Speaker: Zi Ye, Department of History, University of Hawaii at Manoa / Ke Kulanui o Hawaiʻi ma Mānoa

Abstract: »“Military comfort women” was a distinctive institution where the victims suffered from a combination of wartime sexual exploitation, abuse and slavery. “Comfort stations” emerged in 1932 during the First Shanghai Incident as an improvised solution by Japanese field commands, meant to tackle rape and venereal diseases among soldiers. Beginning in 1938, this practice was transformed into a formal institution with standardized procedures regulated and sanctioned by the Japanese bureaucracy and military. By closely examining primary sources, this paper traces the early institutionalization of “military comfort women” while highlighting the roles played by the Japanese bureaucracy and various civilian human trafficking networks. By doing so, this paper attempts to bring attention to under-discussed actors and agents that were indispensable in making and perpetuating the institution of “military comfort women” during the Asia-Pacific War.« (Source: Online Program)

Wikipedia: History of Asia: History of China / History of the Republic of China | History of Asia: History of Japan / Shōwa era | Prostitution: Forced prostitution / Comfort women | Sex and the law: Wartime sexual violence / Wartime sexual violence in World War II | War: Second Sino-Japanese War and Pacific War / Japanese war crimes