Women in East Asian History 8-6-08 (Morning Session)

[Anonymous]

I was really touched by the clipping we saw in this session. It is extremely touching that young girls have to resort to the option of being led to trafficking because of poverty. In the recent past I had watched a couple of documentaries where women are led into trafficking by people they know and trust. What is yet chilling is the fact that they are beaten and bruised severely if they don't comply.
Quite engaging was Prof. Fischler's question/answer session. Make the students think which is an excellent strategy to engage students in the classroom.

[Anonymous]

Knowing of the widening gap between women and men in China I found myself thinking throughout the seminar that maybe the shortage of females might result in women being more valued in the Chinese culture and thus create a situation for better conditions and equalities for them. I was justifying that thought in my head like one would justify a rare commodity being more valued in society and in economic terms as well. Therefore, I asked Professor Fischler this at lunch and she commented that the widening gap has in effect actually done the opposite. Her comment was then given a living example while watching the National Geographic documentary that she put on for us to view. For those of you who did not watch, a woman was being interviewed who had just been rescued from being stolen from her village in order to become the wife of another man who did not yet have a wife and was in need of a son because he was growing older. She was forced to become his wife and while being interviewed she described her slave-like living conditions. She explained how she was rescued but was unable to take with her the son that she had given birth to. Unfortunately, this is becoming more and more of a repeated occurrence in China and it is expected to get worse as more men find difficulty in acquiring a wife.

This could be a great contemporary issue to bring into the classroom to ask the students to think critically about it... Why is it happening, how should it be solved, etc.

[Anonymous]

I thought this lecture by Professor Fischler was very informative and things we need to consider while teaching about Asia (and other places as well). I thought her question to us about the link between international adoption and human trafficking was an interesting perspective to consider, as were the juxtaposition of the two definitions of trafficking that she gave us. I did not realize that organized crime was not transnational until the 1970's or that many in China and Japan blame the loss of traditional values on the youth, or that they often now have increasingly western views of beauty. I particularly liked the discussion of websites and their validity as well.

[Anonymous]

Lesly, I agree completely that the information about validating web resources was very valuable and important.

Professor Fischler's lecture was informative and intriguing. I really liked how she presented us with a plethora of suggestions as to why trafficking of people is prevalent - not only in East Asia but all over the world (including in the United States) - but left it to us to ultimately decide the reason. I like the tactic she used - the "I don't know the answer, i am giving you serveral ideas and I am willing to work on figuring it out with you." I hope to use this same tactic in my class.

In addition, I was pleasantly surprised that Professor Fischler presented us with some concrete ideas/lesson plans that we could use in our classes (i.e. show part of a movie, have students write how they think it will end and then show the end the following day). I was waiting all 9 days for a presenter to give us some tangible lesson plans and ideas to use in the classroom.[Edit by="ashapiro on Aug 13, 9:48:31 PM"][/Edit]
[Edit by="ashapiro on Aug 13, 9:49:29 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

The video we saw was, of course, powerful, but I would have liked to have seen more to learn about the details of this crime. What happened to the girls who managed to return safely to their villages? Did they really just go back to their normal lives and occasionally encourage other teen girls to go to Thailand too? Was the lure of fancy clothes their sole motivation? Did they too take up drug use when they returned?

I also liked what Professor Fischler said about people only fight for three things: time, money and dirt. That pretty much sums up every history class I've ever taken. This was an incredibly engaging and interesting lecture even though it posed more questions than it answered. Students will be fascinated too.

[Anonymous]

Before the session began, Prof. Fischler gave us homework: a Web Evaluation Preparatory Excercise about "trafficking". In class we talked about how to evaluate Web sites. She mentioned that there are six Evaluation Criteria: (1) Authority (2) Purpose (3) Currency (4) Objectivity (5) Coverage (6)Accuracy. I think that these are the important and critical points for my students before they start researching for assignments. Now I can explian these to my students and give them exercises.
We watched the film: "Sacrifice" for about 20 minutes, then had a discussion on "Human Trafficking".

