Just recently, an online debate emerged as to whether or not the controversial women-only carriage was legal, but once again the issue of public groping, or ‘chikan’ incidents in Japan has come to the fore.
Japanese celebrity Sato Eriko is being criticized by netizens for her suggestion of a ‘women-only sidewalk’ after she was groped in the street by a passing cyclist. Most netizens strongly disagree with Sato’s suggestion, with some decrying it as feminism gone mad.
Do you think women in Japanese society need more measures to protect their personal safety?
From Yahoo! Japan:
‘I Was Groped on the Street. Make a Women-Only Sidewalk!’: Criticism After Criticism of Sato Eri’s Remark.
‘Make women-only sidewalks, not just women-only carriages!’ — talent Sato Eriko (31) made this remark, and now the topic is trending online.
But an overwhelming number of people say ‘no way!’ to her proposal, and also oppose women-only carriages on trains.
■ ‘Asshole! Groper!’: When She Shouted in the Street, She Got the Wrong Man.
Sato featured in the February 21 edition of the Tokyo Shimbun column ‘What I Want To Say’.
Sato confessed: ‘I got groped for the first time in 10 years’. When she was walking along the street at 5am, all of a sudden she was patted on the ass by a man on a bicycle. Sato immediately shouted ‘Stop! You groping bastard! Who the hell…!’, she moved ahead chasing after the man, and finally found him, shouting: ‘You. What the hell are you playing at! You Asshole! Groper!’ But at that moment she realised she had the wrong guy, and apologised earnestly.
Due to this having happened, Sato emphasised: ’Personally, I want them to make women-only sidewalks at fixed times, not just women-only carriages. There are men in society who oppose women-only carriages. But I’ve yet to see a woman who opposes women-only carriages’. Sato is of the opinion that if by doing this people could live their lives more easily, then it would be excellent for both men and women.
Walk, don’t grope.
■ There Are Even the Actions of the ‘Uncooperative Passengers’ Group’ Who Ride The Women-Only Carriage as Men
It’s been ten years since the women-only carriage was first introduced in Japan, with the aim of helping women to avoid gropers, but those who are critical still persist in saying things like: ‘Carriages other than the women-only carriage are over-crowded’;’There are cases of men who got on by mistake being verbally abused by women’;’It’s only a performance of anti-groping measures’.
Apart from appealing to autonomous groups and railway companies and submitting questionnaires, the ‘Group Against Women-Only Carriages’, which was formed with the aim of completely abolishing women-only carriages, they also do activities where men frequently ride the women-only carriage calling themselves the ‘Uncooperative Passengers’ Group’.
To further argue ‘make a women-only sidewalk’ in this kind of situation has prompted floods of online criticism, such as: ‘How much preferential treatment do these princesses need until they’re satisfied?’; ‘If we allow this, then they’ll be telling us to make everything under the sun women-only’; ‘Will men whose houses face this street be unable to go outside depending on the time? I think this is the same extreme logic as saying “Someone was stabbed so let’s abolish the sale of knives”‘.
Comments from Yahoo! Japan:
kakashi（air…）さん:
I’m not opposed to women-only carriages. I’m saying that I want them to make men-only carriages too. I’m not saying that because it’s unfair, but because I don’t want to get falsely accused of being a groper.
easyg0_easyc0m3（eas…）さん:
There’s a women-only carriage, there’s ladies’ day at the cinema and stuff — women have it good. They can be selfish. But at any rate, if that’s the case, I think it would be good if they had a men-only carriage too.
mf8（mf8…）さん:
I think she’s overdoing it a bit for it to come to this — isn’t it discrimination against men, as well as being a complete over-reaction?
426akiaki（aki…）さん:
While I’m a woman, those who insist only on their rights make me sick. I think that if they make a women-only carriage, then it’s only fair that they should also make a men-only carriage. I feel really sorry for women who get groped, but recently these clothes that look like underwear also make me wonder. Of course, I don’t mean to defend the gropers, but if you climb stairs in a super-short mini-skirt, even other women don’t know where to look. As much as possible, these women should protect themselves.
赤羽のtmasii（ans…）さん:
Sato Eri is so over.
mil*rg*4（mil…）さん:
Now those bitches are gonna be saying they want women-only buses, women-only escalators, women-only elevators, women-only stations….
向日葵（kum…）さん:
If they make a women-only island and segregate them on there, they’d have no complaints, these women, right?
だんだん気になる（edg…）さん:
I think it would be far more effective if we asked this lady not to set foot on public walkways. The more that they harp on about ‘women being weak’, the less I want to protect them.
janjan（jan…）さん:
How about segregating women once and for all and making an autonomous region for them?
BIG MACHINE（rsa…）さん:
This woman is being too short-sighted! The woman-only carriage is just one carriage out of however many, so that’s why it’s got us to where we are now (well, it looks like there’s various problems, but…) Anyway, if they make a women-only sidewalk, how are the men going to use the sidewalk!? That’s completely unclear. This only considers the opinion of this Sato Eri woman! Fucking joke!
3年D組！！薫先生～（cat…）さん:
I mean, she even got the wrong person. Must have been a pain the ass for the guy who got shouted at, too.
Jean_Marc_Gounon（jea…）さん:
Not everyone’s like this, but it’s getting crazy because there are people who insist on a women-only carriage when it’s convenient for them, and then when it’s no longer convenient for them they insist on ‘gender equality’.
TOMO（T0M…）さん:
＞Well, I’m opposed to it.
I’ve yet to see a woman who is opposed to the women-only carriage. I can understand those little girls who can’t protect themselves using the special carriage so that they don’t get groped, but I don’t think it needs to be a women-only carriage in particular. How about making something like a priority carriage that vulnerable people like small children, nursing mothers, the elderly and the injured can use? If it’s just a carriage where women can sit in comfort to do their make-up then I don’t think it’s necessary at all.
foo（foo…）さん:
I understand what she’s trying to say — those who grope women, and those who disrespect women are the worst — but this is a bit different, isn’t it? Gonna make a rule where every guy who gives you the eye who you don’t fancy is forcefully excluded…
taki-shinnji（kn0…）さん:
The only places it’s OK to have women-only are in public baths and toilets.
YukimiDaifuku（kas…）さん:
This remark goes over the line. I feel really sorry for people who get groped, and I guess they get a bit traumatized by it, but this is a bit nonsensical. Feminism gone too far.
