The Issue of Comfort Women Part 3

 

The issue of Comfort Women Continued

The argument has continued on YouTube. I have no words for this person’s attitude towards the women. Actually, I do, but most of them should not be uttered in polite society, and I’ve said everything I need to say in a civil way in my response to them.

 

The Issue of Comfort Women

Two days ago was International Women’s Day, and I came across a video on YouTube posted two years ago about comfort women. It reminds me of the fact that even though it’s been sixty six years since the end of the Second World War, there’s been no official apology for women who were forced to be sex slaves for the invading Japanese armies. There was a whole lot of furor about this a couple of years back, but it’s since then died down.

That’s what’s most disturbing. I think that it’s still there at the back of our consciousness, but no one is talking about it. No one is talking about Japan’s refusal to take responsibility and apologize for what was done sixty six years ago. As we all know, anti-semitism and holocaust denial brings in a lot of backlash, but what about denying this other holocaust that happened in the east, in China, Taiwan, Korea, the Philippines and other places in South East Asia? What about those women in these countries that were forced to serve Japanese soldiers as sex slaves? They occasionally make the news, but it’s more like once every three years. Whenever the Chinese complain about this injustice, some people argue that we have no right to complain because the Communist regime killed a lot more Chinese than the Japanese did.

Although it’s true, it’s completely beside the point. Does the fact that someone else killed more people negate the fact that the Japanese murdered millions in cold blood and treated these women in an unspeakable manner? Of course it doesn’t.

I don’t want to hate Japan. Hate is such a tiring emotion. I don’t want to punish them either. I’ll leave the punishing to God (gods, whatever), and at any rate, most of the individuals who deserve punishment are already dead. However, these women deserve justice. The fact that they’re being denied an apology is an outrage and an insult towards women everywhere, because by doing so, the Japanese government is condoning rape as an appropriate weapon and activity in war, which is most definitely is not. I just want them to admit that what was done was wrong, and stop honouring their war criminals, which they still do. It’s like the equivalent of the German government honouring Hitler, which it does not do. Should this be tolerated? I can’t decide for you, but I certainly won’t stand for it.

As an individual, there is not much I can do except speak out, both with my words and with my wallet. I am boycotting Japanese goods, and I have been since 2005. I refuse to buy Japanese cars and I won’t watch Japanese shows. I would rather pay more for a European or American car than let my money help fund a government that refuses to admit that mass gang rapes are atrocities.

Video by koreanblog.

An update:

For those of you who are longtime readers of my blog, I guess you’d know that I’m one of those people who have to debate. I left a comment on the video under TelcontarRulz, and here’s the ensuing discussion:

Needless to say, I am beyond disgusted by the attitude of this other person.

 

About Surreality

ANNOUNCEMENT

From May, I will be blogging at The Style Tangent . I felt it was time for me to combine my many interests into one single blog. I’ll leave this one up, but from now on, Surreality won’t be updated. Thanks for the years of support, and I hope to see you guys over at ‘Tangent’!

This is a blog where the line between reality and fiction blurs. It is a writer’s blog after all. Here, I will practise writing descriptive passages that lead nowhere. I might post a couple of chapters of my fanfiction and then get bored and leave you to read the rest of it here instead. I’ll rant, and I’ll wonder, I’ll rave and I’ll gush. Basically, anything goes. It doesn’t even have to make sense.

 

I honestly can’t think of a title for this post–at the moment, at any rate. Anyway, I was reading a fashion magazine as I drank my first cup of tea of the day this…errr…afternoon, and it got me thinking about what it means to be a woman in the modern world. This is probably just going to a slightly random feminist rant, so if this is not your thing then…well, I’m not forcing you to read on.

I turned twenty one last year, and people have started telling me about what I should expect ‘when I get married’ and all that stuff. It’s like it’s expected that I will get married. Bear in mind that I’m a girl who hasn’t even dated yet, and the last time I was interested in dating was when I was sixteen and having a crush on one of my classmates. Ah, yes, I was so young back then.

I remember there was a time when I was terrified I wouldn’t find a guy (excuse my unenlightened fourteen year old self). That coincided with a time when I wasn’t very confident about my own abilities and under the belief that the ideal life for a woman was one in the home. Stereotypes really influenced me back then.

However, I’ve changed. As I grew older, I read about strong women –successful women– who were happier single than married. I’m not saying that raising kids who can contribute to society is not a success in itself, but I’ve been thinking that perhaps this is not the type of success I want to have.

Not every woman is well-suited to being a mother. Some probably shouldn’t have had children because they clearly don’t like what being a mother entails. I’m not naming anyone here, but I’m just saying I have met women like that, and their kids suffer for it. It’s not about bossing people around, being a mother. It’s about learning about this person you’ve created, who might be fundamentally different from you and might even have opposing viewpoints, and learning to compromise with and love this person unconditionally. It’s about learning that you’re wrong about some things and totally right about others. It’s about sacrifice and being content with the consequences of having children.

When I think about my own mother, I think about how she gave up a career she loved and flourished in to become a housewife after moving thousands of miles away from her entire family just so that her kids and her husband might have better opportunities. I think about a woman who made herself learn maths (even though she didn’t like it at all at school) so that she could tutor her children and make maths class easier for them. I think about a woman who cooks everyday even though she hates cooking, and picks up after three messy people without complaining–much, anyway. I just don’t think I can do that. I can’t see myself giving up everything and dedicating myself to a man. I can’t see myself sacrificing so much for my –thankfully non-existent– kids.

But does that mean I’m not a proper woman? No. I simply want different things, and the modern world and its infrastructure allows a woman to do what she wants. Sure, a woman can’t have everything. I read in a magazine that the most successful women, career wise, are mostly divorced or never been married. You gotta choose, but does choosing my career make me any less of a woman?

I’ve reached the age when people always ask me whether I have a boyfriend or not, and when my grandmother starts nagging me about finding a boyfriend or else I’ll end up old and single and lonely, because older women have more difficulties finding husband and bla bla bla. I’ve actually been tempted to tell her that I prefer girls just to get her to stop (there isn’t anything wrong with girls liking girls; I just don’t happen to be one of those girls).  

Even a friend of mine, who is younger than me, told me that I am emotionally immature for not wanting to settle down with a mate. I am not fundamentally opposed to the idea of marrying, as long as I’ve found the right guy who’s worthy of such devotion. However, marrying for the sake of marrying? No thanks. I don’t need a man to complete me, and I’d rather be single and devoted to my career than trapped by a lukewarm marriage. Luckily, my other grandmother is busy nagging my older cousins, so I’m way too far down the line in terms of age for her to get to me in the next five years.

When it comes down to it, being a woman doesn’t mean that you are destined to settle down with a guy, marry him whether you like him or not, pop out a couple of kids and raise them. There should not be a definition for what being a proper woman means these days, and as far as I am concerned, there isn’t. As a woman, I can have a high powered career that can rival any man’s. I can choose to stay single and not raise a family, just like any man. I can choose to have a kid without man. I can dress in whatever I like however I like –short of indecent exposure, that is– and I can think and act in ways that are not considered to be proper for a traditional woman. However, as long as I feel like a woman, I am a proper woman. Feminity is not a limitation. It is a something that I was born with, and that I’m going to relish.