What do you think of this? Female idol forced to shave head for having boyfriend

[BadLad]

A quick search for Minegeshi revealed no results on here.

Here is the news article.

www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/music/debate-flares-over-japan-girl-band/story-e6frexl9-1226571220092

The synopsis is that a member of a phenomenally popular Japanese girl-band broke their no-dating rule, and was seen leaving a man's apartment. The no-dating rule is to preserve their image of availability to male fans.

As punishment - supposedly her own idea but I think you would be very naive to think management haven't pressured her to do it - she has shaved her head. She has also been demoted from the frontline band members

Discussing it with female acquaintances here, absolutely none of them seem bothered. When I said how shocking I found it, particularly the pressure on her to shave off her hair, it was implied that I just didn't understand Japanese culture. I have told them I thought women in my country would be outraged. Then it occurred to me that I could ask some women on here.

Any thoughts? What would you say to women who thought there was nothing too bad about it?

To their credit, some of the Japanese fans of both sexes have expressed outrage.

[Lessthanaballpark]

That's digusting. The worse bit on the video is where he is saying that the girls are required to maintain an image of "innocence" and then seconds later the girls are romping about practically naked.

So, must be sexy, but not allowed to have sex. Sexualized but innocent. That's a fine line to tread for any girl. And extremely creepy.

[BadLad]

Oh, OK.

[PretzelTime]

"Karin" was a returning troll.

[BadLad]

What happened to all Karin's posts?

[HairyHandedTrucker]

Write that article..that's shocking! That they would just move a teacher on after he has abused a 13 year old...or getting one year in prison for raping and giving herpes to a 16 year old. It does make me question the rape stats they have..

[Writehand]

The Wikipedia Sexuality in Japan entry is very informative, Karin1212. But not as informative as this NYT article, Victims Say Japan Ignores Sex Crimes Committed by Teachers:

Speaking at a public symposium, a member of Parliament, Seiichi Ota, recently made light of reports of gang rapes at a Tokyo university.

''Boys who commit group rape are in good shape,'' Mr. Ota said. ''I think they are rather normal. Whoops, I shouldn't have said that.'' (The legislator's comments were carried in many Japanese newspapers.)

[BadLad]

I don't suppose that's news to anyone on this forum

Writehand, meet Karin1212.

You are correct, though. My wife's aunt, when I met her for the first time, was flabberghasted when I thanked my mother-in-law for handing me a drink, and mentioned that she would love to be thanked by her husband and sons once in a while.

[Writehand]

My late DH toured Japan 4 or 5 times in the late 80s and obviously socialised a huge amount. He said Japanese women were totally bowled over if he showed them simple courtesy he'd show to anyone. "Light their cig and they think you're such a gentleman." He was soooo disgusted by the way Japanese women were treated by Japanese men who, in his view, didn't deserve them. I won't give all the details, but he hated it.

When we saw groups of Japanese women tourists here he'd grin and say he was hoping they'd escaped and wouldn't go back.

The reported rate of sexual assault has nothing to do with the actual number of rapes in Japan, though I don't suppose that's news to anyone on this forum. It's a very sexist society where, my DDH would be thrilled to learn, more and more women are refusing to get married at all because it offers them so little. There's a piece in the Economist about the phenomenon. Here's just a snippet:

In 2010 a third of Japanese women entering their 30s were single. Perhaps half or more of those will never marry. Surveys in Japan have suggested that women who work full-time then go home and spend another 30 hours a week doing the housework. Their husbands contribute an unprincely three hours of effort. In America and Europe the disparity is less extreme, and has narrowed considerably since the 1960s.

[BadLad]

The link for that blog's source didn't open for me.

I can't help being cynical about it when I read this from it.

Since I arrived here, I haven?t broken one single rule. To cross the street when the light is red would be one of the things I?d never do here. I would feel like dead woman walking across the street

The implication being that Japanese never jay-walk. Which is bollocks.

I did find my own source which agrees with you that the rape stats are lower here in Japan


www.nationmaster.com/compare/Japan/United-Kingdom/Crime

If you highlight rape, however, it does give the disclaimer that "Crime statistics are often better indicators of prevalence of law enforcement and willingness to report crime, than actual prevalence."

But why would a country with a thriving sex industry and a tolerant attitude towards violent/bizarre porn rank so low in the charts for murder/rape/serious assault?

Well, if I were a supporter of the porn and prostitution industry, I might argue that they do good by reducing rape.

But your question is irrelevant - those industries are huge, and therefore any suggestion that Japan is not misogynist are completely wrong.

[BadLad]

The question is whether Japan is sexist or not, not whether the assault rate is higher that in the west.

It is possible to have a very sexist attitude towards women without actually murdering or raping them.

[BadLad]

You really think that? In history men sometimes committed suicide from bringing shame on themselves, so this woman in the 21st century has voluntarily cut her hair off and demoted herself from the band, therefore ruining her pop group career to show penitence for having a boyfriend? With no bullying from the management at all.

But anyway, what I meant was a more recent example of what would happen to a man, not something out of history, so we can compare like for like.

[TheDoctrineOfSciAndNatureClub]

Ugh, how horrible.

[BadLad]

It's a very sad situation where a real, adult relationship is punishable in case it interferes with the unhealthy fantasies of the fans.

If she was a man I'm sure he would have done something equally humiliating. I think it's more a culture thing than a gender thing.

Do you have any examples of males being punished, either in this way or another, for dating?

But anyway, social change in Japan happens very very slowly, and IME the older generations here who grew up in the bubble times are far too set in their conservative ways to consider changing it any time soon. The best hope for change is the younger generation growing up and starting to question it.

So, there are people in Japan saying that maybe it was all a put-up job done for publicity. Even if it wasn't voluntary by the woman involved, it might be part of showbiz.

A woman being coerced into shaving her head for publicity purposes is as bad as a woman being coerced into doing so as punishment.

To answer your question, I don't think the man was part of the band. Certainly he wasn't a performer - it is a girl-band, after all.

[feministefatale]

The punishment is vile, but I actually think the no-dating or no getting caught dating thing, is pretty standard for boybands and girlbands..or has been in the past hasn't it?

I am trying to think of individual case, but I am sure some have even gotten married in the past in secret just to avoid ruining their image as available...

[TeiTetua]

Was the man part of the band, and therefore possibly subject to their discipline, or an outsider whom they presumably didn't have any hold over?

One quote from the originally linked article was:

"Was it a witch hunt or a marketing strategy?'' asked Hideomi Tanaka, an economist and AKB fan. ''If the latter, I've had enough of such calculated actions. What we want to see is idols, not bullying.''

So, there are people in Japan saying that maybe it was all a put-up job done for publicity. Even if it wasn't voluntary by the woman involved, it might be part of showbiz.

Japan has a very orderly society, but there seem to be gaps in it, like the women being harassed on commuter trains. And they have what we'd call an incredible tolerance for violent pornography. With disdain for women kept under control in a kind of ritualized way, I wouldn't be surprised if the rate of domestic violence in Japan were very high. What has to be repressed outside the home might break loose inside it.

[AbigailAdams]

Why are you defending this Karin? This is a horrible incident that wouldn't have happened if it were a man. In fact the man involved didn't get publicly humiliated and punished despite him undoubtedly knowing what 'the rules' were.

[Kiriwawa]

Karin - do you really think actual rape rates have anything to do with reported stats?

[BadLad]

The sex and human trafficking industry is massive here. Every town has a load of "massage parlours".

And while attacks on strangers are uncommon here compared to the west, domestic violence certainly isn't.

[PretzelTime]

Are you trying to defend Japanese culture from being called misogynist? Everyone knows it is.