Comfort Women in World War II

Society in general is aware of the impact that war has on participants and takes the steps needed to help them. “Comfort women” who were subjected to military sexual slavery weren’t given the same treatment. Comfort women suffered while they were kept in comfort stations and after the war. Japan is obligated to pay compensation and give a formal apology to the comfort women for the mistreatment during the World War II by the Japanese soldiers.

There were a few reasons the Japanese Military established comfort stations. Comfort stations have existed since 1932 to 1945; it was planned and designed by the Supreme Commander of the Japanese Army. The comfort stations were located wherever the Japanese army was based. It was established after Japanese soldiers raped very young girls, elderly women, pregnant women and even corpses in Nanjing, China which became known as the Rape of Nanjing. Japanese didn’t want reports of Japanese soldiers committing rape because that would bring shame to Japan. Another reason was provide “comfort” to the soldiers to keep them on the battlefield for a long time. Also, they worried about the diseases the soldiers might get infected with by raping unknowns or used common prostitutes. For that reason the women were forced to submit to medical exams to make sure they didn’t have any disease or infection. The last reason was that since comfort women were isolated then they weren’t able to communicate any military secrets and prevent dangerous spies. Aniko Vargas says, “It is particularly ironic that, according to the official justification, systematic rape of woman from other occupies territories was instituted in order to avoid random rape” (Vargas 290). In short, according to the Japanese military comfort stations were established to stop the soldiers from raping women but the comfort women issue is one of the most serious war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The Japanese Military tricked comfort women and their families because they needed enough women to provide sexual services to millions of Japanese soldiers. Japanese soldiers forced around 200,000 women into protected facilities known as comfort stations. Most of the women were from Korea and other Eastern Asian countries like China, Burma, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, East Timor, Thailand islands in the Pacific. For the most part the women were between the ages of 12 and 30. Women were promised better jobs as nurses, waitresses or maids. When recruiters did mention the comfort stations, they changed the nature of it. For that reason women assumed that comfort service consisted of visiting sick or injured soldiers and making them happy. There were also advertisements in the Chinese newspaper that called for women between seventeen and twenty eight. The women were promised payment of more than $150. Women were sometimes even purchased from their families if they family owned some kind of debt. Others on their way to school were abducted. Some were taken from their own homes and family members were killed if they tried to stop Japanese soldiers from taking the women. Kelly D. Askin says, “Families who did refuse to turn over their daughters were killed and the girls were taken away anyway. Indeed, before being abducted many girls saw their fathers beheaded or parents otherwise horribly abused” (Askin 17). Local leaders were ordered to get girls from ages 12 to 22 and deliver them to the Japanese forces for “work”. If the women refused, the Japanese threatened to destroy their village and everyone living in it. Police forces also contributed by arresting women and girls in the streets and forcing them into comfort stations. A few licensed prostitutes were brought to the comfort stations but the living conditions in the facilities and the mistreatment were so harsh that they too became sexual slaves. Furthermore, not only did they tricked them and forced them into comfort stations but they were treated even more ruthlessly when they were forced to give sexual service to the Japanese Military.

The Japanese military mistreated comfort women and their living conditions were horrible. Kelly D. Askin says, “Referring to the institution as a comfort system, naming the venue brothel, or linking the activity to prostitution attempts to transform the crime into something which may have some form of legitimacy by inferring that choice was involved” (Askin 15). Women held in comfort stations were forced to provide sex to twelve to thirty men a day and were subjected to different forms and means of sexual violence like oral, vaginal, and anal rape, sexual humiliation, and nudity. If they refused to provide sexual services they were beaten, tortured or killed. Victims often became pregnant and they usually miscarriage because of beatings or were forced to abort. The conditions of where they were being held were horrible. They were placed in a small space where there was only a bed, mattress or mat on the floor. There was little food, water, sanitary conditions and medical care. Many died from diseases, infections, abortions, starvation or because of the violence. They were treated badly treated for numerous reasons like if they didn’t satisfy the soldier, caught diseases or got pregnant, tried to escape or to make an example of them when new women arrived. When the women caught a disease or suffered from malnutrition, the soldiers threw them into the sea or soaked them with gasoline and burned them alive. They were murdered sexualized for instance by being rape with a broken glass, bottles or fire crackers inserted in their vaginas. When the soldier considered a woman useless he would insert a gun into her vagina and blow her apart. Also since comfort women followed the armed forces into all areas of the battle, a lot of comfort women were killed in the fighting. At the end of the war, a lot of comfort women were abandoned and left to on their own even if they nowhere near their home country. In addition, around twenty-five percent of the comfort women survived at the end of war but war was not over for them.

