Who are the Comfort Women?

Prologue

and my two cents

• I just want to let everyone know a little of my opinion and some further facts surrounding the Comfort Women.
• The Comfort Women story reveals a piece of history that is just too tragic, intense, and important for so little of the world to know about. Hardly anyone knows about them, yet it is one of the biggest tragedies of our time. It is just too big to pass away into history. This was labelled an atrocity against women and a crime against humanity(this is an official crime--the highest in our world). Including what they did to men and children, it's about on scale with the holocaust. Yet, sadly, because of the culture of the women, and the Japanese unwillingness to admit or do anything, this story has been largly untold and unknown to many.
• I think it's a shame that something that is one of the most important events in history, is also one of the most unknown. We need to spread the word. There aren't many of these women left alive, and not only do they need help, but we need to make sure we learn from this history so it isn't repeated.

Quick facts

basic info on Comfort Women

1. Who knows anything about "Comfort Women"?
2. Term used for women who were forced to work as sex slaves, in military brothels, in Japanese occupied countries. Actual term used by military (jugun-ianfu), Korean women also called "Korean P's"
3. map of Japanese occupied territories at height of their empire before finally surrendering in 1945. Important to note that when women were taken, they were shipped all over the territories and many lost track of where they were and where home was in relation. Many ended up having to learn Japanese and/or Chinese and forgot their own language. They had no money
4. Average number of men served a day was 30. It was worse for the first couple days of a woman's arrival and on days the soldiers were shipping out to the front lines. Having sex before going to battle was a sign of good luck and vitality. Some men would take pubic hair for good luck.200,000 is the common average but taking into consideration the amount of women who never came forward and the inaccurate amount that were killed or died, the number could be much larger-some say over 250,000.
5. There were Japanese comfort women. Lack of numbers, increasing number of soldiers, and danger of taking women on the front lines made for rationalizing the abductions. How were they abducted? Or coerced?
6. although worst time period for women was 1941 to 1945, when war was at its peak and the number of soldiers in territories were at their largest, comfort stations are reported back as far as 1932 with the man responsible for the system actually coming forward and testifying out of guilt and shame. The purpose for forming the system was to reduce the amount of civilian women being raped by Japanese soldiers after a case of 223 women being raped. Conditions ranged from nice hotels in big cities to small huts with dirt floors, and straw curtains to partition off rooms.
7. Beaten if they didn't act like they enjoyed it. Mention testimony of woman telling new girls "you had to be their 'wives'". Extremely sore after just a few men with dozens yet for the day. Some given a few minutes in-between to freshen but some were given only a jar of cotton swabs soaked in disinfectant, placed by bed, to quickly clean before next man.
8. Many were in strange unfamiliar land with no money. Many treated like so much evidence and killed by Japanese army when they shipped out after surrender. Many couldn't return home out of shame because of their culture. Mention story we read in class about families house attacked by fellow villagers because girl got pregnant.
9. All the women are now elderly, many private groups helping in fight. Most countries won't help because they either can't (Japan is a sovereign nation) or they are afraid to because they rely heavily on Japan for support and aid. House of sharing is probably the best thing that's been done yet for the women.
10. Official documents discovered leading to Japan admitting they had direct involvement
11. Japan forms the Asian Women's Fund which isn't exclusively for Comfort Women but they have an "Atonement Money" project which isn't even exclusively government funded, they take contributions and it's really just a way for Japan to sweep things under the rug

Donate

You can help

• Supplies. Box up daily living supplies like toilet paper, laudry detergent, household cleaners, etc... (remember to check with the post office and see what is acceptable to mail, and what isn't) and mail them to the House of Sharing.
• Donate money. If you can't think of anything else, simply donate money to the House of Sharing
• Spread the word. You don't need to donate money or supplies to help. Look through the links of organizations above and see what they are currently doing. Right now I'm in the process of contacting all the women's clubs and organizations on my college campus to spread awareness. We already have made progress by getting one of the books included in the Women's Book Club.