The hand
What are these privileged bitches complaining about now? Being groped on crowded public transportation? Wah wah wah, big deal.
It was the morning rush hour in Tokyo. The train was packed and rocky. Takako (not her real name) was on her way to school. The 15-year-old tried to hold on to a grab bar. Suddenly, she felt a hand pressing on her behind. She thought someone had accidentally bumped into her. But the hand started to grope her.
And it went on happening, nearly every day.
Many women like Takako are targeted in public by sexual predators. In some cases, they face another violation – the attack is filmed and the videos are sold online.
Most videos follow the same pattern – a man secretly films a woman from behind and follows her on to a train. Seconds later, he sexually abuses her. The men act discreetly, and their victims can seem totally unaware. These graphic videos are then listed on the websites for sale.
So? They’re still alive aren’t they? Unlike all the trans women who kill themselves several times a day.
“Chikan” is a Japanese term describing sexual assault in public, especially groping on public transport. It also describes the offenders themselves. Chikan perpetrators typically take advantage of crowds, and the victims’ fear of causing a scene. In Japan, speaking too directly and openly may be seen as rude.
While filming oneself sexually assaulting women and girls is not? Interesting cultural quirk.
The Japanese police encourage victims and eyewitnesses to speak up, but the crime is far from being eradicated. The problem is so widespread that even the UK and Canadian governments warn travellers to Japan about it.
Chikan has been normalised by its prominence in Japan’s adult entertainment industry. One of the most popular types of pornography in the country – the Chikan genre – has spread to other Asian countries.
Publicly harassing or assaulting women in public is normalized in a lot of places. It’s almost as if women are widely viewed as inferior and subordinate.
Yeah, I hear it all the time. Why does it bother you if a man puts his hand on your knee? It’s nothing!
Always said by men, who don’t have to worry about hands on their knees…or brushing up against at the copier, so close you may even feel the erect penis…or putting an arm around you oh, so casually…
I ask the men has it ever happened to them? They say it hasn’t, but so what? It’s not a big deal. Oh really? What if it happens several times a day, every day? Get over it, they say. It’s just part of the work world. Oh, you mean it HAS happened to you. Well, no, but when you are in the work world, you should expect to come in contact with other people. And some men may touch you but damn, it’s not like he raped you for chrissake.
Or sometimes the women…”But I like it when men pay attention, and flirt at me, and grab a bit now and then.” So what? That doesn’t mean everyone has to.
Okay, rant over…for now.
Japan has a fascinating culture and history. Samuel P. Huntingdon in his classicThe Clash of Civilisations allocated all countries of the world into larger entities: Orthodox Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Sinic, etc.. But Japan was so distinct as to be put by him into a class of its own, where it remains.
Many elements of the traditional Japanese feudal-era hierarchy are still in place, as they are likewise on the British Isles, half a world away to the west. Such have been abolished and overthrown across the Eurasian mainland.
I am currently working on a book provisionally entitled Mountains, Islands, and Human Culture which develops this theme further. (It will not be submitted for publication under the above nom-de-blog.)
iknklast,
There’s a well-established rule/custom that in a men’s room, you never stand at a urinal next to another occupied urinal unless there’s no other choice. A guy who ignored several open spots to stand next to another dude would be getting some side-eye at a minimum. So yeah, men totally understand the concept of personal space when it suits our interests.
Yes, my husband tells me the same thing. I think in a lot of ways, men do get it, but don’t want to.
Well of course they get it when it involves other actual humans like them.
Sadly, one of the most effective approaches I’ve found is to tell guys like who think this sort of thing is fine, “You shouldn’t approach a woman in public or the workplace any differently than you’d want your 6’6″ cell-mate to address you.” It seems that the only way they can begin to approach empathy is to actually be given a mental image where they understand the implicit threat that men present to women.
It helps sometimes… I have a real tough time with empathy myself…
But yes, Japan… It’s notable that one of the most common phrases that comes up in their porn scripts is “it hurts”…
Yay being better than Japan?
Laydeez, laydeez, laydeez. Can’t you see that being groped is a compliment? It means he likes you!
Further to @Holms #8:
“If a nice-looking* ladee groped me like that, I’d enjoy it”
“If she didn’t want that kind of attention, why did she dress up?”
“Women these days are so uptight – what choice does that leave the poor red-blooded man other than fondling a teenager on the subway?”
* must meet mandatory minimum attractiveness level