Comfort women
Comfort women is the Japanese euphemism for women who were forced into prostitution and sexually abused at Japanese military brothels before and during World War Two.
Chinese former "comfort woman" Ren Lane gestures as she speaks about her experience as a sex slave, at her house in Gucheng Town, Shanxi Province, China on July 17, 2015. According to information from China Commission of Inquiry into the Facts of Comfort Women being Victims, which is based on her own statement during the commission's research, Ren was abducted by Japanese soldiers at the age of 15 and was forced to serve as a "comfort woman" for over 20 days during World War Two. Her mother was able to rescue her by paying with rice and flour as ransom. She later got married and had three sons and a daughter.
Chinese former "comfort woman" Zhang Xiantu shows her bound feet to a reporter in her house in Xiyan Town, Shanxi Province, China on July 17, 2015. When Japanese soldiers broke into her house to collect her family's food supply, 15-year-old Zhang could not run away because she had her feet bound. According to information from China Commission of Inquiry into the Facts of Comfort Women being Victims, which is based on her own statement during the commission's research, Zhang was abducted by Japanese soldiers at 15 and was forced to serve as a "comfort woman" for over 20 days during World War Two.
Former Chinese "comfort woman" Zhang Xiantu rests on a traditional brick bed as her son brings her lunch in Xiyan Town, Shanxi Province, China on July 18, 2015. Zhang is the only surviving former "comfort woman" of the 16 plaintiffs in Shanxi who sued the Japanese government in 1995 for abducting girls and using them as "comfort women" during World War Two. According to information from China Commission of Inquiry into the Facts of Comfort Women being Victims, which is based on her own statement during the commission's research Zhang was abducted by Japanese soldiers aged 16 and was forced to serve as a "comfort woman" for over 20 days during the war.
Former South Korean "comfort woman" Lee Ok-sun poses for a photograph in her room at the "House of Sharing" a special shelter for "comfort women," in Gwangju, South Korea on July 24, 2015. The shelter is run by an NGO. According to her testimony to South Korean researchers, Lee, who was born in 1927 in Busan, South Korea, was taken in 1942 to an airfield in China where she was habitually raped. Later she was taken to various Japanese military brothels.
Former Chinese "comfort woman" Hao Yuelian sits on her bed under pictures of babies at her house in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China on July 16, 2015. Her adopted daughter explained that the biggest scar of her life was her lost fertility, something her family considers is related to what happened to Hao during World War Two. Losing her fertility is the biggest regret of her life so she puts up posters of babies in her room to sooth herself. According to the information from China’s Commission of Inquiry into the Facts of Comfort Women being Victims, which is based on her own statement during the commission's research, Hao was abducted by Japanese soldiers at 17 and was forced to serve as a "comfort woman" for over 20 days during World War Two.