2021-06-04, 11:07 | Link #1 |
Born to ship
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Texas
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How rape is dealt with in anime/manga
I've seen a fair number of stories that deal with rape, molestation, sexual assault and other such crimes, and I've noticed some tendencies. This's more of a matter of asking how this compares to how the Japanese actually deal with such crimes typically.
Specifically, while train molesters are caught maybe half the time, other types of sexual crime seem to rarely end in arrest or trial. Most of the time, the perpetrator is simply driven away. Some cases you just have them disappear. For instance, in Bitter Virgin when Hinako's mother finally recognizes that her husband had been raping her daughter she chases him out of the house with a big knife and we never hear from him again. On the other hand, some actually do look at the reasons to some extent. One issue seems to be family shame. In one volume of Naisho no Tsubomi, a girl's tutor/cousin has been harassing her, maybe trying to groom her, and when her parents finally understand what's happened they cut ties with him but the girl's father rejects the idea of pressing charges due to the shame it'd bring to the family. Another that I've seen come up a few times though is practically an inversion of the reasoning I often see in America and the West in general. Whereas most Western series seem to put a lot of stress on accusing one's attacker as a way to heal, there seems to be an impression in Japan that such actions would only further hurt the victim. In Chisa X Pon, following her rape Chisa's mother is unwilling to push for charges because she worries that forcing Chisa to relive the experience and go through harsh cross-examination and all sorts of stress like that would only deepen her scars, and goes on to say that she believes Chisa herself doesn't want it. In Kakene Nashi no LOVE Torihiki, it's even more explicitly dealt with, as the heroine finds the cop who she talks to acts like she's making it up, or like her moderately attractive outfit was somehow an invitation/implied consent, even though the guy pulled a knife to keep her from screaming. She later comments that the skeptical reception of police officers, the stress of reliving the experience on the stand, the harsh questioning, the public view, all of these things together have come to be referred to as "second rape". I've tried to look this stuff up, or to ask people in Japan for their thoughts, and honestly I haven't been able to find much of anything. Thus I was just wondering how well this represents the Japanese culture's take on things, as well as whether this is treated differently in any series I haven't read. |
2021-06-05, 17:14 | Link #3 | |
Kana Hanazawa ♥
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: France
Age: 37
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And yes, the problem is universal. A lot of what you said apply to Western societies as well. Perhaps not the "it will shame the family" mentality, but everything else does. Although women are encouraged to speak up, it is extremely hard for them to do so and that's the reason a lot of them take decades to talk about it.
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2021-06-05, 19:21 | Link #4 |
Born to ship
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I'm sorry but I find it a little hard to buy that it's "universal". Victims' tendencies, yes obviously, but the society's general view on what the victims should do, not from what I can tell. At the very least it's not universal in its portrayal in media. Any and every story I've seen from Western media that dealt with these crimes put a huge emphasis on actually pressing charges and the catharsis of confronting one's attacker as a part of recovery (to the point that it seems like it's treated sometimes as a crucial step to any recovery), whereas again in almost all anime/manga I've criminal charges have been deliberately avoided, either to avoid shame from having a rapist in one's household or to avoid putting the victim through what they view as a second round of victimization. That's what I was asking about. I fully appreciate that victims have similar tendencies anywhere, but the stories I'd seen suggested that the cultures had differing views on what should and shouldn't be done. Seriously, I've seen maybe one story where the victim is actually shown pressing charges.
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2021-06-06, 08:12 | Link #5 |
Transfer Adventurer
Join Date: Oct 2017
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I struggle to even come up with a western movie addressing rape. Maybe Forrest Gump? But I don't think the girl ever confronted her father about it.
