![\"\"](\"http:\/\/fightforjustice.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/1a3915ad3dd52dbf29cdb2fc9825df24.jpg\")
High Rates of PTSD Among Victims of Sexual Violence<\/b><\/h2>\r\nYou may be familiar with the concepts of trauma and PTSD. Trauma means \u201cpsychological or emotional harm resulting from a person\u2019s exposure to devastating events\u201d such as life-threatening experiences or sexual assault. Traumatic experiences are so impactful that \u201cit is hard to describe them in words\u201d and \u201cthey are beyond description.\u201d One of the responses to trauma is PTSD (post- traumatic stress disorder). Symptoms of PTSD may include, for example, ongoing, prolonged, and repeated alterness or hypervigilance, sudden recall of memories in flashbacks or nightmares, avoidance of anything reminiscent of traumatic experiences, an absence of emotional reactions, and survival guilt.\r\n\r\nThere are gender (a socially constructed category) differences in traumatic experiences in that while men may develop PTSD from disasters, accidents, violence, combat, being threatened with weapons, and the like, an overwhelming proportion of women develop PTSD from the damage of sexual violence. Furthermore, it is said that rates of PTSD stemming from the harm of sexual violence are higher than those of other traumatic experiences (according to Miyaji Naoko). \u201cComfort women\u201d and victims of sexual violence during war are diagnosed with PTSD or Complex PTSD. Let\u2019s look at some cases of victims of sexual violence who were Korean or Chinese former \u201ccomfort women.\u201d\r\nPTSD and Alienation from Family and Society: the Case of Korean Women<\/b><\/h2>\r\nMany Korean victims developed chronic PTSD, and the basis of their diagnoses is as follows. (According to Yang Hyun-ah, eleven out of fourteen victims in Incheon Sarang Hospital, South Korea, in 2000 had developed PTSD.)\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n1) When they were \u201ccomfort women\u201d they felt the threat of death and experienced a sense of helplessness and fear as they or their peers were beaten by soldiers with bayonets, etc.\r\n\r\n2) In their later lives, they felt fear and avoided men, especially soldiers.\r\n\r\n3) They made efforts not to think of their earlier traumatic experiences and avoided forming relationships with men, falling in love, marriage, etc. to avoid having to recall those times.\r\n\r\n4) They frequently have difficulty sleeping.\r\n\r\n5) These symptoms have persisted for decades, and the women often think of committing suicide.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nAccording to the research findings of the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, out of 192 self-identified \u201ccomfort women\u201d victims, almost all of them suffered from serious problems such as social anxiety disorder, emotional instability, hwabyeong (a syndrome brought on by the suppression of anger within one\u2019s body), feelings of shame and guilt, anger and resentment, self-contempt, hopelessness, melancholy, or a sense of isolation.\r\n\r\nThe after-effects of the harm they suffered are not only psychological, but physical too. The abuse and violence inflicted by traffickers or soldiers with a bayonet led to some victims losing their sense of hearing or sight, and the scars of sword cuts remain as daily reminders of trauma.<\/span>\r\n\r\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/fightforjustice.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/b4982c982ae78b3dc729f9852ec03c4a.png\")
\u62b5\u6297\u3057\u305f\u305f\u3081\u306b\u8ecd\u5200\u3067\u304d\u3089\u308c\u305f\u6734\u6c38\u5fc3\u3055\u3093\u306e\u9996\u7b4b\u306e\u50b7\u8de1\u3002<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\nAlso, they have suffered from irreparable harm to their genitals and reproductive organs resulting from prolonged and repeated rape. Those infected with sexually transmitted diseases (such as syphilis) at comfort stations were not given treatment or care even after the war and went on to suffer ongoing genital or uterine complications. Because some soldiers refused to use a condom, some women became pregnant against their will and underwent forced abortion procedures; there were many examples of both still and live births. Many women were made infertile or did not want to get married. After the war, in a patriarchal society where \u201cit is a matter of course to get married\u201d and \u201cit is women\u2019s duty to have a baby,\u201d they had trouble living as women. In some cases, sexually transmitted diseases were passed on to the next generation, affecting children\u2019s physical or mental health.<\/span>\r\n\r\nAfter-effects have lingered at the social level too. Women who had internalized the values of a patriarchal society that requires women to \u201ckeep their virtue\u201d and \u201cretain sexual purity\u201d kept silent even after the war to hide their traumatic past from their families and communities. They led disrupted and unstable lives in that they could not return to their hometowns due to feelings of shame, it was hard for them to get married (or they refused to do so), they could not have a baby even after getting married to or living together with men, they were driven away by rumors that they were former \u201ccomfort women\u201d or they were reduced to poverty. Some women attempted suicide. These long-term symptoms were exacerbated by the Japanese government\u2019s refusal to admit the fact that unlawful acts were committed or pay compensation.