(6) When I lived in Taiwan (1971-1977), I heard that some Japanese men came on "sex tours". The tourism industry along with these "crazy animals" created an exclusive area on the edge of town. Ordinary people did not go there, of course, but the name of the place was well known as the red light district. Yayoi Matsui wrote: "In the 1970s Japan drew international criticism because of the "sex tours"."
In recent years in Japan, there are many "Asian migrant" women: Pilipino, Thai, Taiwanese, etc., involved in trafficking. When I was in Tokyo, Japan, I saw these women heading to the Kabuki-cho in Shinjuku district in the evening. There are many bars and clubs in Kabuki-cho. (FYI: If you are foreigner, you should not go to the area alone. You should ask a Japanese friend to walk along with you. You never know you might meet "yakuza" (Japanese mafia) on the street. Many of those women came illegally, and ended up working in sex related jobs. Some of them managed to come leaglly, but were sold to "yakuza". The women were kept like prisoners, they were forced to live under close supervision of these "masters". They were deliberately kept ignorant.
Although Japanese government is trying to reduce "trafficking", there are too many issues to solve, including the views of some of the government officials condoned this by saying "It's cultural." What a selfish and uneducated view!

Prof. Fischler also showed us the film: "China's Lost Girls" (National Geographic). The session was very informative and interesting. It will help my students in discussing "Human rights" and East Asian culture.

[Anonymous]

8/6 Morning Korea
When looking at the night satellite view of North and South Korea what a dramatic difference it is astounding, just showing this in the classroom would be amazing. The first question I ask is how do they keep the development of South Korea from the people? Does no one know how little they have? These would be the same questions my students have, and so do I.

Now these may seem like questions that I know the answer to and I do, suppressing people can be done and has always been done. Each of us has been lied to, or information has been kept from us and we know this happens; but I can’t help but think that with all this Technology doesn’t some of this information get through?

It is human nature to want shiny things! We all want things to be better for our children we want to go on vacations, new clothes the latest TVs, cars…stuff. How does Kim Jong-il get away with the suppression, the internet must show more information faster, even with limited ownership of computers? Like oil, radio waves and computer internet does not know that they are to stop at the boarder.

What a great discussion in the classroom and what a great research paper for the students. How does a leader of half of a country end up with such control and how does he hide the vast development of South Korea form his country? How will Kim Jong-il keep his country in this developmental slump? What future does North Korea have?

I love the way Political Science looks at the world opposed to History, they link but the two subjects ask different questions of the information that is provided.

[Anonymous]

Women in East Asian History

[Anonymous]

Some of the seminar posters have asked, "Who is responsible?" Unfortunately the simple answer is that, in large and small ways, we all are. Remember, if you will, the economic crash of the Asian Tigers-Thailand, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, etc.-in the late 1990's. Due to a simple rumor, Thailand did not have enough dollars to back up its currency, the globalized marketplace disappeared $600 billion dollars from the Asian stock markets [Klein, Naomi, The Shock Doctrine,2007]. The International Monetary Fund and the United States did nothing to forestall this disaster until, finally, they demanded that these countries trim their domestic social economies, divest themselves of state-owned assets, and open their markets completely. The result, of course, was that American corporate raiders bought up a huge stake in these economies as all parts of these economies were downsized with massive layoffs. Klein is worth quoting: " Behind every statistic was a story of wrenching sacrifice and degraded decisions. As is always the case, women and children suffered the worst of the crisis. Many rural families in the Philippines and South Korea sold their daughters to human trafficers who took them to work in the sex trade... In Thailand, public health officials reported a 20% increase in child prostitution in just one year...It was in this context that the U.S. secretary of state, Madelieine Albright, visited Thailand in March 1999 and saw fit to scold the Thai public for turning to prostitution and the "dead end of drugs." It is "essential that girls not be exploited and abused and exposed to AIDS. It is very important to fight back," Albright said, filled with moral resolve. She apparently saw no connection between the fact that so many Thai girls were being forced into the sex trade and the austerity policies for which she expressed her "strong support" on the same trip [Klein, 344-45]. I think its time to up my charitable giving since I have no other recourse to being involved.
The special series, Naked China which I mentioned in another forum, also did a pod on the sex trade in China. The women work in the beauty trade-manicurists pedicurists, hairdressers- are migrants, deeply in debt, and in this video, work in the sex trade managed by organized crime at one level or another. The producers indicate that it is estimated there are 6 to 10 million sex workers in this illegal trade. Here is the link for "China Sex Workers":
http://current.com/items/76372902_china_sex_workers.