Maybe that's also why rape charges turn out to be faked so often, since real victims would naturally be inhibited to come forth. Also, since I can already hear "citation needed", here are some: Spoiler for List of URLs:
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2021-06-06, 12:09 | Link #6 |
Born to ship
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There are plenty of movies, and far more TV shows. Most are either drama or mystery/crime stories. If you only look at the most mainstream movies then sure, there are not too many, but in general I've seen lots. There's even crime TV series entirely built around it (see Law & Order SVU), which are particularly hard on the idea that recovery practically has to involve confronting the rapist. Understandable, since they'd have a lot of difficulty if the victims never agreed to press charges and actually go to court. I don't entirely disagree with the concept myself; I do believe that recognizing what's happened is crucial to healing, and confronting the source of one's fears can help one to overcome them or at least gain a sense that one can deal with such things. There's also a TV series called Veronica Mars where for a while at least a part of the plot is the main character trying to find the man who'd drugged her, stolen her virginity, then left before she woke up. I also recall a movie based on a major YA novel in which the heroine was rendered mute until she worked up the courage to denounce a popular student for raping her.
But again, this isn't really about how Western media treats rape, or the prevalence of false accusations (which most certainly do occur, and sometimes at least partly get away with it). It's about how anime, manga, and general Japanese media treats the matter of what is done and what should be done, and how that reflects the reality of what is done or what people in Japan feel should be done when such cases occur. |
2021-06-06, 13:12 | Link #7 |
Transfer Adventurer
Join Date: Oct 2017
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I feel that it's more to do with what type of genre your dealing with. In horror movies, for example, the rapists tend to just get killed by the big bad.
Going for a confrontation within a show and going through the legal system would drag on, so unless that's the point of a show or movie, there's little reason to portray it that way, if you can get your resolution easier.
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2021-06-06, 14:01 | Link #8 |
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Well, dramas I've seen in which it happens and which deal with the victim's experiences after differ along these exact lines: in Western works the people around them tend to encourage them to seek justice and the general path taken tends to be just that, while in Japan the victim simply tries to move on and justice is never pursued (again, I've seen maybe one story where the girl actually sought to press charges, and it was made such a big deal that the story actually ended with her heading to the police station). The Western shows may not actually go through the whole trial (though there are those that do, sometimes with a focus on the legal side or the difficulty of getting a verdict and other times with a focus on the personal struggle and the catharsis of seeing the perp arrested), but accusation is almost constant. Though yeah, if it's a story where death by other means is a high possibility it's hardly uncommon to see him kick the bucket instead of getting arrested.
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2021-06-06, 18:08 | Link #10 |
Kana Hanazawa ♥
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: France
Age: 37
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I think you'd pretty much need to read the report of someone who has done extensive research on the subject to know what it's really like. Fiction can be a good mirror of society, but it isn't always.
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2021-06-06, 21:51 | Link #11 | |
Born to ship
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As for specific Western stories about victims confronting their assailants, I'd have to look back a bit. For starters, of course, you could look at SVU and any other law-enforcement/legal series dealing with such crimes. |
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2021-06-07, 06:49 | Link #12 |
Transfer Adventurer
Join Date: Oct 2017
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Well, yeah, if the point of the show is law-enforcement, not having the victim come forth isn't an option. But if you go to other genres, I can't really think of American movies where rapists are confronted in court. It doesn't happen in Forrest Gump and it doesn't happen in Sleepers (1996), despite that moving being about a trial. It only comes to light eventually as part of the murder trial. But that was thirteen years after the abuse in that movie. Taxi Driver (1976) also doesn't have the victim confront her abusers. None of the American media I can think of does.
And by the way, the anime Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin (2010) is basically the same story as Sleepers (1996), but taking place in Japan and it plays out about the same, which is why I keep suspecting, that there isn't actually a big difference in media depiction of rape between Japan and the USA. It's just that there are no anime with a focus on going to court, like there are in the US. Maybe there are J-Dramas like that, though.
