comfort women

Invasion of the Body Snatchers: Sexual Trafficking in the United States

Posted on September 22, 2014October 30, 2014 by kathiemm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtIdtXZ6Ks8

Invasions can be carried out by many noxious forces: bombs, soldiers with weapons, armed police, poisonous smog, polluted waters, bacteria, viruses, etc. We know these things.

But how about sexual traffickers and their customers? Men (almost exclusively) for whom trafficked girls and boys may be little more than dehumanized receptacles for their sexual satisfaction—are they not invaders too?

Human trafficking victims, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services, “often come from countries or communities with high rates of crime, poverty, and corruption; lack opportunities for education; lack family support (e.g., orphaned, runaway/thrown-away, homeless, family members collaborating with traffickers); and/or have a history of physical and/or sexual abuse.” In other words, some of the most vulnerable people in this country and elsewhere, instead of receiving services, are forced into sexual slavery.

Human trafficking, particularly sexual trafficking, began receiving increased media attention following World War II, when Japan’s forcing women and girls to become “Comfort Women”—a practice that has been labeled a war crime—became known. On July 30, 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution calling for Japan to “acknowledge, apologize and accept historical responsibility…for its military’s coercion of women into sexual slavery during the war.”

In the United States today, sexual trafficking flourishes—including in our nation’s capital. Thousands of girls, boys, and women—at least as many as the women forced into sexual slavery in Japan—are raped daily.Do we see a little hypocrisy here?

Billions of our tax dollars are spent on the invasion of other countries in order to benefit the military—industrial complex, but programs and agencies committed to reducing sexual slavery and its aftereffects are woefully underfunded. Are priorities a bit skewed?

Sexual trafficking in the United States is not state-sponsored as it was in Japan, but it is largely tolerated. The powers-that-be seem unable to find ways to make a profit from ending trafficking and are unable to find other reasons to do so. Time to speak up?

Military sexual assault, redux

Posted on May 23, 2013May 29, 2013 by kathiemm

Preventing sexual assault Navy poster — Image in public domain.

The Japanese government has formally apologized for forcing women seized from China, South Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Taiwan to act as “comfort women” (sex slaves) for the military during World War II.

Recently, Toru Hashimoto, mayor of Osaka, Japan, sparked considerable rage by saying that wartime brothels “were necessary…to maintain discipline in the army,” and suggesting that the former comfort women were part of “the tragedy of war.”

Similar views, although somewhat less explicit, can be found in the American military establishment.

In response to a Pentagon report indicating that military sexual crimes against women in uniform are increasing and that only a small percentage of the cases are being prosecuted, U.S. General Martin Dempsey suggested that the problem may be linked to the strains of war.

His remarks also provide evidence of a readiness to excuse sexual assaults committed by members of the military: “If a perpetrator shows up in a court martial with a rack of ribbons and has four deployments and a Purple Heart [Medal], there is certainly the risk that we might be a little too forgiving of that particular crime.”

The good news is that the problem of sexual assaults on American women (and men) in uniform is once again getting some attention in the mainstream corporate media and that several women Senators are pursuing the issue.

The absolute failure of the military to solve the problem with educational programs and trained personnel is all too obvious when officers conducting the training perpetrate sexual violence themselves.

Sexual assaults are one more example of the kinds of aggression tolerated in a culture of violence. Apologies are not enough. Justifications are abominable. Abstract educational programs are useless. Time for a Zero Tolerance program for all kinds of violence.

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology

Posted on May 20, 2013May 27, 2013 by kathiemm

By guest author Dot Walsh

Comfort women peace rally — Peace rally with “comfort women” and friends at Japanese embassy in Korea. Photo by Andrea LeBlanc; used with permission.

Comfort women were women and girls forced into prostitution by the Japanese government during World War II. The name “comfort women” was taken from a Japanese word meaning prostitute.

In reality these women were sex slaves for the military. The recruitment was not voluntary but often involved being kidnapped from countries taken over by the Japanese army.

A recent article in the New York Times highlighted a speech given by Mr. Hashimoto, the mayor of Osaka, who maintained that “comfort women” served a useful purpose: “When soldiers are risking their lives by running through storms of bullets, and you want to give these emotionally charged soldiers a rest somewhere, it’s clear that you need a comfort women system.”

In 2007, Andrea LeBlanc and I joined Japanese peacemakers in Korea on a journey modeled after the Peace Abbey’s Stonewalk. The intention of the Japanese was to apologize for the atrocities committed against the Korean people including the tragedy of the “comfort women.”

During the journey we visited a home for the aging “comfort women,” many of whom had never been able to marry or have a normal life because of the stigma of what had happened to them. We were invited to stay overnight and to meet the women who lived there. On the property is a museum with graphic pictures of the events that brought them to this place. Many of the survivors bear emotional scars that have never healed.

The following day we pulled the stone to the front door of the Japanese embassy where a vigil is held every week. For Andrea and me, it was an honor to be in the company of these women whose gentle spirits and commitment to speaking truth to power was inspiring.

During the occupation as many as 200,000 or more women (estimated numbers) were confined as sex slaves.

Dot Walsh, longtime peace activist