When survivors returned to their village they were rejected by their own people. Some comfort women that escaped or were saved and sent back home by the Allied forces returned to their villages and the villagers spat on their faces for being comfort women to the Japanese and were despised as a disgrace to the family. Their culture and their families saw them responsible for their tragedies and forced them to suffer in shame and silence. Aniko Varga says, “..for nationalist, the very existence of surviving “comfort women”, defying the traditional female vistue of chastity, proves somewhat embarrassing and shameful” (Varga 288). Even criminal justice system treats victims of sex crimes different from victims of other crimes. They treat the victim as if her clothing, behavior or body language provoked the attack. Kelly D. Askin says, “Since time immemorial, survivors of sexual violence have been forced to endure misplaced shame, stigma, ostracism, and other injustices simply because the crime committed against them is of a sexual nature” (Askin 8). In other words, society attaches shame on the victims instead of placing shame on the ones responsible for the crime. Comfort women didn’t have no one’s support when they returned home and found themselves without an education or job experience and many had no choice but to enter prostitution to survive. As a result of the cruel experiences the comfort women went through a lot of them couldn’t move on with their live and continued to suffer.

Even though the war was over the pain didn’t leave the survivors that made it out of the comfort stations alive. Many suffered pain from psychological and physical pain by the rapes. Some suffered from debilitating diseases because of repeated sexual and physical abuse. Others suffered from trauma or were sterile because of the drugs they were forced to take by the Japanese Military. Many survivors couldn’t make love and didn’t want to be touch by any man or even their husbands and most of them were not able to have babies as a result of the violence caused upon their bodies and some could never get marry. The memories stayed with them and a lot of comfort women couldn’t move on with their lives. They had feelings of having sinned which was the reason why they kept silence. For these reasons some committed suicide and others became insane. Kelly D. Askin quoted one of the stories of a survivor which is:
Three soldiers with rifles came to our house while the rest fanned out through the village. They burst in and grabbed me. My parents tried to rescue me but my father was kicked in the head. Blood went everywhere. I struggled as hard as I could, but I got kicked in the head too. I still have that scar…Then my panties were ripped off and one of the soldiers undid the front of his trousers. While the others held me down, he stuck his thing into me. I had no idea what he was trying to do. I knew nothing about the facts of life. I was only fifteen and hadn’t even had my first period.
It was agonizing. Blood came out. They did it on the kitchen floor, right in front of y parents and brother. Three soldiers did it to me in turns, and then they took me out and put me in one of the lorries along with some other girls from village…
This memory will stay with this survivor for the rest of her life and the experience she had in the comfort station. Instead of the Japanese government encouraging and helping the comfort women he refuses to take responsibility.

The problem has remained unsolved because of Japan’s ignorance. After Japan surrender, the Japanese Government and the army destroy all documents relating to the comfort system. Documents that were not destroyed were stored away were they were not unreachable. Women were instructed to be disguised as nurses, or were hidden in mental institutions. The only military tribunal concerning the issue of comfort women was in Batavia in 1948. Under the Dutch law, the Batavia trial convicted several Japanese officers for forcing 35 Dutch women into comfort stations but the other women were ignored. When some documents were found, Japan argued that during war there was neither slavery nor wartime rape. Also, Japan argued that the “comfort system” does not fall within the definition of slavery. In July 1992 the Japanese government was forced to admit his involvement in the issue but said that the comfort women had volunteer and were there on their own free will. After people protested against the report the Japanese government made another report on 1993 saying that comfort women was somewhat forced. Chih Chih Chou says that, “On April 27 the Yamaguchi District Court in southern Japan ruled that Japanese government should pay compensation 930,000 yen [2,272 dollars]) to the comfort women from South Korea…The Japanese government has refused to pay direct compensation to any woman” (Chou 162). In short, the Japanese government has done absolutely nothing to solve this issue; he has not even offered a formal apology or memorial for the comfort women.