[Anonymous]

Ms. Fischler's information, materials, and discussion were mind boggling. It's something I've read about from time to time, but had no idea it was quite so widespread.
I, too, have noticed the incredible focus on things sexual. I wondered why it was that boys seem to favor dress that makes them all seem the same - baggy pants and big t-shirts, while girls favor dress that exposes exactly what their figures are and exactly where everything is. We are the only animals (that I know of) where the female of the species is still expected to be the attraction, not the male.
In any case, the problem seems so pervasive, it's difficult to think that there may be a solution, much less what it might be. As the globe continues to shrink, and styles and customs and personal opinion seems so much more accessible, like the cell phone blitzes in Korea, we seem to be reacting like so many adolescents. We are fascinated by the popular kids, the celebrities, we want what they have, and we want to sparkle the way they do. Everyone wants to be an actor or a rock star. Even in the film we saw, as terrible as the idea of prostituting oneself is, the only one in that group of girls that seemed to be smiling was the one with the gold earrings who was presumably already a prostitute.
In the anthology of modern Korean fiction that we were given, the story "Potatoes" describes the fate of a young woman who was married off by her father to a lazy man. Because she had no recourse to go back to her father or divorce the man, she eventually becomes a prostitute. The author, Kim, Tongin wrote this in 1925. It is a despairing tale of the old Korea. But as people become modernized, things still aren't too great. I do not know the answer, I do know there is no panacea. This would be a great information gathering and writing piece for 10th graders in the Social Justice small learning community at my school, so I am going to suggest that.
I agree that governments have to come out against this, and I think in Japan it would be successful. It seems that the Emperor, even though not the person who manages Japan, if you will, still has tremendous influence in the culture of Japan. If the Emperor came out with a very clear statement outlawing and decrying any sex trips or whatever they call it, it would go a long way to resolving the problem there.
In Tucson, AZ, the local press is called by the police every time there is a drunk driver arrest. The press take big, color pictures, full face, of the person who is drunk (and they never look good) and publishes the whole embarrassing picture, the name, etc., the next day in the paper. So after you have been arrested and posted bail and are hoping the whole thing will go away, you open the papers the next a.m. and there you are. This approach could work on a local level - I watched the tape on Chinese prostitution and those two thugs seemed very touchy about the camera.
Being a child of the 60's, I remember the consciousness raising of women's liberation - from the bra burning through the speeches, the publications and the jokes, too. Two things I always wonder about from that time frame, which really did serve to raise consciousness, even though it didn't solve all the problems:
1. While the women were getting educated about themselves, who was educating the men? Answer: no one I can think of
2. While the liberationists were all out forging the way, putting off getting married till the degrees and then the GOOD careers were achieved, (or maybe forever) who was still getting married right after high school and having babies?
Answer: the women who wanted to do that - whose granddaughters are now wearing cleavage and skirts up to there and bling to school....
Maybe it's time for another consciousness raising....just thinking out loud, here.

[Anonymous]

Dr. Fischler gave us much to think about. The film she shared will make lasting impressions for most, if not all, of us. I was most shocked to learn that some governments condone the trafficking and use of prostitution as a service. In my sheltered world I thought it ended with the "comfort girls". I also have some issue with the Chinese mail-order/internet bride. I've met too many young Chinese women, married to older Caucasian men here who do not have the jobskills, language skills, or financial resources to make it on their own. And so I wonder, did they just pick the better of both worlds ( live under the thumb of an American husband here versus under the thumb of a Chinese husband in China)? At least in China they may have family around......at any rate. I think some of the phrases Dr. Fischler used are especially inviting for discussion. "Time,money, and dirt are what all wars are fought over" " Cultural patterns linger" And in reference to the trafficked girls-"Green lilke mangos, not really sweet" and "not filled with passion". I feel our news media could do a better, more thorough job of presenting the human trafficking problem. Occasionally there is something on CNN, but not much advertising for it ahead of time, and the local newspapers just make a reference, usually within an article. One of our classmates raised the quesion, who is to blame for the trafficking-is it the government that lets it happen or the people/patrons who supply the demand? And on an international scale...it should receive the publicity and funding to stop it as the drug wars. One more note. We learned that the trafficking in China is internal, but in Japan it goes from country to country. One can't help but wonder if China's trafficking will increase as it "opens up" more to the west. Something to watch for.

