Fund gave money from private donations, not government

UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION REPORT

1998, called Contemporary Forms of Slavery

Use of comfort women was slavery, which was illegal in Japan at the time

Rape was a war crime at the time Japanese government had committed

crimes against humanity Japanese government is liable

ABE CONTROVERSY

Important quote from education minister Nariaki Nakayama: "Those women deserve much sympathy, but (being forced to provide sex) is not so much different from what was commonly seen in poor rural Japanese communities in the past, where women were sold to brothels. It could be said that the occupation was something they could have pride in, given their existence soothed distraught feelings of men in the battlefield and provided a certain respite and order."

2007, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe denied that Japan had forced women into slavery

Pressure from US led him to take back his statement

However, Abe’s party purged comfort women from many history texts

LITIGATION

2007, Japan Supreme Court ruled that individuals could no longer seek claims through litigation

INTERNATIONAL RESOLUTIONS

Resolutions have been passed by several countries urging Japan to take full responsibility for the comfort women situation

These countries include, the United States, the Netherlands, Canada, England, and the European Parliament

Any Questions?

Q&A

REFERENCES AND FURTHER INFORMATION:

REFERENCES: TESSA CASTELLANI

"Comfort-women.org." Washington Coalition for Comfort Women Issues Inc. Web. 08 May 2011. <http://www.comfort-women.org/>.

"Digital Museum: The Comfort Women Issue and the Asian Women's Fund." 慰安婦問題とアジア女性基金/デジタル記念館. Asian Women's Fund. Web. 1 May 2011. <http://www.awf.or.jp/e2/survey.html>.

"Embassy of Japan in United States of America: The Comfort Women Issue." Embassy of Japan. Web. 08 May 2011. <http://www.us.emb- japan.go.jp/english/html/cw1.htm>.

Hicks, George L. The Comfort Women: Japan's Brutal Regime of Enforced Prostitution in the Second World War. New York: W.W. Norton &, 1995. Print.

"Interview with Kim Hak Soon in August 1991." History and Justice. Web. 5 May 2011. <http://www.janelleparklee.com/women-war/kim-haksoon-interview.html>.

Morris, Narelle. "Intersections Review: Japan's Comfort Women: Sexual Slavery and Prostitution During World War II and the US Occupation." Intersections: Gender and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific. Aug. 2003. Web. 08 May 2011. <http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue9/morris_review.html>.

Tabuchi, Hiroko. "Japan's Abe: No Proof of WWII Sex Slaves - Washingtonpost.com." The Washington Post: National, World & D.C. Area News and Headlines - The Washington

Post. 1 Mar. 2007. Web. 08 May 2011. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/01/AR2007030100578.html>.

Yoshimi, Yoshiaki, and Suzanne O'Brien. Comfort Women: Sexual Slavery in the Japanese Military During World War II. New York: Columbia UP, 2000. Print.

REFERENCES: ADAM SOUZA

Books: Iris Chang; The Rape of Nanking Higashinakano Shudo; The Nanking Massacre: Fact Versus

Fiction Marjorie Chan; A Nanking Winter

Films: Don’t Cry, Nanking (Historical Fiction) The Truth About Nanjing (Japanese Revisionist

Documentary) Nanking (Documentary) John Rabe (Discusses the German missionary and his role in

maintaining the Nanking Safe Zone)

REFERENCES: ALEX ZACHARCZENKO

Kohns, Daniel. “Honda Testifies in Support of Comfort Women.” Congressmen Mike Honda. 15 February 2007. 26 April 2011. <http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/ca15_honda/comfortwomentestimony.html>

  “AN ANALYSIS OF THE LEGAL LIABILITY OF THE GOVERNMENT OF JAPAN FOR "COMFORT WOMEN

STATIONS" ESTABLISHED DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR.” United Nations Commission on Foreign Rights. 22 June 1998. 26 April 2011. <http://www.unhchr.ch/Huridocda/Huridoca.nsf/7fba5363523b20cdc12565a800312a4b/3d25270b5fa3ea998025665f0032f220?OpenDocument#Appendix>

  “'Comfort women' distortion stirs indignation.” China Daily. 13 July 2005. 26 April 2011. <

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-07/13/content_459772.htm>

“Letter from Prime Minister to the former comfort women, since 1996.” Asian Women’s Fund. 1996. 26 April 2011. <http://classic-web.archive.org/web/20070516012746/http://www.awf.or.jp/english/about/archives/1996_2.html>

“Sexual Slavery – Court Cases.” Violence Against Women in War. 26 April 2011. <http://www1.jca.apc.org/vaww-net-japan/english/sexualslavery/courtcase.html>

“Statement by the Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono on the result of the study on the issue of "comfort women".” Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. 4 August 1993. 26 April 2011. <http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/women/fund/state9308.html>

“U.S. got Abe to drop denial over sex slaves.” The Japan Times Online. 9 November 2007. 26 April 2011. <http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20071109a2.html>