Through these nearly fifty years one only heard whispers of the issue “comfort women” or it was unknown but now they are speaking up and telling their stories to the world to try to prevent these crimes again. A lot of women were raped repeatedly for a lot of years by the Japanese military until the Japanese surrendered. Many died because they were physically abused and for other reasons. When they returned home they were the ones that sinned and were the disgrace of their families according to their culture and religion. To this day Japan continues to deny any legal responsibility to the comfort women. The Japanese government is required to compensate and give a formal apology because this crime ruined and killed a lot of comfort women.

Outline
Intro
Paragraph #1: Reasons why comfort stations were established
Paragraph #2: Different ways comfort women were captured
Paragraph #3: How comfort women were mistreated in comfort stations
Paragraph #4: How survivors were rejected when they returned home
Paragraph #5: How comfort women were affected
Paragraph #6: Japan’s ignorance and Japanese government refusing to take responsibility.
Conclusion

Blog #5

Comfort Women in World War II

Society in general is aware of the impact that war has on participants and takes the steps needed to help them.  “Comfort women” who were subjected to military sexual slavery weren’t given the same treatment.  Comfort women suffered while they were kept in comfort stations and after the war.

            There were a few reasons the Japanese Military established comfort stations.  Comfort stations have existed since 1932 to 1945; it was planned and designed by the Supreme Commander of the Japanese Army.  The comfort stations were located wherever the Japanese army was based.  It was established after Japanese soldiers raped very young girls, elderly women, pregnant women and even corpses in Nanjing, China which became known as the Rape of Nanjing.  Japanese didn’t want reports of Japanese soldiers committing rape because that would bring shame to Japan.  Another reason was provide “comfort” to the soldiers to keep them on the battlefield for a long time.  Also, they worried about the diseases the soldiers might get infected with by raping unknowns or used common prostitutes.  For that reason the women were forced to submit to medical exams to make sure they didn’t have any disease of infection.  The last reason was that since comfort women were isolated then weren’t able to communicate any military secrets and prevent dangerous spies. 

The Japanese Military tricked comfort women and their families because they needed enough women to provide sexual services to millions of Japanese soldiers.  Japanese soldiers forced around 200,000 women into protected facilities known as comfort stations.  Most of the women were from Korea and other Eastern Asian countries like China, Burma, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, East Timor, Thailand islands in the Pacific.  For the most part the women were between the ages of 12 and 30.     Women were promised better jobs as nurses, waitresses or maids.  When recruiters did mention the comfort stations, they changed the nature of it.  For that reason women assumed that comfort service consisted of visiting sick or injured soldiers and making them happy.  There were also advertisements in the Chinese newspaper that called for women between seventeen and twenty eight.  The women were promised payment of more than $150.  Women were sometimes even purchased from their families if they family owned some kind of debt.  Others on their way to school were abducted.  Some were taken from their own homes and family members were killed if they tried to stop Japanese soldiers from taking the women.  Local leaders were ordered to get girls from ages 12 to 22 and deliver them to the Japanese forces for “work”.  If the women refused, the Japanese threatened to destroy their village and everyone living in it.  Police forces also contributed by arresting women and girls in the streets and forcing them into comfort stations.  A few licensed prostitutes were brought to the comfort stations but the living conditions in the facilities and the mistreatment were so harsh that they too became sexual slaves.

