Reaction 7

Why were the Korean Comfort Women “silent” so long? To answer this question, one thing you will need to think about is how much women’s “worth” is tied to their status as virgins or “sexually pure” and how women who are not “pure” are shamed in societies. You also need to reflect on how rape has been characterized as simply an “unfortunate consequence” of war—this is not true, of course; rape does not “just happen.”
Why could the words and actions of Japanese officials and government be interpreted as attempts to further silence them?

During World War II, 80,000 to 200,000 Korean women were tricked into leaving their homes for what the Japanese government told them would be factories in which to work. Most of these Korean girls were in their teenage years, yet some were as young as twelve. They were chosen from their families to go work for the Japanese government in what they thought would be factories. Little did they know, but soon each girl would succumb to rape, abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, drug addictions, unbearable miscarriages, and death. These girls would later become known as Comfort Women, who were chosen as sex slaves to Japanese soldiers fighting in the war. Girls would be raped up to thirty times a day, satisfying one soldier right after the other. They were beaten and slapped until nearly dead by soldiers and officers who took pleasure in raping them. Those who did not commit suicide barely survived and/or were brutally murdered by soldiers. As this occurrence was wide-spread and well known throughout all of Asia, surprisingly, no Comfort Women chose to tell of their grievances or stand up to the Japanese government for doing this to the women of Korea. It was not until the late 1980's in which these traumatic stories started to be told.

Korean Comfort Women were silent for so many years because they were frowned upon in society as "unpure" if they had admitted to being a sex slave, or having sex with hundreds upon hundreds of soldiers. Another contributing factor could also be because it is not a woman's place in society to stand up and become verbal in any situation. A woman's role is to stand behind her husband, and never to question his authority. Past Comfort Women most likely chose not to expose their experiences simply because it was too painful emotionally to recollect and tell of their horrific experiences. 

In Asian cultures, a woman's worth may be based on her purity sexually. Women who are not virgins are looked down on in society, no matter the circumstance as to how they became "impure." At these camps, the girls who were virgins had the highest status, until after about five months, in which their status just dwindled after that. They were made to look like prostitutes. Even today, the Japanese government tries to portray the idea that the Korean girls became Comfort Women because they needed the money. So why would a woman want to put herself in the position of being shamed in society? That is why they stayed silent. The girls were stripped of the purity in which their culture so greatly valued. And to make matters worse, the past Comfort Women who tried to become normal members of the society once again after WWII could not assimilate comfortably despite their efforts. This is because many couldn't even have children, since the Japanese made conceiving nearly impossible. 

What appalls me the most is that the cases of the Comfort Women of WWII don't seem to be of any concern to the Japanese government whatsoever. They have been caught red handed and still are denying all accusations. They have used the excuse that they did not all know what was happening, or that these Korean women were not forced into prostitution, but more or less, they volunteered for the job. The pride of the Japanese government is over their heads and justice needs to be served to the Korean Comfort Women. The Japanese government has made it seem as if the rapes were just an "unfortunate consequence of the war," but nothing about this passive statement is moral. It is most definitely an understatement, by all means. I believe the Japanese refuse to admit their ties to Comfort Women because they initially lost the war. I feel they are sympathetic to themselves, and no one else. They could care less about the women who were scarred physically and emotionally for life. To be put into easier terms, the Japanese soldiers felt that everyone lost the war, so everyone was effected negatively somehow. And unfortunately, the Korean Comfort Women were caught under this umbrella of most traumatic experiences. I feel that still even today, the Japanese government attempts to silence the Korean Comfort Women because it would hurt the reputation of the country as a whole. They cannot risk admitting their mistakes in WWII, and therefore, must continue to deny all accusations made.Of course the Japanese government has given some compensation to the Comfort Women and their families, but all efforts were made towards individuals, and not to the Korean Comfort Women as a whole. They have yet to receive a public apology from the Japanese government, and being paid individually just further supports ideas in these women actually being prostitutes. 

Justice must be served to the Korean Comfort Women of WWII, as well as to all other girls who were tricked into sex slavery by the Japanese government. And most of all, these women deserve  a full acceptance back into society, as they were forced to have sex and should not be blamed for it. Their "impurity" is at the fault of the Japanese government, and they do not deserve to be excluded from society.