Exploiting humiliation: politics as history in the ‘comfort women’ issue

Abstract

The state-sponsored military sexual exploitation under the Empire of Japan 1932–1945 is euphemistically referred to as the ‘comfort women’ system. This article suggests that the debates over the contested comfort women issue are organised according to a binary division that juxtaposes one side of the debates against the other side. The article highlights how by bringing both sides of this binary together in one history, the collection of either/or choices prescribed by the competitive organisation of the binary becomes impossible to sustain. The article brings together the representations of the survivors, the claims to historical justice and the attempts to authorise – and un-authorise – the resolution process. By conceptualising a generalised history about exploitation, humiliation and nationalism in which both ‘sides’ of the debates form a part, the article illuminates how the allegedly competitive practices that sustain the structures of oppression de facto complement each other. As a result, the article opens for other experiences and protagonists than those that guide the ahistorical approach to politics that currently informs the debates.