2017 Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, Genders and Sexualities

June 01 - 04, 2017

Between 1932 and 1945, the Japanese military established comfort stations throughout its occupied territories where “comfort women” were coerced into positions of military sexual servitude. After a South Korean survivor of this system first spoke out in 1991, advocates have worked to publicize this history and have called for accountability from the Japanese government. The testimonies of victims and archival records inform an internationally shared understanding of the comfort system as a system of military sexual slavery. However, historical revisionism disavowing the suffering of “comfort women” and the responsibilities of the Japanese government have considerable force in Japan and in Japanese communities in the U.S. This interdisciplinary panel considers the history of Japanese and Korean “comfort women” to address contemporary debates about this system. Onozawa focuses on the historical records of Japanese “comfort women” who are often ignored in broader discussions. By examining their case histories, she highlights the connection between human trafficking and wartime sexual slavery. Kim critically examines recent feminist critiques arguing that the depiction of majority of Korean “comfort women” as young girls imposes a “model victims” figuration. She explores the terms for conversations amongst feminists about “comfort women.” Based on her fieldwork with the Japanese right-wing, Yamaguchi investigates how the “comfort women” issue works as a mobilizing theme for historical revisionists, both in Japan and in the U.S.