Mark Ramseyer, a professor at Harvard University, has stated that the women coerced into sexual slavery (or “comfort women”) by the Imperial Japanese Army were willing prostitutes, in direct opposition to a wide body of historical evidence. His revisionist claims are part of an article that is being published in the International Review of Law and Economics (IRLE). Eric A. Helland, a professor at Claremont McKenna College, is part of the editorial board of the IRLE that sanctioned this article for publication. This is a decision that we believe is academically irresponsible, as it pushes revisionist narratives perpetuated by wartime apologists with woefully insufficient supporting evidence.

This is especially important in context of contemporary efforts to stop sexual abuse in the present. By ignoring or otherwise obfuscating the longstanding history of institutional violence against women in the past, we are complicit in its perpetuation into the future.

This is irresponsible, and the article should be omitted immediately as it contains obvious, historically inaccurate claims which are damaging to the history of comfort women. The journal should also issue an official apology for not upholding a rigorous peer review process and letting this article pass through.

EDIT: Removed David Bjerk from the list of individuals who sanctioned the article