<\/span>\r\nPTSD and Isolation on \u201ca Bed of Thorns\u201d: Chinese Victims<\/b><\/h2>\r\nHow about victims in occupied areas such as Chinese? For example, unlike Japanese or people from colonies, victimized women in Shanxi province, China, suffered damages in local areas they had lived in. Because victims\u2019 families, relatives or familiar villagers knew that they suffered damages from sexual violence, they were sitting on \u201ca bed of thorns\u201d (hard places or circumstances) and couldn\u2019t make public appeals about their damages.<\/span>\r\n\r\n![\"\u66f8\u66202\"](\"http:\/\/fightforjustice.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/\u66f8\u66202.jpg\")
<\/a>Ms. Wan Ai Hua was abducted by the Japanese military, repeatedly raped and suffered bone injury, grew short and had a hearing loss in right ear by torture. After the war, she moved to another place to avoid her acquaintances\u2019 eyes. A couple got married with knowing the fact of damages and got along well, but even the husband was persecuted, and the woman committed a suicide as a women\u2019s disease caused by damages from Japanese soldiers got worse.<\/span>\r\n\r\nA psychiatrist, who examined 6 Chinese victims, diagnosed that the peculiar symptoms of PTSD (memory fragmentation) were shown; although victimized women vividly recalled memories of each one of the damages (traumatic memories), they didn\u2019t clearly understand the context. Also, it is made clear that it can be regarded as child abuse because many women suffered damages in their teens, \u201cPTSD exists more than 50 years after the war\u201d and they suffered from \u201canxiety\u201d and \u201cmelancholy\u201d (depression) (According to Kuwayama Norihiko).\r\n\r\nLike this, because of the Japanese military \u201ccomfort women\u201d system, damages from sexual violence beginning with the systematic rapes, mental and physical prognostic symptoms continuing after the war and social stigma, being unable to make appeals about their pasts and damages, they had to spend a long time in isolation and silence until movement in resolving the \u201ccomfort women\u201d issue (\u2192Introduction 9) began in the 1990s.\r\n\r\nHowever, Yang Hyun-ah, who examined victims\u2019 lives after the war, noted that victimized \u201ccomfort women\u201d should not be regarded as \u201cmiserable and helpless victims\u201d and giving testimonies requires enormous courage and leads to cure for their diseases. Moreover, she classified damages suffered by \u201ccomfort women\u201d into 3 categories; damages with \u201ccomplexity\u201d having mental, physical and social aspects, damages with \u201ccontinuity\u201d that pains continue as justice isn\u2019t established in the \u201ccomfort women\u201d issue and damages with \u201ccontemporary\u201d that pains are reproduced in a relationship with contemporary society such as indifference to and ignorance and distortion of damages.\r\n\r\nWhat is most important to restore the honor of the victims should be, imagining if \u201cwe, our sisters, lovers or friends were suffered damages (victims)\u201d, to become interested in and have compassion on their damages and pains.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n\u3008References\u3009\r\n\r\n\uff65Edited by Women\u2019s Active Museum on War and Peace,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cTestimonies Memories for the Future Collection\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u2160<\/i>\u00a0<\/span>of Testimonies of Asian \u2018Comfort Women\u2019\u201d<\/i>, Akashi Shoten, 2006.\r\n\r\n\uff65Ibid.\u00a0<\/span>\u201cTestimonies Memories for the Future Collection\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u2161<\/i>\u00a0<\/span>of Testimonies of Asian \u2018Comfort Women\u2019\u201d<\/i>, Akashi Shoten, 2010.\r\n\r\n\uff65Yang Hyun-ah,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cDamages Suffered by Korean Who Were \u2018Comfort Women\u2019 of the Japanese Military Continuing after Colonial Rule\u201d<\/i>, ibid.\u00a0<\/span>\u201cTestimonies Memories for the Future Collection\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u2161<\/i>\u00a0<\/span>of Testimonies of Asian \u2018Comfort Women\u2019\u201d<\/i>, 2010.\r\n\r\n\uff65Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, \u201cStatistical Materials of Testimonies of the Japanese Military \u2018Comfort Women\u2019<\/i>(Korean character)\u201d, 2011.\r\n\r\n\uff65Edited by Ishida Yoneko and Uchida Tomoyuki, \u201cSexual Violence in Ocher Village\u2015War Never Ends to \u2018Daniang\u2019<\/i>\u201d, Sodosha, 2004.\r\n\r\n\uff65Women\u2019s Active Museum on War and Peace (wam), \u201cOne Day the Japanese Military Came\u2015Rapes and Comfort Stations in the Battlefields in China<\/i>\u00a0<\/span>(wam catalog 6)\u201d, 2008.\r\n\r\n\uff65Kuwayama Norihiko,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cTrauma and PTSD Suffered by Former Chinese \u2018Comfort Women\u2019\u201d<\/i>, \u201cQuarterly Journal Study on War Responsibility<\/i>\u201c, No. 19. 1998.