The Japanese military mistreated comfort women and their living conditions were horrible.  Women held in comfort stations were required to provide sex to twelve to thirty men a day and were subjected to different forms and means of sexual violence like oral, vaginal, and anal rape, sexual humiliation, and nudity. If they refused to provide sexual services they were beaten, tortured or killed.  Victims often became pregnant and they usually miscarriage because of beatings or were forced to abort.  The conditions of where they were being held were horrible.  They were placed in a small space where there was only a bed, mattress or mat on the floor.  There was little food, water, sanitary conditions and medical care.  Many died from diseases, infections, abortions, starvation or because of the violence.  They were treated badly treated for numerous reasons like if they didn’t satisfy the soldier, caught diseases or got pregnant, tried to escape or to make an example of them when new women arrived.  When the women caught a disease or suffered from malnutrition, the soldiers threw them into the sea or soaked them with gasoline and burned them alive.  They were murdered sexualized for instance by being rape with a broken glass, bottles or fire crackers inserted in their vaginas.  When the soldier considered a woman useless he would insert a gun into her vagina and blow her apart.  Also since comfort women followed the armed forces into all areas of the battle, a lot of comfort women were killed in the fighting.  At the end of the war, a lot of comfort women were abandoned and left to on their own even if they nowhere near their home country.  Around twenty-five percent of the comfort women survived at the end of war but war was not over for them.    

When survivors returned to their village they were rejected by their own people.  Some comfort women that escaped or were saved and sent back home by the Allied forces returned to their villages and the villagers spat on their faces for being comfort women to the Japanese and were despised as a disgrace to the family.  Their culture and their families saw them responsible for their tragedies and forced them to suffer in shame and silence.  Even criminal justice system treats victims of sex crimes different from victims of other crimes.  They treat the victim as if her clothing, behavior or body language provoked the attack.  In other words, society attaches shame on the victims instead of placing shame on the ones responsible for the crime.  Comfort women didn’t have no one’s support when they returned home and found themselves without an education or job experience and many had no choice but to enter prostitution to survive.     

Even though the war was over the pain didn’t leave the survivors that made it out of the comfort stations alive.  Many suffered pain from psychological and physical pain by the rapes.  Some suffered from debilitating diseases because of repeated sexual and physical abuse.  Others suffered from trauma or were sterile because of the drugs they were forced to take by the Japanese Military.  Many survivors couldn’t make love and didn’t want to be touch by any man or even their husbands and most of them were not able to have babies as a result of the violence caused upon their bodies and some could never get marry.  The memories stayed with them and a lot of comfort women couldn’t move on with their lives.  They had feelings of having sinned which was the reason why they kept silence.  For these reasons some committed suicide and others became insane.  

The problem has remained unsolved because of Japan’s ignorance.  After Japan surrender, the Japanese Government and the army destroy all documents relating to the comfort system.  Documents that were not destroyed were stored away were they were not unreachable. Women were instructed to be disguised as nurses, or were hidden in mental institutions.  When some documents were found, Japan argued that during war there was neither slavery nor wartime rape.  Also, Japan argued that the “comfort system” does not fall within the definition of slavery.  The Japanese Government believes that accepting responsibility would bring shame to the government.  On top of that, people that were aware of this problem and the victims have kept silence until recently. 

Through these nearly fifty years one only heard whispers of the issue “comfort women” but now they are speaking up and telling their stories to the world to try to prevent these crimes again.  A lot of women were raped repeatedly for a lot of years by the Japanese military until the Japanese surrendered.  Many died because they were physically abused and for other reasons.  When they returned home they were the ones that sinned and were the disgrace of their families according to their culture and religion.  The Japanese Government in 1993 admitted to having forced women into prostitution and agreed to hear testimony from earlier “comfort women”.  To this day Japan continues to deny any legal responsibility to the comfort women.     

Outline

Intro

Paragraph #1: Reasons why comfort stations were established

Paragraph #2: Different ways comfort women were captured

Paragraph #3: How comfort women were mistreated in comfort stations

Paragraph #4: How survivors were rejected when they returned home

Paragraph #5: How comfort women were affected

Paragraph #6: Japan’s ignorance

Conclusion

Blog #4

Comfort Women in World War II

Society in general is aware of the impact that war has on participants and takes the steps needed to help them.  This does not go the same with “Comfort women” who were subjected to military sexual slavery.  Comfort women suffered during and after the war and kept silence for a lot of years because they were afraid of the consequences and the Japanese Government deny any involved with the issue.      

