Essay on Asian Women in the Eyes of Americans - 2297 Words

Introduction The history of Asian women has many facets. I am about to touch on two key monumental points over a sixty year span that have shaped the views of Asian women in the eyes of Americans. As a brief overview, from as early as the 1940s, Asian women were recruited to serve their soldiers during World War II as sex slaves. Forty years later, the dawning of the 1980s brought about the desire of Asian women into American households and sparked the mail order bride phenomenon. The beginning of a new century has altered the lives of Asian women, in parts of Asia as well as in the United States of America. I will give you a glimpse into their every day lives in their home country and site observations to their strides†¦show more content†¦Afternoons would be reserved for middle-ranking officers and evening hours for higher-ranking officers. Commanders of a military unit, or the camp where â€Å"comfort stations† existed, monopolized the overnight stay privileges. When the war ended, most â€Å"comfort women† were simply abandoned. The â€Å"comfort women† have been hidden victims for over half a century. Having been victims of sexual violence, where a woman’s chastity is upheld as more important than life itself, many of these women have blamed themselves and kept their sufferings from family members and the community, fearing tainting of the family name. Stetz and Oh indicate although WWII has ended and is now a mass piece of history, the â€Å"comfort women† ordeal still exists today. They continue their isolated existence in poverty and poor health. They have not regained their honor nor had their pains eased. These women continue to endure insulting comments made by irresponsible Japanese officials and by neoconservative nationalists, who claim that many Asian women were merely sex workers for money during WWII. As of the end of January in 1998, the top aide to Japanese prime minister Hashimoto suggested that many women became â€Å"comfort women† for money and that the Japanese military’s use of these women was justified by the moves of the times. Within a month of the inauguration of South Korean president Kim Dae-jung, a lifelong fighter for democracyShow MoreRelatedBeauty Is Not Pain?1704 Words   |  7 Pagesself-esteem of many women spiral down, especially in Asia. Beauty standards in South Korea are now being define by many K-Pop idols. â€Å"In Seoul, 1 of every 5 women ages 19 to 49 has had some type of plastic surgery, according to a 2009 survey by Trend Monitor† (Chow, NPR). 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