\r\n\r\n\uff65Judith L. Herman (translated by Nakai Hisao),\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/i>Trauma<\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>and<\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>Recovery\u201d,\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Misuzushobo, enlarged edition, 1999.\r\n\r\n\uff65Miyaji Naoko,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cTrauma\u201d<\/i>, Iwanamishinsho, 2013.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A researcher who listened to the testimonies of many Korean former \u201ccomfort women\u201d points out, \u201cThe damage suf […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":9612,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"swell_btn_cv_data":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[216],"tags":[],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fightforjustice.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10416"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fightforjustice.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fightforjustice.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fightforjustice.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fightforjustice.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10416"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/fightforjustice.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10423,"href":"https:\/\/fightforjustice.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10416\/revisions\/10423"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fightforjustice.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fightforjustice.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fightforjustice.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fightforjustice.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u62b5\u6297\u3057\u305f\u305f\u3081\u306b\u8ecd\u5200\u3067\u304d\u3089\u308c\u305f\u6734\u6c38\u5fc3\u3055\u3093\u306e\u9996\u7b4b\u306e\u50b7\u8de1\u3002<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\nAlso, they have suffered from irreparable harm to their genitals and reproductive organs resulting from prolonged and repeated rape. Those infected with sexually transmitted diseases (such as syphilis) at comfort stations were not given treatment or care even after the war and went on to suffer ongoing genital or uterine complications. Because some soldiers refused to use a condom, some women became pregnant against their will and underwent forced abortion procedures; there were many examples of both still and live births. Many women were made infertile or did not want to get married. After the war, in a patriarchal society where \u201cit is a matter of course to get married\u201d and \u201cit is women\u2019s duty to have a baby,\u201d they had trouble living as women. In some cases, sexually transmitted diseases were passed on to the next generation, affecting children\u2019s physical or mental health.<\/span>\r\n\r\nAfter-effects have lingered at the social level too. Women who had internalized the values of a patriarchal society that requires women to \u201ckeep their virtue\u201d and \u201cretain sexual purity\u201d kept silent even after the war to hide their traumatic past from their families and communities. They led disrupted and unstable lives in that they could not return to their hometowns due to feelings of shame, it was hard for them to get married (or they refused to do so), they could not have a baby even after getting married to or living together with men, they were driven away by rumors that they were former \u201ccomfort women\u201d or they were reduced to poverty. Some women attempted suicide. These long-term symptoms were exacerbated by the Japanese government\u2019s refusal to admit the fact that unlawful acts were committed or pay compensation.<\/span>\r\n A researcher who listened to the testimonies of many Korean former \u201ccomfort women\u201d points out, \u201cThe damage suf […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":9612,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"swell_btn_cv_data":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[216],"tags":[],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fightforjustice.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10416"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fightforjustice.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fightforjustice.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fightforjustice.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fightforjustice.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10416"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/fightforjustice.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10423,"href":"https:\/\/fightforjustice.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10416\/revisions\/10423"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fightforjustice.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fightforjustice.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fightforjustice.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fightforjustice.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}PTSD and Isolation on \u201ca Bed of Thorns\u201d: Chinese Victims<\/b><\/h2>\r\nHow about victims in occupied areas such as Chinese? For example, unlike Japanese or people from colonies, victimized women in Shanxi province, China, suffered damages in local areas they had lived in. Because victims\u2019 families, relatives or familiar villagers knew that they suffered damages from sexual violence, they were sitting on \u201ca bed of thorns\u201d (hard places or circumstances) and couldn\u2019t make public appeals about their damages.<\/span>\r\n\r\n
