Ayesha Akhter
Hist 173
Yuki Terazawa
“Comfort Women” During World War II, when Japan waged the so called “holy war” to dominate East Asia, the Japanese government arranged a system for the government officials, police and military police, to force women into being a “comfort women” which in other words, a sex slave. These women were abducted, deceived and violently raped. The point of “comfort women” was not only to stabilize the army’s morale but also to prevent rape and sexually transmitted diseases. So instead of sleeping with prostitues, they raped unwilling victims to prevent STDs. This whole idea itself is a euphemism engaged by Japanese military to gloss over the enslavement of women. There were about a total of 400,000 women placed …show more content…
The sexual double standard associated with the strong patriarchal ideology in South Korea had forced Korean victims of sexual slavery to keep silent about their experiences of the atrocities and degradation. These women weren’t allowed to share their stories with anyone. Another issue was that they also prevented Korean intellectuals, including women leaders, to take up the “comfort women” issues as significant human rights and women’s issue until late 1980s. Later major incidents in South Korea in late 1980s led to women’s organization to culturally challenge the norm of stigmatizing sexual victims and created a new norm of criminalizing the perpetrators of the sexual violence. A woman came out and spoke in the media about what had happened to her. This caused an uproar all over Korea and even Japanese military were apologizing for what happened. It was easy for her to speak out because she had no family to worry about of being ashamed towards. Her coming out allowed other victims to come out and talk about their problems but who hid their face cause they didn’t want their families to …show more content…
Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation (TWRF) soon started to investigate into “comfort women” issue. TWRF is committed to promoting women’s right and ending gender-based violence. In order to achieve TWRF continues to help victims of sex trafficking, domestic violence and victims of sexual slavery in Japanese military during WWII. Shu-Hua Kang is the Executive Director of Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation. TWRF spent three years filming the Ahma’s (grandmother in Taiwanese) last therapeutic workshops, and presented to us the people, “The Song of Reed,” the second documentary on the issue of “comfort women.” This documentary focuses on the Ahma’s recovery and restoration. Over many years, TWRF has organized many several psychotherapy workshops for Ahma. Supported by the community with the same experiences, and affection from social workers, these survivors rebuilt their identities and self-esteem. The several series of therapeutic workshops were to relieve mental and physical pain through art, drama, photography, and talk therapy. The workshops helped the survivors move beyond their shadowy past, shedding their feelings of shame, and putting an end to their suffering. Although Ahma’s pain weren’t fully healed they gained friendship, support and personal
Hist 173
Yuki Terazawa
“Comfort Women” During World War II, when Japan waged the so called “holy war” to dominate East Asia, the Japanese government arranged a system for the government officials, police and military police, to force women into being a “comfort women” which in other words, a sex slave. These women were abducted, deceived and violently raped. The point of “comfort women” was not only to stabilize the army’s morale but also to prevent rape and sexually transmitted diseases. So instead of sleeping with prostitues, they raped unwilling victims to prevent STDs. This whole idea itself is a euphemism engaged by Japanese military to gloss over the enslavement of women. There were about a total of 400,000 women placed …show more content…
The sexual double standard associated with the strong patriarchal ideology in South Korea had forced Korean victims of sexual slavery to keep silent about their experiences of the atrocities and degradation. These women weren’t allowed to share their stories with anyone. Another issue was that they also prevented Korean intellectuals, including women leaders, to take up the “comfort women” issues as significant human rights and women’s issue until late 1980s. Later major incidents in South Korea in late 1980s led to women’s organization to culturally challenge the norm of stigmatizing sexual victims and created a new norm of criminalizing the perpetrators of the sexual violence. A woman came out and spoke in the media about what had happened to her. This caused an uproar all over Korea and even Japanese military were apologizing for what happened. It was easy for her to speak out because she had no family to worry about of being ashamed towards. Her coming out allowed other victims to come out and talk about their problems but who hid their face cause they didn’t want their families to …show more content…
Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation (TWRF) soon started to investigate into “comfort women” issue. TWRF is committed to promoting women’s right and ending gender-based violence. In order to achieve TWRF continues to help victims of sex trafficking, domestic violence and victims of sexual slavery in Japanese military during WWII. Shu-Hua Kang is the Executive Director of Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation. TWRF spent three years filming the Ahma’s (grandmother in Taiwanese) last therapeutic workshops, and presented to us the people, “The Song of Reed,” the second documentary on the issue of “comfort women.” This documentary focuses on the Ahma’s recovery and restoration. Over many years, TWRF has organized many several psychotherapy workshops for Ahma. Supported by the community with the same experiences, and affection from social workers, these survivors rebuilt their identities and self-esteem. The several series of therapeutic workshops were to relieve mental and physical pain through art, drama, photography, and talk therapy. The workshops helped the survivors move beyond their shadowy past, shedding their feelings of shame, and putting an end to their suffering. Although Ahma’s pain weren’t fully healed they gained friendship, support and personal