Ex-SDF member says misconduct routine in her unit

Gonoi is an unusual name. I’ve never met anyone with the surname.

One thing is for certain: It’s only when you attempt to impose American ‘progressive’ (sic) cultures and values on a community happily existing and thriving outside those impractical new American ‘norms’ that you truly become aware of how pernicious and nightmarish the contemporary ’American Dream’ has become.

Whatever that is even supposed to mean (anyone's guess) the US is irrelevant to this case.

This is about a woman whose career in the Self Defense Force was destroyed by lowlife sexual harrassers. This is sadly nit a one-off case. Japans Defence Forces are seriously understaffed at a very dangerous time - and unless this issue is sorted out, women simply won't join up.

Thomas TwattToday 07:48 am JST

This is all rather desperate and unbecoming, isn’t it? It doesn’t fit.

How doesn't it fit? Sexual harassment is rampant, gender inequality is real - so obviously, it fits just fine.

Also, what evidence do you have that she is lying? The accused have been convicted in a court of law.

One thing is for certain: It’s only when you attempt to impose American ‘progressive’ (sic) cultures and values on a community happily existing and thriving outside those impractical new American ‘norms’ that you truly become aware of how pernicious and nightmarish the contemporary ’American Dream’ has become.

You are aware that this is a Japanese member of the Japanese SDF, in a court case in Japan, right? What has it to do with America?

I sympathize with her. Nobody should be subjected to any harassment and treatment. Especially when they are trying to serve their country. It is a horrible feeling to be treated like trash and when you complain, no one listens to you. If the Japanese govt is smart, they should develop a resolution consul in the military and put her in charge. After all she has experienced it 1st hand and was brave enough to bring it out. Japan cannot afford to play games especially with North Korea and China on their door step.

…

Good luck to Ms Gonoi now that she has found a public voice.

Its a pity that she was not hosted by Japanese journalists though.

Still it is no wonder that the FCCJ hosts and has hosted individuals that have no platform from the Japanese media which is loath to allow any scandalous news to ‘get out there’

More must be done to prevent sexual harassment, and deal with it when reported.

The article makes no mention that sexual harassment works both ways and not just male to female. Power is power and those who have it also have the responsibility to control what influence that power has on themselves and others.

Yup this is the typical military herd environment and mentality, same dudes who avidly support porn and victim blame in cases of sexual assault.

Altthough I sympathize with her, the day there is war, if you can't sustain some harassment, you'll flee at first sight of enemy. That is reality. Experience somme little endurement makes better soldier. Fact.

Wimps are not considered in high esteem.

I already said that this Mrs was brave and deserved promotion for having the guts.

Don't apply censorship again. Stop that just because an opinion is not meeting your standards.

So many tough guys.

Just curious when the JSDF says someone was "fired", does that mean they were convicted at a courts martial and given the JSDF equivalent of a Bad Conduct Discharge, or just handed their last paycheck and told to get lost?

In the US military, if crimes like she suffered are proven in a courts martial, the member probably would have received a demotion to E-1, forfeiture of pay, some time in the brig and the Big Chicken Dinner, ie a Bad Conduct Discharge, BCG, which is the equivalent of a felony conviction and follows you for life.

As someone who has worked in the armed forces, moral misconduct is prevalent to say the least. If I could just gather evidence of the scenes I had to witness during in service, public perception of the military would plummet. Good on her to blow the whistle, staying silent and putting up with it is not an option. maintaining the wa and not being a nuisance takes a back seat in this. Let's hope more people like her stand up.

Jonathan PrinToday 09:06 am JST

Altthough I sympathize with her, the day there is war, if you can't sustain some harassment, you'll flee at first sight of enemy. That is reality. Experience somme little endurement makes better soldier. Fact.

So the male soldiers should be sexually harassed too? Or only the women? Also, if we take your logic to its conclusion, this also means we should torture members of the military - after all, if they can't stand a little torture, how will they hold up in war?

Wimps are not considered in high esteem.

Ah, so because she was afraid of being raped by four men while ten men watched, she is a wimp. Right ...

I already said that this Mrs was brave and deserved promotion for having the guts.

Wait, you just said she was a wimp?

Don't apply censorship again. Stop that just because an opinion is not meeting your standards.

Nice to know that the mods took down at least one of your comments since they usually let you guys get away with all kinds of awful commentary.

NOT SURPRISED AT ALL, if it's happening at higher up levels within the society then it is happening at all levels.

from what I have seen It usually starts with so called drinking parties with co workers, once they gage you they start to Power Harass you then before you know it it get sexual, some are strong enough to resist it other just go along with the game.

@Desert Tortoise

Just curious when the JSDF says someone was "fired", does that mean they were convicted at a courts martial and given the JSDF equivalent of a Bad Conduct Discharge, or just handed their last paycheck and told to get lost?

The SDF has no courts martial, and can only discharge an individual as the maximum penalty. The perpetrator is then subject wherever is sentenced by a civilian court.

In the case of Ms Gonoi it is not clear whether she wants to pursue a civil suit or settle for compensation.

