American Civil Society’s Understanding of the ‘Comfort Women’ Issue and the Controversy over Ramseyer’s Article Denying the History

Recently, Harvard law school professor Mark Ramseyer’s article denying the history of ‘comfort women’ during World War II caused a great deal of controversy in the academia. Since the House Resolution 121 on ‘comfort women’ was passed in 2007, the ‘comfort women’ redress movement has ensured many supporters in different cities in the United States. The ‘comfort women’ activists have effectively presented this problem as a universal women’s rights issue, which is relevant to today’s sexual violence and human trafficking crimes in the American society. Meanwhile, Japan’s ultra-rightists declared their nationalistic “history war”, aiming to remove the ‘comfort women’ history from the U.S. and other countries. However, their denialism has rather led American public and scholars to empathize with and support ‘comfort women.’ Despite some disagreements on methods of activism, the activists and scholars have confirmed the truthfulness of the ‘comfort women’ history and agreed on the ultimate goal of restoring justice for the victims. Controversy regarding the Ramseyer’s article has revealed important features of the ‘comfort women’ redress movement in the U.S. and how the American public and scholars have understood this issue.