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Women in Japan


ssjup81

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I know, odd topic, but...just thought I'd post this here anyway as it's part of the culture. So one thing that does interest me about Japan are the social issues this country has...and of course, one of the most interesting to me is women. I've mentioned this before, but 101 East, last year, did this video talking about women in Japan.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSozUMIQTQ0

 

The first thijng they open with, is a maid cafe...the one I went to, ironically. lol Not that specific one, but that brand.

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  • 3 months later...

I guess everyone's (every country) having problems with gender inequality on some level, but that its perhaps a bit more visible in Japanese culture/society since they seem to be leaning on tradition more than classic western capitalist countries and I don't see that as anything bad since its part of who they are, as diversity is a good thing. It's a good thing they're showing initiative to tackle this problem but when we're talking about countries with such rich cultural heritage like Japan (or Serbia, where I've been witnessing it first hand) these changes need time and they can't happen over night.

 

I'm sure that this will change with time, and besides there's no country on Earth that has completely solved this problem yet so we should remain positive looking into the future. :)

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Glad you brought up the topic!

 

 

I took a Japanese gender and sexuality course while attending Kansai Gaidai last year, and it was pretty eye opening!

We talked about the korean women who suffered under the Japanese 'comfort woman' system during WW2, current lesbian and gay lifestyles/lack of visibility, and general sexual education students in japan receive (or the lack thereof).

 

It was really shocking to me when we discussed just how much women there lack agency when entering in and maintaining relationships. Some female japanese dormmates were also in the class but were often silent. When discussing contraceptives though they shared how little they really knew or were taught about by family and school.

One girl who was close to me was shocked that so many of us use and promote the pill, (somewhere like 5% or less use it in Japan), because her mother told her that if you ever take it you can NEVER have kids again. (i felt bad for her, we set her straight)

 

Fun fact: The pill was banned until 1999 in Japan (that's 50 years later than the US)

 

Women are also expected to just allow men to decide whether to use condoms or not, and to never contradict their decision. Yeah....no that would never fly with me.

 

Wish i would still take those courses D:

(Sorry if this was so wordy all!!)

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Glad you brought up the topic!

 

 

I took a Japanese gender and sexuality course while attending Kansai Gaidai last year, and it was pretty eye opening!

We talked about the korean women who suffered under the Japanese 'comfort woman' system during WW2, current lesbian and gay lifestyles/lack of visibility, and general sexual education students in japan receive (or the lack thereof).

 

It was really shocking to me when we discussed just how much women there lack agency when entering in and maintaining relationships. Some female japanese dormmates were also in the class but were often silent. When discussing contraceptives though they shared how little they really knew or were taught about by family and school.

One girl who was close to me was shocked that so many of us use and promote the pill, (somewhere like 5% or less use it in Japan), because her mother told her that if you ever take it you can NEVER have kids again. (i felt bad for her, we set her straight)

 

Fun fact: The pill was banned until 1999 in Japan (that's 50 years later than the US)

 

Women are also expected to just allow men to decide whether to use condoms or not, and to never contradict their decision. Yeah....no that would never fly with me.

 

Wish i would still take those courses D:

(Sorry if this was so wordy all!!)

I knew about the contraceptive thing and the scare tactics used by the government attached to using the pill, but am curious regarding what they're taught in school in the form of sex Ed. Any other info you can provide given your experience with your dorm mates? Just curious since I've never had the guts to bring up the subject of inequality of women in Japan with actual Japanese around me.
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(Sorry if this was so wordy all!!)

 

No need to apologize for being wordy when discussing something of significant depth, in my opinion - your post was informative and very well put. I was personally aware of the history surrounding comfort women, but the bit about contraceptives was entirely new to me.

 

I know, odd topic, but...just thought I'd post this here anyway as it's part of the culture. So one thing that does interest me about Japan are the social issues this country has...and of course, one of the most interesting to me is women. I've mentioned this before, but 101 East, last year, did this video talking about women in Japan.

 

Excellent video - thank you for posting this!

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