# Harvard Law professor claims that Japanese comfort women were voluntarily employed **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 9, 2021, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harvard-law-professor-claims-that-japanese-comfort-women-were-voluntarily-employed/932485 "2021-02-09T02:22:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2021, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harvard-law-professor-claims-that-japanese-comfort-women-were-voluntarily-employed/932485/1 "2021-02-09T02:22:19Z")
Harvard Law School Japanese legal studies professor J. Mark Ramseyer argues in a paper due to be published next month that it’s a myth that women were coerced into working as prostitutes for the Japanese Army in WWII. Needless to say, this is _not_ going over well. Critics are pointing out that the professor ignored a vast body of documentation from Korean sources and international scholarship, and suggesting that his relationship with Japanese government officials influenced his paper. The paper’s abstract (available online) is disturbing enough; an editorial by Prof. Ramseyer is even more offensive. > **[Recovering the Truth about the Comfort Women](http://japan-forward.com/recovering-the-truth-about-the-comfort-women/?fbclid=IwAR0nFWKkycaCPIwXk_eVTDRtldlZ9KLJuS0ZqyaHuMvMr5tHKO6i79X7rB0)** > > As academics, we are used to dealing with exaggerations. We are not used to finding that the story is pure fiction. But that is the nature of the comfort-women-sex-slave story. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2021, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harvard-law-professor-claims-that-japanese-comfort-women-were-voluntarily-employed/932485/2 "2021-02-09T11:20:49Z")
Basically: “Who are you going to believe - me, or a bunch of lying whores?” He seems nice. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2021, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harvard-law-professor-claims-that-japanese-comfort-women-were-voluntarily-employed/932485/3 "2021-02-09T11:36:43Z")
Remember that textbook [McGraw-Hill](https://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-texas-textbook-calls-slaves-immigrants-20151005-story.html) published for Texas claiming that enslaved people from Africa were immigrants and referred to them as “workers”? It’s never to late to polish up your image with some revisionist history. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2021, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harvard-law-professor-claims-that-japanese-comfort-women-were-voluntarily-employed/932485/4 "2021-02-09T11:41:07Z")
At least it’s literally true that slaves were immigrants and workers. The connotations are all wrong, but the literal meaning is at least correct. But saying that these women were willing, when they themselves say otherwise, is just plain wrong. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2021, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harvard-law-professor-claims-that-japanese-comfort-women-were-voluntarily-employed/932485/5 "2021-02-09T12:19:46Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > At least it’s literally true that slaves were immigrants and workers. The connotations are all wrong, but the literal meaning is at least correct. Is it? If you’re forced to work, can you literally be referred to as a ‘worker?’ ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2021, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harvard-law-professor-claims-that-japanese-comfort-women-were-voluntarily-employed/932485/6 "2021-02-09T12:22:48Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > Is it? If you’re forced to work, can you literally be referred to as a ‘worker?’ Worker, yes. Employee, no. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2021, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harvard-law-professor-claims-that-japanese-comfort-women-were-voluntarily-employed/932485/7 "2021-02-09T12:48:27Z")
Forced work is slavery ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2021, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harvard-law-professor-claims-that-japanese-comfort-women-were-voluntarily-employed/932485/8 "2021-02-09T12:55:10Z")
Well duh. The term “worker” is purely descriptive - it means someone who performs work. Nothing more than that. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_was_in_Saudi)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2021, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harvard-law-professor-claims-that-japanese-comfort-women-were-voluntarily-employed/932485/9 "2021-02-09T12:59:21Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > He seems nice. Seems to sum it. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2021, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harvard-law-professor-claims-that-japanese-comfort-women-were-voluntarily-employed/932485/10 "2021-02-09T13:58:13Z")
