Comfort Women Experience

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Comfort Women Experiences
Introduction
Comfort women can be termed as the women and girls forced into more of what can be termed as prostitution corps derived by the Japanese empire during World War II. This paper therefore entails a concise evaluation of the experience perceived by the comfort women by discussing the life`s experience by a Dutch Comfort Woman Jan O'Herne and some of Korean comfort women's experience. This research paper also intends to discuss how the women, in terms of gender and race, were discriminated against by the Japanese Army and used as sex slaves. It also includes a detailed overview of what the Japanese government has done (an apology) towards the comfort women as well as determining whether there are any statues or laws passed in regards to the comfort women. The estimated number however varies from one researcher to another, particularly with respect to the nationality of a researcher. For instance, majority of Japanese scholars term the number to average on 20,000 victims whereas Chinese scholars claim the number to be as extensive as 410,000 victims. One of my primary resources will be an overview of Jan Ruff-O`Herne`s past experience, who speaks of her experiences of being a comfort woman. Jan was the age of 13 when she thought she was leaving home to work in the factories for the Japanese military. In addition, a concise research on Korean comfort women`s experience will be opted to and the two research findings compared to determine the general similarity and difference.[C. Sarah Soh. The Comfort Women: Sexual Violence and Postcolonial Memory in Korea and Japan. p. 215] [Rose 2005, Women and World War II - Comfort Women, p. 88.]
Research on Jan O`Herne
Born in java, in Indonesia (formerly identified as Dutch East Indies) back in the year 1923, O`Herne grew up in a Christian family where got her early education in a catholic school later to join and graduate from Franciscan Teacher`s college. At the age of 19, her town Java was invaded by Japanese troops where Jan together with other thousands of girls and women were captured and secluded in a prison camp for approximately three and half years. While on the second year of captivity, some top ranking Japanese officers joined the camp. The ladies above 17 years were ordered to line up at the assembly grounds for selection process. According to Jan, "They paced up and down the line, eyeing us up and down, looking at our figures, at our legs, lifting our chins. They selected ten pretty girls. I was one of ten. We were told to come forward, and pack a small bag, as we were to be taken away. The whole camp protested, and our mothers tried to pull us back. I embraced my mother not knowing if I was ever going to see her again. We were hurled into an army truck. We were terrified and clung to our bags and to each other "(O`Herne 2007). The destination was in the city of Semarang where all the ladies were welco...