Memorials

Despite the prevalence of sexual violence across both war and peace, it has only rarely been commemorated in public memorials. Most dominant practices of war memorialisation, for example, silence conflict-related sexual violence altogether; and despite the hugely widespread occurrence of such violence in peacetime many survivors’ groups argue that it remains shrouded in a culture of silence. While such memorials are few, however, they are not non-existent, and indeed in recent years (in particular since 2010) there has been a significant increase in the number of these public monuments around the world. Many of these, in particular in South Korea but also in other parts of Asia and in the US, Canada, and Germany, are dedicated to the so-called ‘comfort women’ of the Asia-Pacific War: an estimated 50,000-200,000 young women, mostly although not entirely from Korea, compelled into sexual servitude by the Imperial Japanese military. Others remember sexual violence perpetrated against women (and, in some cases, also men and children) in other situations of war, as well as in peace. The map below shows the locations of public memorials remembering sexual violence around the world.

The empirical work of this research project focuses on six memorial projects located within the USA. Three commemorate peacetime sexual violence in the US itself, while the other three are dedicated to the memory of the comfort women. These projects are highlighted on the map below.