Well then, it sounds like you’re saying the comfort women were sex workers rather than rape victims. If forced work is work and not enslavement, then forced sex is sex work, and not rape. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2021, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harvard-law-professor-claims-that-japanese-comfort-women-were-voluntarily-employed/932485/11 "2021-02-09T13:59:51Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > The term “worker” is purely descriptive - it means someone who performs work. Nothing more than that. It depends on the context. Most folks would assume workers are paid for their labor. ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2021, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harvard-law-professor-claims-that-japanese-comfort-women-were-voluntarily-employed/932485/12 "2021-02-09T14:02:36Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > Well then, it sounds like you’re saying the comfort women were sex workers rather than rape victims. If forced work is work and not enslavement, then forced sex is sex work, and not rape. What about women and girls trafficked into sex ‘work’? They are also forced into it, but still called sex workers. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2021, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harvard-law-professor-claims-that-japanese-comfort-women-were-voluntarily-employed/932485/13 "2021-02-09T14:03:41Z")
Not by me. I call them kidnapping victims. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2021, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harvard-law-professor-claims-that-japanese-comfort-women-were-voluntarily-employed/932485/14 "2021-02-09T14:06:37Z")
> [@](#): > > … it’s a myth that women were coerced into working as prostitutes for the Japanese Army in WWII. Yes, and slaves were actually well treated and had no problem with their lot in life. 🤨 ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2021, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harvard-law-professor-claims-that-japanese-comfort-women-were-voluntarily-employed/932485/15 "2021-02-09T14:07:41Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > It depends on the context. Most folks would assume workers are paid for their labor. Maybe. You’d say, for instance, “the workers who built the Great Pyramid of Giza”, even if you don’t know if they were paid or not. > [@Bill\_Door](#): > > Well then, it sounds like you’re saying the comfort women were sex workers rather than rape victims. If forced work is work and not enslavement, then forced sex is sex work, and not rape. That is an excellent point. I think I’d say, very tentatively, that forced sex work is both sex work _and_ rape, just like a field slave is both a worker _and_ a victim of slavery. Saying that something is forced sex work does not, of course, diminish one whit from the crime, nor does it make the rape any less heinous. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2021, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harvard-law-professor-claims-that-japanese-comfort-women-were-voluntarily-employed/932485/16 "2021-02-09T14:11:36Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Maybe. You’d say, for instance, “the workers who built the Great Pyramid of Giza”, even if you don’t know if they were paid or not. In my experience, most folks said “the slaves who build the Pyramids” until it was discovered that they were paid workers. Until that, I’d only heard them referred to as slaves. In the context of slavery, the term “workers” is inappropriate unless making a distinction between say the workers and the overseers. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2021, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harvard-law-professor-claims-that-japanese-comfort-women-were-voluntarily-employed/932485/17 "2021-02-09T14:34:21Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > > [@Jackmannii](#): > > > > … it’s a myth that women were coerced into working as prostitutes for the Japanese Army in WWII. > > Yes, and slaves were actually well treated and had no problem with their lot in life. > > 🤨 While it’s obvious from the OP, please note that I’m citing the “learned professor” here. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2021, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harvard-law-professor-claims-that-japanese-comfort-women-were-voluntarily-employed/932485/18 "2021-02-09T14:37:35Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > At least it’s literally true that slaves were immigrants and workers. The connotations are all wrong, but the literal meaning is at least correct. > > But saying that these women were willing, when they themselves say otherwise, is just plain wrong. This is an area where one should defer to the professionals who have actually researched the primary evidence. It would appear the great majority of professionals vehemently disagree with this guy. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2021, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harvard-law-professor-claims-that-japanese-comfort-women-were-voluntarily-employed/932485/19 "2021-02-09T14:56:41Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Most folks would assume workers are paid for their labor. Yep - folks like Marx. And Jesus. I would very strongly disagree that any slave is a worker. “Worker” in the labour sense means so much more than just “person who does work”. Bosses “do work”, but they’re not workers. Neither are slaves. Or rape victims. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2021, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harvard-law-professor-claims-that-japanese-comfort-women-were-voluntarily-employed/932485/20 "2021-02-09T17:39:02Z")
[Moderating] **Jasmine** , please be more cautious about correctly attributing quotes so that you don’t appear to be attributing really fucked up opinions to people who don’t hold them. Your post has been edited to remove the attribution to **Jackmanii**. No warning issued. [/Moderating] [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harvard-law-professor-claims-that-japanese-comfort-women-were-voluntarily-employed/932485.md?page=2)