The Story of “Lolas”: Gendered Historical Legacy of Wartime Sexual Violence

• In Event: Historical Origins and Legacies of Conflict

Abstract

Wartime rape leaves lasting trauma, yet its intergenerational impacts have received considerably less attention. We investigate how a history of wartime sexual violence shapes attitudes towards women over time. We argue that this transmission is gendered, as the "story" of wartime sexual violence gets transmitted across female family members, from grandmothers to granddaughters. We focus on the institution of "comfort women" --- the Japanese euphemism for women of various nationalities forced into sex labor by Japan’s imperial army during World War II. Combining original data on "comfort stations" across 24 Asian countries with individual-level surveys, we evaluate how residents in the exposed regions exhibit gendered patterns in attitudes toward gender equality today. Further, we trace how initially private narratives of "comfort women" become public through a case study of the Philippines and China. Beyond shedding new light on the plight of "comfort women," our study speaks to the gendered dimension of conflict, its enduring legacies, and implications for gender equality.

Authors

• Risa Kitagawa, Northeastern University

• Sumin Lee, Texas A&M University