Comfort Woman: A Filipina’s Story of Prostitution and Slavery under the Japanese Military
Maria Rosa Henson
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 1999
In April 1943, fifteen-year-old Maria Rosa Henson was seized by Japanese soldiers occupying the Philippines and forced into sexual slavery as a "comfort woman." In this plain yet profoundly moving autobiography, Rosa recounts her childhood as the illegitimate daughter of a wealthy landowner, her work with Huk guerrillas, her harrowing wartime experiences, and her marriage to a rebel leader who later abandoned her to raise their children alone. Her remarkable resilience is reflected in her decision to reveal, after fifty years, the secret she had long kept hidden. This memoir is essential reading for anyone concerned with violence against women.