THE COMFORT WOMEN

• Author: Reviewed by Donna K Hawey
• Pages: 06

I first saw the term "comfort women" ~n 1995 in a local newspa-per article It referred to Asian women who had been forced into prostitution by the Japanese Army dunng Koorld Vim 11. The article related that surv~\-ors were sumg the Japanese go~ernment, seeking restitution for their ordeal I was outraged that such a thing had happened to these women. Then, a number of questions came to mmd. Who were these \somen? JVhhy were those responsible for this atrocity not prosecuted after the 4ar? \\I)-has It taken so long for the u'omen to receive restitution7 George Hicks answers these ques. tion8 in his book The Comfort Women.

George Hicks also first became aware of the comfort women through a newspaper article Mr Hicks 1s an economiEt and %?iter who lives in .iustralia and Singapore He has had a lifelong interest in Asian history. After reading a 1591 article. Mr Hicks began contacting friends and colleagues knowledgeable 1x1 Asian history and politics for any information on the subject it was like pulling on a thread The more he inqmred, the more the story unraveled before him

The itor: of the comfort women actually was an open secret in 80me areas of Asia As early as 1962, an Asian journalmt, Senda Kako, came BCTOL~

Japanese wartime photographs of women Identified as comfort women while doing research on the nar Intrigued, he searched for more information on these women He and other Asian writers published their findings in Asian language nemrpa. pers and books F$hle the: and Asian activists knew the story of the comfort women, it %as not until the early 1990s that the gener.

81 public in the Weest began reading about the comfort women It was not until 1952 that the Japanese e ~ e n admitted the comfort

women existed

Who mere theae women? Survibora tell their own stories throughout the book. The stories are shockingly blunt They are told m unadorned, straight forward language The) are stories of young women and g~rls abducted or decelved Into sexual slaver)- far the

le for the Bermla biorhels for the aar crme of

l'v3y has it taken so long for the women to receive restitution? Mr, Hicks focuses on the personal and palmcal reasons far the delay. On a personal level the women sere afraid to come forward because of well.iounded fears ai rejection In Asian societies chastity has always been re\ered Loss oivirgimty, even by rape means a life ai ostracism aith little chance of marnage. This attitude in turn leads to poverty because in most Asian...