Military Prostitution During Japan 's Imperial Rule

Stetz and Oh indicate although WWII has ended and is now a mass piece of history, the “comfort women” ordeal still exists today. They continue their isolated existence in poverty and poor health. They have not regained their honor nor had their pains eased. These women continue to endure insulting comments made by irresponsible Japanese officials and by neoconservative nationalists, who claim that many Asian women were merely sex workers for money during WWII. As of the end of January in 1998, the top aide to Japanese prime minister Hashimoto suggested that many women became “comfort women” for money and that the Japanese military’s use of these women was justified by the moves of the times. Within a month of the inauguration of South Korean president Kim Dae-jung, a lifelong fighter for democracy

It is rather odd to think that prostitution, which is considered to be the world’s oldest profession, would be illegal and harmful in nature. The issue of legalizing prostitution has entered public conversation around the world, which is severely divided. Many, like myself, consider prostitution to be a victimless crime. Despite such opposition to legalizing prostitution, many argue that legalizing it would result in decreased morality issues, increase the economic activity in the United States, and help decrease the number of sexually transmitted diseases among both prostitutes and those who patronize them,

By regulating Camptowns by the US military and by Korea (Yuh 18), women were tested for STI’s twice a week (Yuh 24). The US military police created this system where if women tested positive they were not informed nor were they informed on who gave them the infection (Yuh 29). These women were harassed by both sides American and Korea for proof that they were tested (Yuh 29).

The social perspectives had directly effected on the social status of Korean Military Brides in a negative way. In South Korea, there were a lot of camptowns where were a special place that consisted of bars, some entertainment shops and store, and camptown women, who were served as a legal prostitute for those military men. So that was why many people saw these Korean Military Brides as a victim of militarized prostitution or thought that they had some experiences involving with the camptown. As many military brides’ complaint, they said that “the behavior and backgrounds of a few “bad women” tainted the image of [them] in general” (247). In addition to Koreans’ perspectives, the Korean wives of Korean men in the United States denied to let

Thesis: The criminalization of prostitution does more harm than good when often women are left unprotected, both socially and legally, and therefore, the United States should make efforts to decriminalize and regulate prostitution instead.

The increased regulation and social advocacy surrounding sex led to the civil rights and privacy of prostitutes being infringed upon and led the way to further regulation and suppression of the occupation in the nineteenth-century. Without focusing on the root causes of the prostitution problem, local magistrates conspired against the prostitutes in order to publically shame them and in some cases exile them from England altogether. Essentially, the predominantly male reformists were denigrating something that they themselves considered to be a necessity. They wanted prostitution to exist, but on their terms and where they, and others that wandered the London streets could not see

Girls in colonized countries are not human. They were trampled as a tool for comforting soldiers, and no one cared, both then and now. Korean comfort women were seized, sent to army units, and forced to serve as sex slaves. Their agony is still on-going because the Japanese government would not take responsibility for the cruel treatment, and victims’ story is gradually disappearing. In this essay, I will describe the historical background of comfort women, discuss the current problem regarding Korean comfort women, and conclude several suggestions to solve the problem.

The comfort women issue was ignored in the society more than 60 years. They were raped, and killed without any proper reason. Even after the Japanese surrendered in the war, the victims could not stand out to the public because of the society’s perception toward the comfort women. Now, only few people among over the 200,000 victims are still alive. The survived comfort women still get suffered from the past experiences, but the Japanese government does not give a sincere apology to them. Comfort women is a war crime that Japan did during the war and tried to conceal. It is not only a problem of South Korea and Japan, but also a trouble in the human rights. Evan, an activist who has worked with the comfort women movement for more than a decade,

The morality of prostitution has been debated due to its existence in nearly all cultures in history, therefore the major positions need to be discussed.

Between the industrialization of the 1800s and the post-World War II Women’s Rights Movement, women with few occupational options often made the difficult choice and became prostitutes. For the most part, women voluntarily joined this profession, since they saw prostitution as a temporary solution to an economic problem. When it was apparent to the War Department and the Surgeon General self- restraint and the possibility of venereal disease did not hinder the sex trade Congress passed “The May Act”. This sanctioned the closing of brothels and houses of prostitution near military bases. Men were willing to take the chance when women were available and could provide a service they wanted. Prostitution can be driven away underground, but it is still going to be around.

3. Min, Pyong Gap. “Korean “comfort women” The Intersection of Colonial Power, Gender, and Class.” Gender and Society 17 (2003): 938-957.

After the War, the reality of the comfort women system remained unnoticed by the South Korean public opinion for

Throughout the Korean history, the principle of gender roles is fundamentally associated with the traditional Confucianism belief system. Historically, Korea contributes a strong notion of gender inequality within the patriarchal society. The social structure towards the concept of gender in Korea displays males to gain better privileges than females (Lee, 2006). Within the past, Korean women were considered as the most subordinated member in the family. The Confucian system obligates a great influence towards Korean women to follow their traditional roles as a daughter, wife, and mother (Gelb & Palley, 1994). These traditional roles and cultural structures created

Doctors have pushed the government to regulate and legalize prostitution. If the government would legalize prostitution, prostitutes would have to take medical exams (Hayes-Smith and Shekarkhar, 45). Prostitutes will have to undergo many things during a health and medical exam and this will not only effect the now, but also their future as a prostitute. “Under legalization, the state will require prostitutes to be licensed and subject to routine medical screenings for diseases. Any prostitutes found to be ill will be unable to return to work until the problem is treated and, if it untreatable, her license will be revoked” (Hayes-Smith and Shekarkhar, 50). The main purpose of legalizing prostitution is to make it safer for the women and clients in this profession.

One of the oldest known jobs in history is Prostitution, otherwise known as the sex labor industry. It is a major part of our society as an illegitimate source of income and employment. The prohibition of Prostitution creates a larger number of issues in society. Before, prostitution was a more individual decision, where countless women picked it as a last resort in emergencies; whereas now these women are coerced into the industry and experience abuse, murder, etc. The involvement and trauma prostitutes experience results in mental disorders. Furthermore, I investigate how the prohibition of prostitution has greater drawbacks on our society and introduce three policies that may help resolve the social issue within sex workers. Some policies I believe will provide the most benefits are first, the legalization of prostitution, second, enforcing and strengthening the law enforcement for human trafficking, and third, development of availability of medical resources.