            Comfort stations were established by Okamura Yasuji in March 23, 1932.  It was established after Japanese soldiers raped very young girls, elderly women, pregnant women and even corpses in Nanjing, china which became known as the Rape of Nanjing.  Japanese didn’t want reports of Japanese soldiers raping women in occupied territories because that would bring shame to Japan.  Also, they worried about the diseases they might get infected with by raping unknowns or used common prostitutes and in addition women would always be accessible to the soldiers.  The women were forced to submit to medical exams to make sure they didn’t have any disease of infection. 

To get enough women to provide sexual services to millions of Japanese soldiers they kidnapped, persuaded, tricked and forced around 200,000 women into protected facilities known as comfort stations.  Most of the women were from Korea and other Eastern Asian countries like China, Burma, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, East Timor, Thailand islands in the Pacific.    For the most part the women were between the ages of 12 and 30. 

Comfort women and their families were tricked.  There were advertisements in the Chinese newspaper that called for hostesses between seventeen and twenty eight.  The women were promised payment of more than $150.  Others on their way to school were abducted.  Some were taken from their own homes and if their parents tried to stop them the Japanese soldiers would kill them and still take the girl or woman. Some parents sold their daughters though.       

The Japanese military comfort women were treated ruthlessly.  Victims often became pregnant and they usually miscarriage because of beatings or were forced to abort.  The conditions of where they were being held were horrible.  There was little food, water, sanitary conditions and medical care.  Many died from diseases, infections, abortions, starvation or because of the violence.  They were treated badly treated for numerous reasons like if they didn’t satisfy the soldier, caught diseases or got pregnant, tried to escape or to make an example of them when new women arrived.  They were murdered sexualized for instance by being rape with a broken glass or having guns or fire crackers inserted in their vaginas.    

When survivors returned to their village they were rejected by their own people and were despised as a disgrace to the family.  When survivors returned home they were turn down by their families and friends.  Some women that made it out of the comfort stations alive returned to their villages and the villagers spat on their faces for being comfort women to the Japanese.  Their culture and their families forced them to keep silence. 

Even though the war was over the pain didn’t leave the women that made it out of the comfort stations alive.  Many suffered pain from psychological and physical pain by the rapes.  Some suffered from debilitating diseases because of repeated sexual and physical abuse.  Others suffered from trauma or were sterile because of the drugs they were forced to take by the Japanese Military.  Many survivors couldn’t make love and didn’t want to be touch by any mad even their husbands.  They had feelings of having sinned.       

Through these nearly fifty years one only heard whispers of the issue “comfort women” but now they are speaking up and telling their stories to the world to try to prevent these crimes again.  A lot of women were raped repeatedly for a lot of years by the Japanese military until the Japanese surrendered.  Many died because they were physically abused and for other reasons.  When they returned home they were the ones that sinned and were the disgrace of their families according to their culture and religion.     

Blog #3-Introduction

     When victims of war return home society usually take the steps needed to help them deal with their problems.  This is not the same with “comfort women” who were women survivors of Japanese military sexual slavery during World War II.  Women were used as a reward for the soldier’s effort on the battlefield.  A lot of these “comfort women” were from twelve to thirty years old.  They were raped repeatedly by soldiers and would get beaten for countless reasons.  Many comfort women died or were murdered.  The few that were able to make it out alive were rejected by their families and friends.  Criminal justice treats the survivors as if her clothing, style, behavior provoked the attack.  For that reason they kept silence and they felt a great shame and felt guilty.  The problem has remained unsolved because of Japan’s ignorance and the Japanese Government just covers up the past.  The Japanese Government described the “comfort women” as licensed prostitutes meaning that they had a choice to be there.  However now almost fifty years later survivors are taking the courage and speaking up to prevent these crimes from happening again.    