So the male soldiers should be sexually harassed too? Or only the women? Also, if we take your logic to its conclusion, this also means we should torture members of the military - after all, if they can't stand a little torture, how will they hold up in war?

There are training programs in the military that involve physical, mental, and sometimes sexual abuse.

These are, however, very exclusive training programs that special forces and select personnel attend, and sign multiple waivers for. It is not at all something the average soldier, marine, airman or sailor should expect to experience. The military will make you tough, and there are ways to do it without abuse.

The SDF is not military people. They are special civil servants. They can resign with one month's notice or be fired just like any other employee can. There are no court marshals.

If they really think men are so awful, why do tiresome women such as Miss Gonoi so obviously aspire to look and behave like a man?

Nowhere in her interview did she say anything to suggest she is a “man hater.” It’s clear she only wants the perpetrators to face justice.

Her “dude haircut” and ears are because she is a Judoka, and has little to do with what you are suggesting.

The experience really did a number on her. She really changed her image/ herself to a more masculine tone so as to negate any sexual references/advances towards her.

Judging from the swollen left ear, she might even be taking or is currently active in self-defense lessons. (I’ve seen some of them in people doing Judo or other martial arts techniques)

I really understand where she’s coming from. She’s been through a lot… I hope she gets her justice.

The best way ensure adequate staffing for the military is to introduce universal conscription.

Every homeless person could be drafted and served, along with the unemployed and the recluse adults still living off their parents.

Enforce anti sexual harassment rules with lengthy prison sentences and shaming the transgressors, along with teaching recruits that is wrong.

Conscription can only work if there is a military force and won't solve the problem of sexual harassment.

Altthough I sympathize with her, the day there is war, if you can't sustain some harassment, you'll flee at first sight of enemy. That is reality. Experience somme little endurement makes better soldier. Fact.

Wimps are not considered in high esteem.

I already said that this Mrs was brave and deserved promotion for having the guts.

Don't apply censorship again. Stop that just because an opinion is not meeting your standards.

This is just plain stupid. You are literally arguing that soldiers raping each other is OK because it toughens them up.

Know what doesn't work well in a war? An army which allows its soldiers to rape each other. That is just corrosive on so many levels that are relevant to military readiness: discipline, morale, unit cohesion.

I know this because I was in the army. If my fellow soldiers had felt free to sexually assault me whenever they felt like it, this would not have made me a better solider. It would have done the opposite.

Also, rape is a bad in and of itself irrespective of its effect on soldiering skills .

Sexual misconduct in Japan? Nooooooooooo really?

In a male-dominated society, a lady bringing to light the misconduct of military men would have been unmistakably tough. Hats off to Ms. Rina Gonoi for mustering the courage to come forward!

Glad to hear that the Defense Ministry took a pivotal action to discharge men-in-uniform who did not remain true to their oath of service to Japan and its countrymen.

This is so self-defeating. At a time when no amount of money will (yet) make up for live bodies on the line, the GDF in particular, but the entire JSDF in general are bascially saying to 1/2 of the population "Don't join up or else."

I honestly do not know why any woman would join no matter how patriotic. It's just too demeaning to be treated like nothing more than a sex (or abuse) toy.

That's why they successfully made JAV one of the most renowned genres in the world.

@Fighto!Today 08:01 am JST

Whatever that is even supposed to mean (anyone's guess) the US is irrelevant to this case.

I think what he meant to say was this. If we rewind the clock a whole 100 years back, while we don't have sexual equality, it's unlikely any of this would have happened:

repeatedly asked her breast size, suddenly hugged her in a hallway and [...] trying judo techniques on her, Gonoi said.

Then in July 2021, inside a tent at a training ground, she had her breasts touched by male superiors, who also forced her to touch their private parts, she said.

In August 2021, senior male colleagues pressed the lower part of their bodies against her in a dorm at a training ground, forcing her to spread her legs, as if having sex, while more than 10 other male colleagues, including two supervisors, watched and laughed, but none tried to stop them, Gonoi said.

Because back then, a woman's chastity is serious business. Back then due to a woman's lack of status, a family might "sell" her off to prostitution, but the flip side is that if you aren't her family you don't have any business touching her. And if we go to the time when women were "chattel" well then you don't lightly touch someone elses' property.

Japan is now in an Uncanny Valley between that time and a worldview where females are fully recognized as equals, and this may actually be making women more vulnerable to attack than before.

I think that's what he may have been trying to say.

I wish him the best of luck.

@ Rainyday

I follow but we speak of Japan, and you know how women are considered in Japan.

National change should happen but it is to Japanese to decide.

Firing 5 soldiers when you are missing thousands and thousands. Not sure it is both a tactical and strategic move : no more women would join and more men will be fired.

And it was very far from rape from the description.

I never said it was acceptable.

Because those behaviors always appear here and there naturally, officers to show the way but since Japanese old men are in charge, this situation will not change in my opinion anyway soon before decades, meaning too late.

Gonoi should have been promoted and those half men under her command.