Comfort Women Stories (3) 慰安婦的故事(三) 慰安婦の物語(三)

24Mar07

Something different…. Taiwanese sex slaves dress up to realize dream of weddings (April 19, 2006 Associated Press)

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwanese women forced into prostitution by Japan’s military more than six decades ago put on wedding gowns Tuesday to celebrate the nuptials they never had.
The women are part of a shrinking group of “comfort women” — forced into sexual slavery by Japan’s military — in several parts of Asia during World War II.
After Japan ended its 50-year occupation of Taiwan in 1945, many of the women were rejected as “damaged goods” by their relatives and never found a spouse, said the Women’s Rescue Foundation, the rights group which organized Tuesday’s event.
Six women — ranging in age from 82 to 90 — came together in Taipei to put on white wedding dresses, hold bouquets and have their pictures taken.
“People of our age didn’t dare dream of having a wedding, but now the day has come, and I like it a lot,” said Wu Hsiu-mei, the oldest member of the group.
Taiwan has 28 of the women left, with an average age of 84, according to the foundation.

Some Youtube videos on the Comfort Women:
1.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GkS3ViToGA
(Survivor:Cook Islands Winner Yul Kwon on his support for US Res.121 on the Comfort Women)
2.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX9R0G_tAiI
(Filipino Comfort Women 1999)
3.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puatBulznZs
(Taiwanese Comfort Women: 60 yrs of Pain and Tears)

PS: Just to be balanced, I would like to point out that not only the Japanese military but other countries soldiers and civilians also raped women in large numbers during WW2. For example, The Russian Red Army was particularly hideous in its conduct in the immediate postwar period. The Russian Military raped many German women after the collapse of Nazi Germany when its forces entered and occupied Germany and many Japanese women were raped by the Russians as well when it entered and occupied former Manchuria. Many Japanese civilians did not have time to escape given that evacuation orders were only sent a couple of days before the surrender of Japan. It is said that some Korean and Chinese men also raped Japanese women in revenge in the chaos of the immediate postwar period.
Of cos, in conflicts since WW2, the rape of women has become part and parcel of almost every other conflict with names like Bosnia, Rwanda, and East Timor coming to mind….
Rape in War was, Is, and, Will Always be a Weapon….an Unacceptable and Demeaning Weapon…

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