Author: Ilse Lenz, Fakultät für Sozialwissenschaft, Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Abstract: »During the Asia Pacific War (1937-1945), the Japanese Imperial Army forced women in Japanese East Asian colonies to work as so-called "comfort women" (sex workers). The justice movement for these women is an international intersectional alliance of feminists from Japanese ex-colonies in East Asia, the former colonial power Japan, and other societies, such as Australia, Germany, and the USA. This long-term feminist justice movement has campaigned for an apology and compensation from the Japanese government, as well as for recognition of "comfort women's" suffering and of sexual violence in war in cultural memory. Through researching this justice movement from a processual intersectionality perspective, this paper shows that it gained power and legitimacy from reflecting and working on its internal intersectional inequalities. This included reflecting on the class hierarchies between many former "comfort women", who had power of definition, and intellectual feminist activists, as well as on the postcolonial divide between former Japanese colonies and the former colonial power Japan, leading it to develop horizontal cooperation and practices. Following an overview, the paper outlines the movements in South Korea, Japan, and Germany, and highlights the different postcolonial constellation between East Asia and Germany, the main actors, and their aims. While the Japanese government rejected the justice movement's demands and the right wing mobilised against it, has been able to influence cultural memory to widely recognize sexual violence in war and the dignity of the "comfort women".« (Source: Peripherie)

Wikipedia: History of Asia: History of Japan / Shōwa era | History of Asia: History of Korea / Japanese occupation of Korea | History of Europe: History of Germany | Prostitution: Forced prostitution / Comfort women | Sex and the law: Wartime sexual violence / Wartime sexual violence in World War II | War: Pacific War / Japanese war crimes