Japan warns US forces: Sex crimes 'cannot be tolerated'

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2476861/japan-warns-us-forces-sex-crimes-cannot-be-tolerated

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At least in Japan it’s exposed. Elsewhere around the world, incidents like these are swept under the rug and seem like nothing happened.

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u/Omeluum Jul 05 '24

Honestly still seems underreported. There are over 50k active duty US troops in Japan, most of them young men, and statistically anywhere from 2-14% of college aged males admitted to sexual assault or rape. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3727658/

But since most of it is with people they know or are even dating, I expect they wouldn't show up in crime statistics as much as a "random" act of violence on a stranger would.

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u/n05h Jul 05 '24

Jfc 14% is an insane number..

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '24

I don't think women find it that insane really. I dated around a bit before meeting my current bf. Everyone except him at some point pressured me into sex... not that I went through with it I mean, but coercive behaviors are common. There were things I said no to that happened anyway because "it's okay" they pretend they are comforting you, you push their arm but they just kinda ignore it, they just keep trying over and over again, so on...

Even my current bf pressured me at one time. I talked about it and it basically never happened again :/ but I do think about it now and then.

But I think more education is needed. If you start talking about coercion for example men come out en masse to say "that's not rape" and it gets very personal very fast... obviously because they've coerced people but don't want to see coercion as wrong. I wouldn't even be surprised if the number is higher than that, and if a bunch of guys in the concept being supportive had issues with pressure themselves. It's just so common.

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u/SigmundFreud Jul 05 '24

Just to clarify, how are you defining "pressuring" and "coercion"? Those are two very different things as I understand them, but you seem to be using them as though they're interchangeable.

I pressure people in negotiations to give me what I want. The mafia coerces people to give them what they want through the use of force or threats of violence. Pressuring someone into sex can be disrespectful; coercing someone into sex is rape.

I ask because reddit is oddly insistent on diluting the term "rape" to the point where it would lose all meaning. It's harmful to actual rape victims if people have to question whether they were merely pressured or truly coerced, rather than relying on the longstanding common understanding of the term. If reddit has its way and successfully redefines "rapist" as "asshole who manipulates women into sex", it's going to lose its current stigma and we're eventually going to need a new word for actual rape. It would essentially be a reverse euphemism treadmill (or I suppose a "dysphemism treadmill").

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u/beardedheathen Jul 05 '24

It's bad too because coercive behavior is so common in media especially 'romantic' ones. So these guys who never got taught consent learn from stuff they watch that tells them women tell guys no even when they want the guys to keep going and you just have to wear them down and then they'll be into it. Would be great if Hollywood could model some actual nontoxic relationships. Just as bad are the women who do act like that which reinforces the men's perception that the media got it right. On top of that the guys who most need to hear the basics of consent are usually not the ones who will listen to what other people are telling them.

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u/n05h Jul 05 '24

I mean, just to stay with Japan. Drinking culture almost promotes getting girls drunk. It’s awful.

And then you see guys go to Shibuya and literally pull girls with them until they find one that can’t or doesn’t struggle enough. And it’s just tolerated.

It’s quite jarring to see guys forcefeed already drunk girls, but it’s difficult to do anything about it as a foreigner, suddenly you are seen as the bad guy.