Quote:
Originally Posted by ChainLegacy
Wait, what exactly is useful about knowing how to swim with clothes on? Even with someone drowning I think I'd have time to rip my shirt and pants off.  |
Perhaps not if you'd been driving through
Somerville yesterday.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sergho
is it true that women on public transportation are groped by strange men?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Komari
It is very true, unfortunately. They even have women-only hours (or maybe whole train lines that are women-only, I forget), where only women can ride the trains, to combat train groping.
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Women-only cars on Japanese trains date back to 1912 according to
Wikipedia. Starting in 2000, a number of train operators have re-introduced them. Groping (
chikan) is apparently a widespread problem; in one survey two-thirds of female passengers in their twenties and thirties reported that they had been groped on trains, and the majority had been victimized frequently. Not surprisingly, groping has been the subject of a number of hentai anime.
Quote:
My question: why, oh why do any schools in Japan make their girls wear bloomers (read: cheerleader shorts  ) in gym class?
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The bloomers question has been asked
before in this thread. (Irenicus, you may not want to follow this link.
) The consensus then (2007) was that they were being phased out, but Komari's inquiry suggests that perhaps that judgment was premature.
As an American, I find it amusing that the Japanese use the term "bloomers" for this type of garment. They were originally created in the 19th century and became associated with the feminist
Amelia Bloomer. Those bloomers looked like this:
Bloomer advocated for this style of dress and wrote "The costume of women should be suited to her wants and necessities. It should conduce at once to her health, comfort, and usefulness; and, while it should not fail also to conduce to her personal adornment, it should make that end of secondary importance."