Annotated Bibliography (Blog #2) [revised]

Annotated Bibliography

I decided to do my paper on "Comfort Women" of World War II.  These are the sources I found.

Argibay, Carmen M. "Sexual Slavery and the "Comfort Women" of World War II." Berkeley Journal of International Law 21.2 (2003): 375. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 10 Oct. 2010.

This article talks about why the comfort system was created and how the comfort women were kidnapped and taken to these facilities were they would serve the Japanese Soldiers or get killed.  It describes the way the military excused these crimes by saying that it encourages the Japanese soldiers and brings up their spirit.

Askin, Kelly D. "Comfort women – Shifting shame and stigma from victims to victimizers." International Criminal Law Review 1.1/2 (2001): 5-32. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 10 Oct. 2010.

This article examines how comfort women suffered.  The article talks how the Japanese Government doesn’t want to take responsibility because it will bring shame to the government.  Also, the article has several stories of survivors.  The stories include how they were captured and treated, the conditions of the comfort stations and how a lot of comfort women were murdered.  Even the murder of a woman was sexualized like by being raped with a broken glass.

Cheah Wui, Ling. "Walking the Long Road in Solidarity and Hope: A Case Study of the "Comfort Women" Movement's Deployment of Human Rights Discourse." Harvard Human Rights Journal 22.1 (2009): 63-107. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 10 Oct. 2010.

This article analyzes how survivors came forward and told their stories that for so many years kept to themselves.  It talks about the comfort women movement that is trying to get the Japanese State to publicly apologize.  Also, how their own people rejected them and forced them to keep silence.

Chih-Chieh, Chou. "An Emerging Transnational Movement in Women's Human Rights: Campaign of Nongovernmental Organizations on "Comfort Women" Issue in East Asia." Journal of Economic & Social Research 5.1 (2003): 153-181. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 10 Oct. 2010.

This article examines the efforts of organizations on comfort women issue.  Also, the article gave a brief background of comfort women issue during and after World War II.    It describes the Japanese Government’s role and how he would react to the issue.  The problem was unsolved for all these years because of Japan’s ignorance.  In addition, assailants and victims kept silence.

Hein, Laura. "Savage Irony: The Imaginative Power of the 'Military Comfort Women' in the 1990s." Gender & History 11.2 (1999): 336. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 10 Oct. 2010.

This article analyses how comfort women were abused and human rights.  Also, it examines the comfort system and how it started.  The Japanese Government doesn’t want to take blame because he is scared that if he does it will criminalize Japanese masculinity.  For that reason he states that comfort women were prostitutes who volunteered.

Hirofumi, Hayashi. "Japanese comfort women in Southeast Asia." Japan Forum 10.2 (1998): 211. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 10 Oct. 2010.

This article analyzes how the comfort system was introduced to the military.  The system wasn’t unfamiliar to them because they used to use prostitutes.  Also, it has a lot of stories of comfort women.  A lot of them came from poor families who were promised a good job but instead were taken to the comfort stations were they were sexually abused.

Hyunah, Yang. "Finding the "Map of Memory": Testimony of the Japanese Military Sexual Slavery Survivors." positions 16.1 (2008): 79-107. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 10 Oct. 2010.

This article examines the reasons why no one talks about the history of the Japanese military sexual system.  It describes how the stories of comfort women were published.  They actually were interviewed and then it was translated to written English.  It describes how many comfort women couldn’t even say the word rape and most of them told a similar story starting how they were captured, how they were mistreated and after the war was over.

Michiko, Nakahara. "'COMFORT WOMEN' IN MALAYSIA." Critical Asian Studies 33.4 (2001): 581. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 10 Oct. 2010.

This article examines how Mustapha Yaakub came forward and called them victims to speak out.  He received letters from 3,500 people but was kept from submitting his report.  This article also has several stories of how girls and women were kidnapped and mistreated in comfort stations. 

Nelson, Hank. "The Consolation Unit:." Journal of Pacific History 43.1 (2008): 1-21. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 10 Oct. 2010.

