Margaret Stetz is the editor of Legacies of the Comfort Women of World War II, published in 2001. The book explores numerous essays taking up the cause of the surviving comfort women's struggles, calling attention to past (and present) sexual violence against women, considering the links among militarism, racism, imperialism, and sexism, and writing the unwritten stories of former comfort women into the narratives of twentieth-century political history.
You edited Legacies of the Comfort Women of World War II, a book that examines the stories and impact of former “comfort women” who faced wartime sexual violence. How did you become interested in this dark part of history, and what inspired you to edit a book focused on it?
The essay that I sent you (in the 2023 volume edited by Nusta Carranza Ko) explains at the start how I became involved in this subject.
Bonnie B. C. Oh and I decided to edit our book following our conference at Georgetown University, which was the first international academic conference in the US on the topic. It was a way to preserve the excellent work of our speakers and also to add to and amplify their presentations.
Can you share insights into your research process for the book? What sources did you consult, and what challenges did you encounter?
We were not the researchers; we were the editors. The authors did the research.
We had some trouble in identifying a publisher for it, as several were not interested in a volume of essays; they wanted monographs instead.
Since the book came out in 2001, what progress or movement have you seen regarding representation and scholarship of “comfort women?”
There has been an enormous explosion of interest internationally, and the list of scholarly (as well as creative works) centered on the topic is now very long and diverse.
Your more recent essay, “New Genres, New Audiences: Retelling the Story of Japan’s Military Sexual Slavery,” further delves into the experiences of “comfort women.” What aspects of this essay distinguish it from your previous works in terms of scope and focus?
I was not talking about their "experiences," per se, but instead about how those experiences are represented in literary and visual works by those who did not live through them themselves, yet who have taken on the responsibility to educate audiences.
How does the history of “comfort women” impact the rest of the world? Why is it important that these stories are told?
Issues such as wartime rape, systemized sexual violence, sex trafficking, and the exploitation of underage girls continue to be pressing global problems.
What are some steps or initiatives that readers can take to support the “comfort women” movement and advocate for justice?
Most immediately, they can call out and speak out against the current wave of "denialists" (many of whom are Japanese, but some of whom are based elsewhere, including in the US), who falsely accuse the underage girls and women victimized by the system of military sexual slavery of having benefited from it, as so-called "well-paid prostitutes who volunteered."
Thank you so much!
Learn more about Margaret Stetz's works here.