Denial:
Quick Look of History of Comfort Women and Present Days’ Complication - Guide
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"Comfort women" is a euphemism used by Japanese soldiers to describe the estimated 200,000 women and girls forced into military-sponsored sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) in the 1930s and throughout World War II. Recent scholarship and human rights organizations argue that the term "military sex slaves" is more accurate, as it acknowledges the violence and the fact that many of these individuals were minors. The IJA took approximately 80% of these women and girls from Korea and 20% from other occupied Asian countries.
Most "comfort women" were recruited under false pretenses or abducted and held against their will in military brothels called "comfort stations." They suffered beatings, torture, forced pregnancies, abortions, sterilizations, and medical complications. After the war, only an estimated 25% of "comfort women" survived, and they faced great stigma as survivors of sexual violence. This resource sheds light on the often-overlooked atrocities committed in the Pacific Theater during World War II and highlights the need for just and timely reparations. The struggle for justice for "comfort women" also serves as a reminder of the intersections of imperialism, colonialism, patriarchy, sex, race, ethnicity, nationality, age, and socioeconomic status that contributed to their suffering and historical erasure. |