How Did The Japanese Imperial Army Dehumanize Korean Comfort Women

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This investigation will explore the question: To what extent did the Japanese Imperial Army dehumanize and sexualize Korean Comfort Women by way of forced prostitution in the 1930’s and 1940’s? The limited 20 year time range allows for a focus on the development of comfort camps, procurement of women and the sexualization of the Korean women’s femininity. The first source to be evaluated, and the most important for the analysis of my central question, is Yuki Tanaka’s book “Japan’s Comfort Women: Sexual Slavery and Prostitution during World War II and the US Occupation.” The origin of this book is valuable because Tanaka is a history professor, specializing in Japan’s wartime activities, at Hiroshima University in Japan. Throughout his career, Tanaka has written extensively on Japan’s war crimes, publishing five books addressing Japan’s criminal …show more content…

As a professor of Japan’s history of war crimes, as well as his origin and residency being in Japan, Tanaka is very knowledgeable on the subject of the Comfort Camps as a war crime. The date of publication for “Japan’s Comfort Women” is 2002, only a few years after the international outbreak and recognition of the Comfort Women History. This strengthens Tanaka’s validity as he wrote his book with the most up to date facts there were on the War Crimes, including the recently published testimonies of Comfort Women survivors. The content in “Japan’s Comfort Women” explores the origin of the system, procurement and ethnicities of women, and the United States role in the Comfort Women system. Tanaka presents his evidence in a chronological fashion in order to stress the harsh lifestyle the camps produced

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