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Japanese student rejects apology over university 'sex listing'

49 Comments
By Beh Lih Yi

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"They are missing the point," Yamamoto told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from Tokyo.

"They are saying sorry for using misleading words but they are not apologizing for the main idea itself ... how they are treating women and objectifying women," she said.

It's Yamamoto who seems to be missing the point. None of these women were forced to go to these parties. None of these women were forced to date anyone. None of these women were forced to have sex with anyone. I assume these women are still responsible for their own actions.

A magazine article was written which discussed certain extra curricular activities at some schools. Neither the magazine, or the writer, sponsored, or condoned, the gatherings, or the extra curricular activities. The magazine has nothing to apologize for. It's Yamamoto who should apologize to the magazine. The magazine was only reporting what was going on at some schools.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I see Jissen University is at the top of the list ... my former school.

The school has issued the most detailed of statements of protest, claiming 'diversity' as one of their ideals.

I resigned in protest from that school due to racist / nationalists policies. Now, even between the two English Departments there is no longer a tenured or even full-time non-Japanese professor.

If you think discrimination against women is fundamentally distinct from discrimination against non-Japanese, you have not experienced discrimination.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

lest we forget in Japanese male mentality they are only comfort women

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

@Zach: I admire her, I hope there is a way I can support her

I would guess that the best way you could support her would be by refraining from picking up and having sex with one of the women at her university. Stay out of the sack Zach. Apparently the mindset of young women have changed since the 60’s

gelen: There will always be men and women who like to bed hop and there are going to be schools where there's more drinking than studying.

That is obviously true. However there are prudish people out there that don’t want others to talk about that fact.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Everyone who makes comments implying or stating that this is something distinctively Japanese.

If they think it's only Japanese, it would mean they don't know about the American equivalent, and therefore the people complaining about this happening in Japan wouldn't be at the same time saying the equivalent in America is ok.

Everyone who is not equally indignant about the "party schools" rankings in the US.

I don't think there are any people who have criticized the Japanese version and also given the American version a pass.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Who is saying it's ok when America does it, and not when Japan does?

Everyone who makes comments implying or stating that this is something distinctively Japanese. Everyone who is not equally indignant about the "party schools" rankings in the US.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

If this kind of thing is acceptable when American publications do it, why is it unacceptable when a Japanese publication does it?

Who is saying it's ok when America does it, and not when Japan does?

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Not obvious to me that the Spa! article is all that different from the many rankings of "party schools" (universities) in the US. Frat and sorority parties are not about people in formal dress standing around drinking milk and eating cookies. Some of the US "party school" rankings are very explicit about the relative availability of casual sex at different colleges. If this kind of thing is acceptable when American publications do it, why is it unacceptable when a Japanese publication does it?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Women join these compensated parties voluntarily. Some may go to a hotel or the dude's apartment voluntarily. Takes two to tango, so women are just as much to blame for that list.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

The real question is - Was what was printed article fact? If so that means no apologise is needed.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

The saddest/most pathetic thing here is that J 'men pay female students to take part in drinking parties

Well unless you are foreigner or a host, as a guy you have to pay.

As a normal guy here, taking a woman on a dinner date = pay for everything and then add on 20,000-25,000 yen in “tips” in cash.

I frankly don’t understand why people need to feel sorry for them when everything is so easy. As a women in Japan, never need to pay for anything.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

And that is exactly the point. For those of us who have years under the belt, much of this seems strange....

The world seems turned upside down and what is wrong is right and what is right is wrong......

Who would have guessed?!?!

Yeah. I feel like the internet amplifies the ridiculous as well.

I am personally getting pretty close to making the decision to quite online discussion and commentary for a while, perhaps for the rest of this year.

Maybe in favour of a better way of doing things. If I wasn't so lazy, I'd make Youtube videos. Maybe one day I will still do that, but other than posting here, a couple of facebook groups and lambasting the Guardian with what I consider to be rational comments (nearly always deleted by the authoritarians on that site btw), I actually don't get involved much. No Twitter. Don't update Facebook very often.

Definitely worth freeing yourself from the morass of the internet.

