“I find that the best way to learn and really understand how complex the issue is is to look at the intersectional discrimination — that they were women, they were women in a patriarchal society, they were colonized women, they were poor women — and it put them in a particular situation that made it possible not only for a system of sexual slavery to be envisioned but also to have the utter impunity around the crimes that had been committed against these women. And to this day people look askance at them, even in Korea. It’s not a straightforward issue, even though it’s often represented as an “ethnic issue” between two countries… you can see how systemic oppression shaped these women’s lives from beginning to finish and the way that they continue to be retraumatized by the fact that they are not recognized by the Japanese government [and] that they are not recognized by people in their own society.”
– Angela Lytle
In this episode, I speak with Angela Lytle about the history and ongoing struggle of the so-called “comfort women.” During and in the years leading up to World War II, the Japanese Army mobilized more than 200,000 women from across Asia into sexual slavery. Survivors continue to struggle today with the trauma they endured during that time and are still demanding justice and recognition from the Japanese government.
Angela is a feminist activist and human rights educator who works internationally with the “comfort women” support movement. She is also the Executive Director of the Women’s Human Rights Education Institute.
On Tuesday, March 25th at the Univesity of British Columbia she will join other scholars and practitioners from Vancouver, Seoul, and Toronto to unpack the links between the “comfort women” and the various forms of sexual violence experienced by women across the world today. The workshop is free and open to the public but you have to register online at: https://comfortwomen.eventbrite.ca/
For more on Angela’s work on this issue, visit: www.politicsoftrauma.com