This article examines how the Australians knew about the comfort system.  They knew there was several comfort.  There was a person who worked there by the name of Chouka who helped some women escaped.  Also, there were also stories about how the women had to behave to do their job and how some might have gotten infected with diseases.

Varga, Aniko. "National Bodies: The ‘Comfort Women’ Discourse and its Controversies in South Korea." Studies In Ethnicity & Nationalism 9.2 (2009): 287-303. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 10 Oct. 2010.

This article examines the victims of military sexual slavery.  The article gives background information of comfort women in World War II.  Comfort women issue received little attention in South Korea and it seemed to get more public attention in the 1990s.  The issue seems to be unimportant to a lot of people.  They thought that it could damage the nation’s pride.  The few comfort women that survived feel embarrassed and ashamed. Local police, village notables and school teachers took part the “slave hunt” even if they didn’t know.    

Annotated Bibliography (Blog #2)

Argibay, Carmen M. "Sexual Slavery and the "Comfort Women" of World War II." Berkeley Journal of International Law 21.2 (2003): 375. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 5 Oct. 2010.

This article examines how women were treated in World War II.  Women in war were used as sexual slaves and also women were forced into the comfort stations.

Acton, Carol. "Dangerous Daughters." War, Literature & the Arts: An International Journal of the Humanities 13.1/2 (2001): 87. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 5 Oct. 2010.

This article examines women’s war writing about the Vietnam War.  Also, it talks about how the nurses were treated and weren’t given credit for what they did.  They thought that because nurses weren’t doing the fighting and killing they didn’t know what war was.

Campbell, D'Ann. "Servicewomen Of World War II." Armed Forces & Society (0095327X) 16.2 (1990): 251-270. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 5 Oct. 2010.

This article discusses about how women took a part in World War II and the reasons why they joined the army. 

Parreñas, Juno. "Women and War." Lesbian News 29.8 (2004): 29. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 5 Oct. 2010.

This article examines how women were mistreated during war time. 

Pattinson, Juliette. "‘Playing the daft lassie with them’: Gender, Captivity and the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War." European Review of History 13.2 (2006): 271-292. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 5 Oct. 2010.

The article examines how women were treated when they were prisoners.  Many experienced punishments because they were women and a lot of them died in concentration camps.  In addition, some of them had to use their bodies to get out of the problem or complete a mission.

Permeswaran, Yashila. "The Women's Army Auxiliary Corps: A Compromise to Overcome the Conflict of Women Serving in the Army." History Teacher 42.1 (2008): 95-111. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 5 Oct. 2010.

This article talks about how people don’t want women to go to war.  Some women didn’t have her family’s support and another group against women serving in the army was the army itself.

Ryan, Maureen. "The other side of grief: American women writers and the Vietnam War." Critique 36.1 (1994): 41. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 5 Oct. 2010.

This article is mostly about how women shouldn’t go to war because men are supposed to be in war not women. 

  Silva, Jennifer M. "A New Generation of Women? How Female ROTC Cadets Negotiate the Tension between Masculine Military Culture and Traditional Femininity." Social Forces 87.2 (2008): 937-960. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 6 Oct. 2010.

This article is about how women in the military change their persona.  They have feminine traits but also masculine as well.

Vuic, Kara Dixon. "I'm afraid we're going to have to just change our ways": Marriage, Motherhood, and Pregnancy in the Army Nurse Corps during the Vietnam War." Signs: Journal of Women in Culture & Society 32.4 (2007): 997-1022. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 5 Oct. 2010.

This article discusses how pregnant and married women were allowed to go to war.  Legal discrimination against women was being lifted.

Wilcox, Clyde. "Race, Gender, and Support for Women in the Military." Social Science Quarterly (University of Texas Press) 73.2 (1992): 310-323. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 6 Oct. 2010.

This article is about how women were given more roles in the military but they fear that women might not do such a good job.

Zenor--Lafond, Holly. "Women and Combat: Why They Serve." Inquiry (University of New Hampshire) (2008): 32-38. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 6 Oct. 2010.

This article examines the reasons women enter the military. In addition, it describes all the wars from the American Revolution to the Iraq war.