Verified Document

History Of The Japanese Comfort Women Prostitution Term Paper

Japanese Comfort Women It is estimated that between one and two hundred thousand female sex slaves were forced to deliver sexual services to Japanese soldiers, both before and during World War II. These women were known as comfort women and the Imperial Conference, which was composed of the emperor, representatives from the armed forces and the main Cabinet ministers, approved their use by Japanese soldiers. (Walkom)

The term "comfort women" refers to the victims of a "premeditated systematic plan originated and implemented by the government of Japan to enslave women considered inferior and subject them to repeated mass rapes," said Michael D. Hausefeld, one of over 35 lawyers in his firm representing the former sexual prisoners in a class action lawsuit currently pending against the Japanese government. (Eddy)

Since ancient times, prostitutes in Japan chose to sell their bodies either for family, poverty, or for saving her husband and her children. More or less, their sacrifices were seen as positive. But, being forced to become comfort woman by Japanese is seen as negative. The difference between the Japanese prostitutes and comfort women is that the comfort women did not choose to be trapped as a sex slave and they were not paid for what they did.

In 1931, when the Japanese army invaded Manchuria, "comfort houses" made their first appearances. These comfort houses were created to provide the Japanese soldiers with outlets for their sexual needs. In the beginning, there were only a few comfort houses but after the Nanjin Massacre occurred in 1937, many more were added, basically to every place that the Japanese were stationed. (Walkom)

After the Japanese soldiers slaughtered thousands of Chinese people in the Nanjin Massacre, they barbarically raped an insurmountable number of women. As a result, anti-Japanese sentiments grew and it became harder to fully occupy these lands. The government set up comfort houses to decrease disorder and give the approximately two million soldiers a place to satisfy their sexual needs. The Japanese did not have enough prostitutes to supply the needs of the soldiers so they commissioned civilians to develop comfort houses.

At the time, only a small percentage of Japanese women were mobilized to "work" in comfort houses and...

The majority of the comfort women were actually Korean women, who were forcibly taken from Korea to service the needs of the Japanese soldiers.
After the war, the Japanese government destroyed all evidence of their involvement in Japanese comfort houses, enforcing that commercial businessmen were responsible for the movement of women.

Many of the comfort women were kidnapped or deceived into voluntarily working in comfort houses. Once they were there, they were trapped and forced into prostitution. Some women reported that Japanese agents offered them good jobs or education. Others were told that each family in the village had to donate a daughter to the war effort. Many others were offered food, shelter and factory jobs. The Japanese also kidnapped young, unmarried girls when they had a shortage of comfort women.

The ages of the girls in the comfort houses ranged from 15 to 19, with the minority exception of some younger girls and some older, married women. The girls were transported between military bases like cargo, under heavy guard in army trucks, trains, ship and bus. They were forced to lose their virginity before arriving at the bases to prepare them for having sexual intercourse with tens of soldiers every day. Many women contemplated death after this, as they believed their virginity to be more precious than life. (Henson)

When living in the comfort houses, the comfort women lived in fear and desperation. They were unable to leave, as they were heavily guarded. Each day, they were penetrated by as many as 50 soldiers, until they were sore and bloated to the point of not being able to open their legs. If they were infected with a sexually transmitted disease, they received injections known as Injection 606. If infected enough times, they lost their fertility. In Japan, infected women were killed. Their food was mixed with cyanide, their bodies taken to a cave and finally, the cave was blown up with a grenade.

The comfort houses made money off these women and it is believed that the Japanese government paid them, as most of the soldiers paid by coupons. As soon as the war was finished, the Japanese Imperialist guards disappeared without trace. Most comfort women describe the experience this way, " Suddenly,…

Sources used in this document:
Henson, Maria. Comfort Woman: A Filipina's Story of Prostitution and Slavery Under the Japanese Military. Rowman & Littlefield, 1999.

Hicks, George. The comfort women: Japan's Brutal Regime of Enforced Prostitution in the Second World War," W.W. Norton, 1997.

The Comfort Women: Colonialism, War and Sex. Duke University, 1997.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Hidden Horrors: Japanese War Crimes
Words: 499 Length: 2 Document Type: Book Review

These women, called "comfort women," were conscripted as prostitutes to serve the Japanese military leaders. The book is unsettling to read, and some parts are so difficult it is hard not to pass over them. Tanaka achieves his purpose quite well throughout the book. He talks about many unsettling topics, such as the rape and massacre of the Australian nurses, but the ultimate cruelty may be the chapter on cannibalization.

Film Documentary Review: Nix on
Words: 687 Length: 2 Document Type: Research Proposal

In fact, the reviewer seemed to make it clear that this film would provide insight even for people well-familiar with the comfort women story. Three survivors talk about what they endured as comfort women, and how that has continued to impact them and their lives, to this day. The reviewer describes the women using graphic detail, which is an interesting and anomalous phrase. After all, would not one expect

The Important Roles Played by
Words: 8566 Length: 30 Document Type: Research Proposal

Women were also a significant part of the civilian staff, committing their abilities as typists, phone switchboard operators and facility administrators. Likewise, on the home front, women would commit their services in place of their husbands, fighting abroad. In fact, the term home front should be well understood as one coined with the psychological intention of conveying that those who were enlisted in one manner or another for civilian duty were themselves a crucial force in the

Wartime Responses and Subjective Feelings of Interned
Words: 2895 Length: 10 Document Type: Essay

wartime responses and subjective feelings of interned Japanese-Americans to demand that they prove their loyalty to the United States? In answering, this question relies primarily upon the novel, No-no Boy, the relevant class lectures, and the video "Conscience and the Constitution." The novel No-No boy has a different approach on the suburbia issue one closer to the look of an outsider in contrast to internal entrapment feelings of Yates. The

WWII World War II Bring a Number
Words: 2127 Length: 5 Document Type: Term Paper

WWII World War II bring a number of images to the minds of most Americans: the Atomic Bomb, the Japanese Internment Camps, fighter planes, military jeeps, assault rifles, and soldiers in battle. The overall impression of the war is very masculine, from troops of male soldiers to songs about our "boys" overseas. However, women played a very significant role in World War II, and it is believed by most war historians

Film Analysis on Farewell, My Concubine Farewell,
Words: 2790 Length: 8 Document Type: Term Paper

Film Analysis on Farewell, My Concubine Farewell, My Concubine: Lies that become realities The film Farewell, My Concubine uses the lens of two men's lives to chronicle the political and social upheavals that gripped China first during the communist and then during the Cultural Revolutions. These men are extraordinary and unique: they are actors in the famous, traditional Peking Opera. However, the film argues that the artifice they are forced to use

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now