Two Photos of Rape
Suki Falconberg Ph.D.
January 03, 2007
The first photo. It shows four women and one man. He is kneeling, they are standing, but he still looks taller than the women. They are in front of what looks like a mud bunker, built into rock, a cave to dive into in case of bombing. The man looks to be in his early twenties. It is hard to judge the ages of the females because although they have the faces of old women, their bodies look like those of children. The man’s face is smooth, and smiling.
This is one of a gallery of photos of the Comfort Women, girls, really, since so many were in their teens, conscripted by the Japanese military during WWII, and mercilessly raped 30 to 50 times a day (even more sometimes) by soldiers who regarded them as ‘toilets.’ Massively swollen and bleeding genitals, wombs that rotted from infection, psychological pain so intense it almost rivaled the physical torture—this was what this ‘comfort’ meant to the girls. Those who survived, like these four, were broken forever.
The man in this photo is a Japanese-American soldier, an interpreter—it is 1945, just after the defeat of Japan, and he is having his photo taken, presumably by another American soldier. He is smiling, like a tourist posing beside one of the ‘sights’ on an itinerary. The four women are the ‘sights,’ and they are indeed a sight to behold. In contrast to the smooth, relaxed smile on the ‘innocent’ soldier’s face, the women’s faces are all twisted up, like those of gargoyles. Contorted with permanent agony. But then I guess that that’s what being raped 50 times a day does to a woman. Permanently lines her face with the experience.
It was not an agony that the American soldiers understood. In fact, the Allies re-conscripted some of the Comfort Girls. Re-brothelized them, for their own use. Instead of their bodies being allowed to rest, the girls were laid down under another group of rapists.
Little attention was paid to what had happened to the girls. One ‘official’ Allied military report from the time said that the girls were childlike, almost imbecile. It did not note that being raped 50 times a day will do this to a girl, make her an imbecile. The Allied military report also made it sound voluntary on their part, this rape of their bodies. It made it sound as if the girls were disappointed when they could not satisfy the many men who ‘crowded’ in on them for service. It made the girls sound like spoiled and selfish pampered dolls, as they had their bodies raped all day. It fantasized marriages for the girls, and made the bleeding vaginas sound like a scene out of a prostitution fairy tale. (You can find this male abomination of a report under the “Comfort Woman” entry in Widepedia.)
My disgust at this report is so deep that it is hard to go on.
But I’ll report one more ‘report.’ The Japanese military said that when a girl had to service 60 or more men a day, she got to rest the next day. As if that made it okay.
In the photo, one girl is pregnant, her massive belly sticking out from her child body. Another is so small and short, her body looks like that of an eight-year-old. She looks like a little girl in a baggy dress, a child in her mother’s clothes. The soldier, the safe military ‘tourist,’ with his safe, unpenetrated body, is smiling happily away. He is looking directly at the camera, with a twinkle in his eye, the happy tourist having fun. The faces of the women are turned away from the soldier, as if in shame or disgust. Two are looking at the pregnant girl, as if concerned for her, and two are gripping the rocks, as if for support. Their clothes are shabby, more like rags, and all the girls are barefoot, like beggars.
The second photo is of a dirty mat, in a bleak, empty room. It was one of the rape mats where the men used the girls.
This is one of a gallery of photos of the Comfort Women, girls, really, since so many were in their teens, conscripted by the Japanese military during WWII, and mercilessly raped 30 to 50 times a day (even more sometimes) by soldiers who regarded them as ‘toilets.’ Massively swollen and bleeding genitals, wombs that rotted from infection, psychological pain so intense it almost rivaled the physical torture—this was what this ‘comfort’ meant to the girls. Those who survived, like these four, were broken forever.
The man in this photo is a Japanese-American soldier, an interpreter—it is 1945, just after the defeat of Japan, and he is having his photo taken, presumably by another American soldier. He is smiling, like a tourist posing beside one of the ‘sights’ on an itinerary. The four women are the ‘sights,’ and they are indeed a sight to behold. In contrast to the smooth, relaxed smile on the ‘innocent’ soldier’s face, the women’s faces are all twisted up, like those of gargoyles. Contorted with permanent agony. But then I guess that that’s what being raped 50 times a day does to a woman. Permanently lines her face with the experience.
It was not an agony that the American soldiers understood. In fact, the Allies re-conscripted some of the Comfort Girls. Re-brothelized them, for their own use. Instead of their bodies being allowed to rest, the girls were laid down under another group of rapists.
Little attention was paid to what had happened to the girls. One ‘official’ Allied military report from the time said that the girls were childlike, almost imbecile. It did not note that being raped 50 times a day will do this to a girl, make her an imbecile. The Allied military report also made it sound voluntary on their part, this rape of their bodies. It made it sound as if the girls were disappointed when they could not satisfy the many men who ‘crowded’ in on them for service. It made the girls sound like spoiled and selfish pampered dolls, as they had their bodies raped all day. It fantasized marriages for the girls, and made the bleeding vaginas sound like a scene out of a prostitution fairy tale. (You can find this male abomination of a report under the “Comfort Woman” entry in Widepedia.)
My disgust at this report is so deep that it is hard to go on.
But I’ll report one more ‘report.’ The Japanese military said that when a girl had to service 60 or more men a day, she got to rest the next day. As if that made it okay.
In the photo, one girl is pregnant, her massive belly sticking out from her child body. Another is so small and short, her body looks like that of an eight-year-old. She looks like a little girl in a baggy dress, a child in her mother’s clothes. The soldier, the safe military ‘tourist,’ with his safe, unpenetrated body, is smiling happily away. He is looking directly at the camera, with a twinkle in his eye, the happy tourist having fun. The faces of the women are turned away from the soldier, as if in shame or disgust. Two are looking at the pregnant girl, as if concerned for her, and two are gripping the rocks, as if for support. Their clothes are shabby, more like rags, and all the girls are barefoot, like beggars.
The second photo is of a dirty mat, in a bleak, empty room. It was one of the rape mats where the men used the girls.
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