<\/a>Ms. Wan Ai Hua was abducted by the Japanese military, repeatedly raped and suffered bone injury, grew short and had a hearing loss in right ear by torture. After the war, she moved to another place to avoid her acquaintances\u2019 eyes. A couple got married with knowing the fact of damages and got along well, but even the husband was persecuted, and the woman committed a suicide as a women\u2019s disease caused by damages from Japanese soldiers got worse.<\/span>\r\n\r\nA psychiatrist, who examined 6 Chinese victims, diagnosed that the peculiar symptoms of PTSD (memory fragmentation) were shown; although victimized women vividly recalled memories of each one of the damages (traumatic memories), they didn\u2019t clearly understand the context. Also, it is made clear that it can be regarded as child abuse because many women suffered damages in their teens, \u201cPTSD exists more than 50 years after the war\u201d and they suffered from \u201canxiety\u201d and \u201cmelancholy\u201d (depression) (According to Kuwayama Norihiko).\r\n\r\nLike this, because of the Japanese military \u201ccomfort women\u201d system, damages from sexual violence beginning with the systematic rapes, mental and physical prognostic symptoms continuing after the war and social stigma, being unable to make appeals about their pasts and damages, they had to spend a long time in isolation and silence until movement in resolving the \u201ccomfort women\u201d issue (\u2192Introduction 9) began in the 1990s.\r\n\r\nHowever, Yang Hyun-ah, who examined victims\u2019 lives after the war, noted that victimized \u201ccomfort women\u201d should not be regarded as \u201cmiserable and helpless victims\u201d and giving testimonies requires enormous courage and leads to cure for their diseases. Moreover, she classified damages suffered by \u201ccomfort women\u201d into 3 categories; damages with \u201ccomplexity\u201d having mental, physical and social aspects, damages with \u201ccontinuity\u201d that pains continue as justice isn\u2019t established in the \u201ccomfort women\u201d issue and damages with \u201ccontemporary\u201d that pains are reproduced in a relationship with contemporary society such as indifference to and ignorance and distortion of damages.\r\n\r\nWhat is most important to restore the honor of the victims should be, imagining if \u201cwe, our sisters, lovers or friends were suffered damages (victims)\u201d, to become interested in and have compassion on their damages and pains.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n\u3008References\u3009\r\n\r\n\uff65Edited by Women\u2019s Active Museum on War and Peace,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cTestimonies Memories for the Future Collection\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u2160<\/i>\u00a0<\/span>of Testimonies of Asian \u2018Comfort Women\u2019\u201d<\/i>, Akashi Shoten, 2006.\r\n\r\n\uff65Ibid.\u00a0<\/span>\u201cTestimonies Memories for the Future Collection\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u2161<\/i>\u00a0<\/span>of Testimonies of Asian \u2018Comfort Women\u2019\u201d<\/i>, Akashi Shoten, 2010.\r\n\r\n\uff65Yang Hyun-ah,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cDamages Suffered by Korean Who Were \u2018Comfort Women\u2019 of the Japanese Military Continuing after Colonial Rule\u201d<\/i>, ibid.\u00a0<\/span>\u201cTestimonies Memories for the Future Collection\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u2161<\/i>\u00a0<\/span>of Testimonies of Asian \u2018Comfort Women\u2019\u201d<\/i>, 2010.\r\n\r\n\uff65Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, \u201cStatistical Materials of Testimonies of the Japanese Military \u2018Comfort Women\u2019<\/i>(Korean character)\u201d, 2011.\r\n\r\n\uff65Edited by Ishida Yoneko and Uchida Tomoyuki, \u201cSexual Violence in Ocher Village\u2015War Never Ends to \u2018Daniang\u2019<\/i>\u201d, Sodosha, 2004.\r\n\r\n\uff65Women\u2019s Active Museum on War and Peace (wam), \u201cOne Day the Japanese Military Came\u2015Rapes and Comfort Stations in the Battlefields in China<\/i>\u00a0<\/span>(wam catalog 6)\u201d, 2008.\r\n\r\n\uff65Kuwayama Norihiko,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cTrauma and PTSD Suffered by Former Chinese \u2018Comfort Women\u2019\u201d<\/i>, \u201cQuarterly Journal Study on War Responsibility<\/i>\u201c, No. 19. 1998.\r\n\r\n\uff65Judith L. Herman (translated by Nakai Hisao),\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/i>Trauma<\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>and<\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>Recovery\u201d,\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Misuzushobo, enlarged edition, 1999.\r\n\r\n\uff65Miyaji Naoko,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cTrauma\u201d<\/i>, Iwanamishinsho, 2013.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"