Project
Lolas: Survivors of Enslavement
200,000 girls and women were sexually enslaved during World War II by the Japanese Imperial Army...
Cheryl Diaz Meyer tells the story of the sanctioned system of sexual slavery that took place during World War II when the girls and women were taken for days and sometimes years to serve in military brothels throughout Japanese-occupied territories. In the Philippines, where the Japanese Imperial Army sexually enslaved an estimated 1,000 women, called "comfort women," through abduction, coercion, and deception, the fight continues for historical inclusion, a formal apology and restitution even as the Japanese government quietly undermines them. Photographer Cheryl Diaz Meyer recounts a stunning discovery that among the few remaining living "comfort women" two sisters are still alive. The images are a testament to the strength of girls and women even under the most horrific circumstances.
![Fedencia Nacar David holds her photo for an application to work as a maid. She was 15. A year before, a Japanese soldier sliced her ear and threatened to behead her if she didn't go to a garrison with him; she was raped over 10 days. "It still hurts," she says. "I was innocent. Why did that happen to me?" She kept her past from her children until "comfort women" began speaking out in the 1990s. Image by Cheryl Diaz Meyer. Philippines, 2019.](/sites/default/files/12-07-20/20190510filipinacomfortwomen-cdiazmeyer-22x-19_custom-e5f315036d7fda928e0e86e0cf75a668e7a3911f-s2500-c85.jpg "Fedencia Nacar David holds her photo for an application to work as a maid. She was 15. A year before, a Japanese soldier sliced her ear and threatened to behead her if she didn't go to a garrison with him; she was raped over 10 days. "It still hurts," she says. "I was innocent. Why did that happen to me?" She kept her past from her children until "comfort women" began speaking out in the 1990s. Image by Cheryl Diaz Meyer. Philippines, 2019.")
