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Methods Of Recruitment Of Comfort Women

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Methods of “Recruitment” There were various ways in which the Japanese Military “recruited” woman for comfort stations. It is important to first understand that in no document of the very few found on the recruitment of women to comfort stations was there any mention of women consenting to either recruitment or what they were required to do once in the stations. This is important when reflecting on the social situations in which victims encountered post-war. The recruitment of comfort women is used by many “anti-apologists”, people who think Japanese responsibility for comfort stations should be extinguished, believe that accepting the offer by recruiters to leave the village constitutes consent. One of the ways that women were recruited …show more content…

According to the U.S. Office of War Interrogation Report No. 49, many Korean women were informed that comfort service consisted of “visiting wounded soldiers to make them happy” causing ma many Korean women enlisted on the basis of these misrepresentations. It is important to note that many earlier comfort stations employed the use of Japanese professionals (prostitutes) but this slowly transitioned to a point that after 1939, few comfort women were of Japanese descent. Many women were not deceived, but forcibly taken from their homes or internment camps. Women were threatened with the destruction of their villages and violence against the elders and children. Actions were taken against those who resisted, family member who tried to prevent their daughters and wives from being taken away would be murdered. The Japanese military employed various forms of violence with the sole purpose of increasing the number of women for the comfort stations. These women did not receive jobs promised, in many cases did not protect their family by going but were forced to live in harsh conditions without any autonomy over their lives or bodies. The de-humanization and treatment of these women as military supplies …show more content…

During the Second World War there were atrocities so profound, that current vocabulary was not adequate to described them. With this the world was introduced to the terms “genocide” and “holocaust”, but what language should be used when referencing the women affected by comfort station? It is not like wartime brothels were an anomaly of this war, so does the label “prostitute” suffice? Though a small amount of women in comfort stations were professional prostitutes, the majority of women who were recruited into these comfort stations did not have knowledge of what waited for them. Even in recent years, neo-nationalist attempt to claim that comfort women were simply prostitutes following Japan’s Military. Sarah Soh argues that the masculinist representation of the women involved in these sex crimes as prostitutes merely attempts to preclude humanitarian recognition of the violence committed. Prostitution generally involves three elements: (1) some degree of sexual activity or conduct, (2) compensation, and (3) intent to commit prostitution. These women were coerced with

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