[Anonymous]

HI, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your threaded discussions that followed our session. It sounded like it sparked alot of thought. That is always a good thing for me. Even if you want to totally disagree with what I present, I have at least made you think! Hope that was the case. Over the weekend, one of the phrases that caught my eye in our own presidential campaigns was that "we in the US need to learn to disagree without demonizing the ones who disagree with us." I hope that was the case in this discussion (it seemed so). Just a few thoughts to add, hope you don't mind (I am in lesson planning mode as we start classes in a week). One of the main ways the lifestyle of S. Korea is transmitted to N. Koreans is via S. Korean soap operas smuggled over the border (at much risk to their lives) by S. Koreans. There is a film documenting some of this, if you want the name feel free to email. Imagine if our soaps were sent to another country to be one of the few tools that transmitted how we lived...oops, they are already aren't they? In addition, I'll be emailing for the manga list by the students, but I wanted to wait until now as I didn't know when you all started back. But, a note, that the reference made in my discussion to manga was about pornography within Japan--and you have to take into consideration the ways in which censorship and eroticism differ in Japan from the US. When you go on a trip with Clay and Miranda in the future to Japan, check out the manga in the bookstores and let me know what you think, both of content and of the audience. And, yes, Sailor Moon is definitely considered erotic in Japan-fetishism with school girls dress up is still prominant. But in the US, if you go to the annual Otacon (Otocon?), it is just one more costume-so culture plays a role here. But, the caution about not generalizing is timely.

In addition there were two comments about the usefulness or not of the web eval criteria. I think they both apply and are not mutually exclusive. That is, educating students about the conventions (and hierarchies) by which people are judged in this country is important, so they have a basis from which then to question, critically, whether those hierarchies are fair or highly unequal. In other words, giving them a basis (or stucture), and THEN showing them where that basis may be biased or unfair (and to whom, by whom), I would hope goes a long way to helping them navigate the world we now live in. However, since the students I get have most often never even been exposed to the idea of hierarchy (especially the one we don't want to touch marked "White Privilege"), I think both the comments are useful and necessary.

Anyway, hope that adds something to the discussion. Thank you again for participating so much the day I taught.

[Anonymous]

Lisa Fischler "Trafficking of Women"

I had to write one last comment on the “Trafficking of Women”, I started school last week, the 18th, and I looked at the many young girls in my classes and I keep remembering the statement that Lisa Fischler said that many of the pictures on the milk cartons are of girls that have been placed, forced or go into prostitution and or are trafficked into the sex trade. I too work in a school with students that have not left their neighborhood or that most likely will not go to college. Most of my students are not legal or have parents who are not legal.
I worry everyday about some of them and think of how their future is so closely related to America’s future. Many of my students are in gangs and have already experienced many things that I can’t even imagine. I am saying that many of my girls may have had to deal with some kind of forced sexual experiences and are not able to control their lives because of gangs. Yet at school we are told that all our students should go to college and I think that we are not listening to what is going on at home or in the neighborhood.
It is funny how a signal statement can stay with you for weeks. I look at mild cartons differently now.

[Anonymous]

A few thoughts on Professor Fischler's fine discussion (a welcome change from the standard lecture):
1) I felt both enlightened and frustrated by the experience. After the first activity, when we were asked to objectively observe the film (and then realized that we were all pushing subjective answers) I was afraid to give a response! My initial answer was going to be "cock fighting and feral dogs," both of which no one mentioned. A lesson learned in speaking up.
2) I became a little upset when the discussion centered on human trafficking in Japan and the amount of pornography that can literally be found everywhere- from manga to the inside walls of public phone booths to commonly circulated magazines. Although I lived in a small city in Shikoku (60,000 people), everyone knew where the "snack bars" (where you are entertained by women emplyed by the establishment who sing karaoke with you and laugh at your jokes as you buy them drinks) and the houses of ill repute were located. It was also clear that the foreign women- mostly Filipino- who were "employed" were actually slaves of the establishment and had to have escorts every time they wanted to go anywhere; their freedom in terms of travel were nil. This was an arrangement that clearly violated human rights.
But porn? I will be honest in saying that I was never outright offended. To see a businessman checking out some dirty manga next to you on the train was no cause for concern. To me it always felt like part of the culture, much like students moving in for the dangerous kancho (look it up). I felt that the foreigners who complained about the porn were the same who thought alchoholic vending machines on the street were unethical and the smoking lounge off to the side of the teachers' room should be done away with. Heck, I took up smoking when I realized it was a cultural "in": here was a place that teachers would let their guard down and meaningful conversations were never far behind. Now, granted, I wasn't buying the adult comics, but overall I made it a point to accept my new home as a place not strange or wrong but different, a different kind of truth from a culture much older than my own. Just take some time before you judge... I guess that's what I'm trying to say. Or ask yourself where that gut reaction of "this isn't right" is coming from.

[Anonymous]

I think Yayori Matsui would ask us to think about how the two of your points are connected: that is, is there a deeper connection between cultural norms of eroticism and how women are seen or treated? Just a thought (it was in the article I gave you all). Best.

[Author]

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