ABSTRACT
Using Dutch archival sources compiled during and just after the Second World War and the first Indonesian press reports from the 1990s on women’s experiences of sexual violence, this chapter surveys women’s experiences and unpacks the difficulties historians have in peeling back judgements and latter-day framing to understand how women viewed diverse experiences during the war. This included experiences of forced prostitution or sexual slavery, forced marriage as well as relationships based on at least some form of negotiation in the context of highly unequal power relations. The chapter examines how cases of sexual violence are reported and by whom and reflects on the problems of neatly labelling women’s experiences, awarding them agency, while at the same time acknowledging the conditions of predation underpinning the occupation. Expanding the frame of reference, the chapter also considers how other forms of gendered violence and coercion contributed to sexual violence.
