Kelly and I watched "The Women Outside" after the rest of you saw it, because we weren't able to make the Thursday night showing. Let me first say that I was appalled at the treatment which countless Korean women endured in their relationships with the American soldiers. I would have hoped that, with the United States purporting to be a progressive nation with "just" citizens who hold everyone as "equals," there would not have been such horrendous mistreating of these women. Granted, most of them are in the business to make money, to "sell" their bodies to men lusting for a woman (or women) after spending months or years overseas. Nevertheless, I feel that each individual in a relationship of any sort should be treated with respect. It is just so sad to see men who are portrayed as "American heroes" putting other human beings through more pain and suffering.

I wonder if war can truly change a man? Is he inherently good, but turns evil because of the situation he is put in? For anyone who was fortunate enough to go to his lecture at Scripps, Dr. Philip Zimbardo, psychologist and designer of the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment, spoke about what he called the "Lucifer Effect" - when good people go bad because of circumstance. He attributed atrocities such as the torturing of Iraqis prisoners not to a "bad apple" (an inherently evil person), but to a "bad barrel," or environment. During war men are exposed to all sorts of awful sights and experiences. Does he then transfer this horror to his own life, and act out because of it? Although I do not want to underestimate the impact which seeing so many human deaths can have on a person, I do want to say that nobody has the right to take their fears/frustrations/anger out on the innocent. Doubtlessly, combat takes a toll on all who are involved, but the jump from this to hurting a woman seems a bit of a non-sequitur to me. Dr. Zimbardo would probably agree; in his examples, once the men were removed from their hostile environments, they were not likely to commit the same kind of crime. The student "guards" in his prison experiment took on their roles too zealously, and beat their fellow students, "prisoners," although none of the guards previously would have thought they would do that sort of thing.

What makes matters worse is that these men not only terrorize their Korean girlfriends/wives; they also destroy their family/love life back home. I picture these women back in America running to greet their long-lost husbands/boyfriends at the docks and how they kiss and hug passionately and have looks of such bliss on their faces. Little do they know that back in Korea, or wherever their soldier went abroad, there is probably a girl who is just as miserable as they are happy. I never thought about that until seeing this film, and it is an awful reality check. I wonder if women in the military victimized men in the same way? Certainly there must be; then why do we not hear about these stories?

I can only hope that the couple who moved to Hawai`i has a strong and healthy relationship. The soldier seemed nice, and like he cares about his wife; however there were times during their conversation that I felt he treated her more as a subordinate than as an equal. An example is when she asked him how his day was, and why it wasn't so good, and he responded that she could never understand the things he did on his job. That is really something she should be able to judge for herself; and if his work were top-secret, he should just say that rather than imply that she is too simple-minded to comprehend what he does.

They also mentioned that they were having trouble finding acceptance in their community in Hawai`i. They mentioned that because she is Korean, from Korea, the women treat her differently. This made me think about social dynamics in Hawai`i. There are a multitude of ethnicities which dominate in Hawai`i - Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, and white make up the majority of our population. Although the hierarchy is much different and most likely more fluid than it is on the mainland, this doesn't mean that gaining acceptance is much easier. It is true that locals aren't always immediately accepting of newcomers, especially if their culture is different from the culture in the islands. A good number of the inhabitants in Hawai`i have been here for at least four generations, and thus when a white person and someone from Korean move there, they have a hard time settling in. It is true, as in any community anywhere in the world, you have to work to fit in. People will take you in if you show respect, kindness and put in the effort to get to know people in a genuine way. No matter where you go, this is true. Though language or culture may be barriers, these can be overcome with such things as the "aloha spirit!" Sorry sounds cheesy, but take it from someone who lives in Hawai`i...it's true.