Fortunately the real world is not as grim or irrational as the internet.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

@Matt Hartwell,

Strange isn't it.

And that is exactly the point. For those of us who have years under the belt, much of this seems strange....

The world seems turned upside down and what is wrong is right and what is right is wrong......

Who would have guessed?!?!

2 ( +2 / -0 )

It used to be that the people that got offended by stuff were the older, more conservative people in Japan (and elsewhere).

And it was the younger people that pushed the boundaries, whether it was style, music, sexual freedoms, individuality and the like.

The older people were viewed as intolerant and close-minded and younger people were viewed as liberal and open-minded.

Times are changing. It seems now that so many young people are perpetually offended, intolerant, and most definitely uptight.

Strange isn't it.

Same applies to the traditional left and right of politics....in the West at least. The left are the authoritarians now and the right, what use to be seen as liberal in the West. Its very weird. Don't know where it all ends. Just consider myself independent now if anybody asks.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

法政大学 (Hosei University)

I don't know how you miss this one. It's right there in the name! Ho!

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Many Austin Powers looking guys go those parties

yeah baby yeah!

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Blah blah blah.  Like this little spat will change anything about the way the sexes interact in Japan.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

I agree that Japan really objectifies women and treats them poorly.

I'd say Japan objectifies both men and women more or less equally.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Gyara nomi is paying a woman to attend a party, not for sex which is what this article is about: how easy it is to convince female university students who go to gyara nomi to engage in sex afterwards (not clear if they get extra pay to do so).

How to spot these "easy girls" at a party? The article also lists clothing/appearance (my translations):

-heavy bangs and medium-long hair

-subtle eye and lip makeup

-purse is bigger than a handbag

-low heels

-top has lace/sheer fabric around the shoulder area

-clothing in monotone colors

-top is off-shoulder

-dress is tight, knit sweater fabric

This kind of talk is par for the course in magazines, TV shows, online clickbait. The outrage seems to be at the fact that the universities are mentioned by name as well as the clear reference to sex. If the article replaced "yareru" with something like "easy to ask on a date after" and just said "joshidaisei" without names I don't think it would have gone viral, it would have remained another drop in the ocean of low-key sexist drivel that mainstream culture--men and women--consume as normal for entertainment.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Many Austin Powers looking guys go those parties

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Shot:

And why do you feel it's ok to over generalize and paint all women with the same brush?

Chaser:

it's about men learning to treat women as equals and not a piece of meat!

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Why is she going after this magazine? Why not the 100's of others that are at the same height on shelves as a 4 year old child, with scantily clad women in bikinis and lotion dripping off their chest?

Where is Yamamoto when 14 year old female pop singers are dressed up in outfits that leave nothing to the imagination, are dancing in front of groups of ojisans at shopping malls?

There's so much more she could be protesting, and I commend her for spirit, but she could have taken action on far more serious issues related to the same arena, long before this article offended her.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

The magazine sensationalized gyara-nomi, the new word for "companions", and suggested that it was easier to "score" with plainer women in normal clothes than well-dressed good lookers.

Any woman who accepts 10,000 yen and free drinks to go a men's drinking party and doesn't expect comments about her looks and stuff that would be sexual harassment in a regular workplace is naive in the extreme. I fully understand that it upsets other women, but women who do gyara nomi (or topless modeling or whatever) are consenting to be objectified. I say it many times, but there are women in Japan who are anti-feminism. They are very happy to play men for what they can get, even if it sells women as a whole down the river. They don't want to work and more importantly do not want other people to expect or pressure them to work. The cult of the housewife suits them just fine. Other women who do work are seen as threats.

4 ( +8 / -4 )

The saddest/most pathetic thing here is that J 'men pay female students to take part in drinking parties.'

That's a big L from me.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Why is she attacking the damn magazine? They just reported about the frequency of these "hookup parties" which are clearly a thing and apparently well-known enough, it's not like the parties will disappear if the article isn't written. Why doesn't she start to target these parties and shame the girls that go to them? Especially since so many on the list are women's universities so they're specifically going out of the school to find these parties and hookup.

