TY - JOUR
T1 - The Deafening Silence of the Korean Comfort Women
T2 - A Response Based on Lyotard and Irigaray
AU - Lee, Constance Youngwon
AU - Crowe, Jonathan
PY - 2015/7/1
Y1 - 2015/7/1
N2 - This article reflects upon the continuing historical denialism concerning the Korean "comfort women" forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II. We argue that the refusal of the Japanese government and others to squarely confront this wrong is made possible through the exploitation of a différend in Jean-François Lyotard's sense of the term. The différend arises from a complex set of social, cultural, and legal sources, including patriarchal, colonial, and nationalistic constructions of the wrong and its victims. We seek to tentatively expose the nature of the différend by identifying these factors. We then sketch the beginnings of a possible response, drawing on Luce Irigaray's strategy of emphasizing sexual difference and separation to pave the way for reciprocality between the sexes. The testimonies of the "comfort women" must be allowed to speak for themselves before a response can emerge based in other discourses.
AB - This article reflects upon the continuing historical denialism concerning the Korean "comfort women" forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II. We argue that the refusal of the Japanese government and others to squarely confront this wrong is made possible through the exploitation of a différend in Jean-François Lyotard's sense of the term. The différend arises from a complex set of social, cultural, and legal sources, including patriarchal, colonial, and nationalistic constructions of the wrong and its victims. We seek to tentatively expose the nature of the différend by identifying these factors. We then sketch the beginnings of a possible response, drawing on Luce Irigaray's strategy of emphasizing sexual difference and separation to pave the way for reciprocality between the sexes. The testimonies of the "comfort women" must be allowed to speak for themselves before a response can emerge based in other discourses.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84944319931&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/als.2015.9
DO - 10.1017/als.2015.9
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84944319931
SN - 2052-9015
VL - 2
SP - 339
EP - 356
JO - Asian Journal of Law and Society
JF - Asian Journal of Law and Society
IS - 2
ER -