Asian Women During Ww2

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During the World War II, the Japanese military and political leaders exploited Asian women to enter prostitution and be part of the institutional rape as sexual slaves. The comfort women system was established for the Japanese occupants to show their dominance over the colonies of Korea and several groups of Asian women. Initially, the creation of military brothels was not exclusive for the military and they were set up for Japanese prostitutes to work as waitresses for Japanese restaurants which were privately opened for residents and visitors. The first Japanese military brothels were set up in Shanghai, China during the Shanghai Incident where the Japanese forces entered into an armed conflict with the Chinese forces. The Japanese military …show more content…

However, the former comfort women felt that they suffered from the exploitation. When they were informed about the nature of their work, they would normally refuse to work as comfort women and would demand to be sent back home. However, they had to return their debt from the advance payment and the cost of transportation from their home to the location of the comfort station first. The resistance of some comfort women led to torture and brutality to get their consent to work. Usually, hotels, large civilian houses and restaurants were seized in order to be used as military brothels and if those weren’t available, temples and school buildings were also utilized (Tanaka, …show more content…

They had no right to choose their customers and there is a double standard involving prostitutes and other women. The comfort women system was discriminated and was regarded as a shameful occupation for the services they offered. The victims were afraid to speak up about their experiences as they felt like it was something to be ashamed of. They were forced to remain silent as there was a stigma for the victim and not for the perpetrator, and to prevent further rejection from their country. Ehara Yumiko (1992) engaged on the consequences of this, saying,
Supposing that both Japanese and Korean men assume that the women of the nation belong to the men of that nation and that rape of a country woman by those of another nation stains male honour, would this not create sufficient pressure for them to force the victims of the military comfort women problem to keep their mouths shut. (p.