2 ( +7 / -5 )

Joe, I guess you didn't go to a party school. Engineering school sure wasn't but we knew which colleges to drop in on too. There will always be men and women who like to bed hop and there are going to be schools where there's more drinking than studying.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

there are a lot of women (and men) that are not shy about bed hopping.

And there is nothing wrong with that.

Women should be as free to explore their sexual satisfaction as men are.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

@Joe: Spa! decides to completely unscientifically label some women at at random universities "sluts"

No individuals were slandered. And I got news for you - there are a lot of women (and men) that are not shy about bed hopping. It's just reality.

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

Japanese women are the ones trying to hook men into becoming their wallets and use their husband’s money on hosts and vacations.

So sad for Japanese men. Japanese women just use them as living wallets. When the husband gets diagnosed with cancer the usual response by wife is simply to ensure if she got enough life insurance money.

1 ( +8 / -7 )

I admire her, I hope there is a way I can support her

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

"They are saying sorry for using misleading words but they are not apologizing for the main idea itself ... how they are treating women and objectifying women," she said.

In actuality it is the women themselves who are easily hooking up that are the ones objectifying women. Yamamoto is attacking the wrong target.

0 ( +6 / -6 )

It used to be that the people that got offended by stuff were the older, more conservative people in Japan (and elsewhere).

And it was the younger people that pushed the boundaries, whether it was style, music, sexual freedoms, individuality and the like.

The older people were viewed as intolerant and close-minded and younger people were viewed as liberal and open-minded.

Times are changing. It seems now that so many young people are perpetually offended, intolerant, and most definitely uptight.

I am not saying that the article was in good taste or even appropriate. But it was just an article in Spa magazine. Seriously, why get bothered about that?!

There are far more important equality issues to tackle in Japan. Far more. And if someone cannot distinguish about things that really are worth getting offended about and something trivial like this, then they have a problem.

3 ( +8 / -5 )

It's just a magazine article Yamamoto-san. It's not a scientific journal. Just social commemtary. If her complaint is that the women at her university are not the most likely to hook up then that's one thing. But she seems to be wanting to prevent a magazine from commenting on the topic. She perceives the topic as negative to women and doesn't want it even discussed. That's an unsupportable position.

0 ( +9 / -9 )

While women being objectified in Japan is nothing new and isn't going away. And with or without this article I am sure this magazine will have no trouble conjuring up pointless stats to fill its pages. But I do wonder what is the point of this statistic other than to offend women.

1 ( +6 / -5 )

Stand up ladies. Fight. No man will do it for you. Change japan for the better.

10 ( +15 / -5 )

If she’s being sexually harassed at a office party, that should be considered harassment. At a male drinking party with girls there that want to be there, are going to be asked out by every guy, will get gifts, free dates, and cash...cmon, the guys are the losers here.

She was not involved in the incidents being reported, she is making a statement regarding the article that SPA reported on and apologized for, but did not retract.

 but maybe first better work on women not looking at men as walking wallets...? You know it being her gender an all....

And why do you feel it's ok to over generalize and paint all women with the same brush?

3 ( +11 / -8 )

Yubaru... but maybe first better work on women not looking at men as walking wallets...? You know it being her gender an all....

3 ( +14 / -11 )

I agree that Japan really objectifies women and treats them poorly.

I do not agree that women at these parties are victims. Japanese women play men like a fiddle just like any smart hot lady anywhere around the world.

If she’s being sexually harassed at a office party, that should be considered harassment. At a male drinking party with girls there that want to be there, are going to be asked out by every guy, will get gifts, free dates, and cash...cmon, the guys are the losers here.

Shes gunna walk out with ten numbers, a free night, and the pick of the bunch, if she so pleases.

I see articles in women’s magazines that rank males from around the globe, and I’m not outraged.

4 ( +16 / -12 )

So, where’s the list? For academic purposes only...

-3 ( +13 / -16 )

Good job! Need more like her, hope she get into politics.

4 ( +16 / -12 )

She is right on the money! Hopefully some men will stand with her too! It's not just about women, it's about men learning to treat women as equals and not a piece of meat!

4 ( +17 / -13 )

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