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2021-06-07, 10:43 | Link #13 | |
Moving in circles
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Singapore
Age: 49
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That said, yes, the broad point is generally valid. There isn't much exploration about the motivations for, and the harms from, rape in entertainment media, in general, anywhere in the world, not just in Japan. I happen to think, though, that the general level of misogyny in Japan is so pervasive that it's not surprising that rape is seemingly "normalised" in media entertainment there. That's a much wider topic that I don't know enough about to comment on extensively. |
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2021-06-07, 16:58 | Link #14 |
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It's not just legal drama, more like any drama I've seen where rape is the core of the story. If there's someone who was (possibly) a victim, like in Forrest Gump for example, then yeah we're not often given explicit information as to what happened. On the other hand when the rape is core to the story the rapist pretty much always ends up being publicly denounced. True, not all have a focus on the accusation. For instance, in the 2004 independent movie Speak that I mentioned a while ago, the girl who almost completely stopped talking didn't directly denounce him, but rather only told her best friend when said friend started dating the bastard. That said, it was only after the events came to light and he was charged that she got her voice back properly. A lot of the dramas that deal directly with it are smaller movies, like made-for-TV type stuff, so I don't know if you'd recognize them even if I remembered their names. That said, I honestly can't remember a story here where they dealt with what happened to the rapist and he wasn't confronted (or the fact that he wasn't charged is seen as a problem, like he's still out there), while I can't really find manga stories where they make any mention of the aftermath and it actually involves pressing charges, aside again from the one manga where her pressing charges was kind of a core point.
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2021-06-07, 17:43 | Link #15 |
Transfer Adventurer
Join Date: Oct 2017
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I still think you're trying to compare apples with oranges. If the genre is the same, it will play out about the same, no matter whether it is an American movie or an anime. Like I mentioned, Sleepers (1996) and Rainbow (2010) are basically the exact same story. But one is from an American perspective and the other from a Japanese one.
Also, I remembered another American movie containing rape where there's not exactly a confrontation: The General's Daughter (1999). @TinyRedLeaf: I didn't know a movie by the name of The Accused exists. Or maybe I watched it and completely forgot. Either way, I have no impression of the title.
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2021-06-07, 22:38 | Link #16 | |
Born to ship
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But anyway, I'm not really looking for declarations of "Western media does it too" or "Japan has stuff that does it that way" or anything like that. Honestly I don't even care whether it's universal or not, I just wondered if there were any real information about the common Japanese views on the matter and how the manga I'd mentioned compare to said views. |
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2021-06-08, 01:25 | Link #17 | ||
Moving in circles
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Singapore
Age: 49
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So, let me put on my editorial hat, and walk you through the process the way I would with any rookie reporter: What you're asking for, really, is something that will be very hard to analyse in concrete terms, without reference to relevant numbers and statistics. A casual search on Google brings up a handful of potentially useful journal articles which unfortunately are not open for public browsing. The Japan Times used to be my go-to source of English-language news on Japan, but the paper has since put up a paywall, so I can't use it any more, either. But, if you're persisent, and clever with with your search terms, I don't see how you can't eventually find relevant information to build a case with. Five minutes of googling brought up this article from The Mainichi: Rape cases rise 27% in Japan in first half of year after law change The article tells me a few things: 1) Rape cases in Japan rose sharply in 2018. 2) The police believe that changes in the definition of sexual intercourse, and the expansion of the law to cover more victims have played a part in the report increase. 3) The penal code revision took effect in July 2017. (Follow-up question, what did the rape figures look like in previous years?) Specific to point 2), the Japanese term for rape was changed to one that translates directly into "forced sexual intercourse". (That's pretty incredible. What other definition could there be for rape?) The changes also eliminated the need for victims to file a criminal complaint before a case can be prosecuted. Very interestingly, the definition of rape was also broadened to include male victims. This all implies that the Japanese penal code was likely quite archaic to begin with, and more than likely misogynistic to boot. Also, within my first five minutes of googling, I found this on CNN: She won a civil case against her alleged rapist. But Japan's rape laws need an overhaul, campaigners say Choice quotes from the article include: Quote:
All in all, my polite advice is: Do some homework on your own first. Public information isn't difficult to find and, frankly, the rest of us on this forum isn't likely to know any better. So, you're really better off doing some preliminary research first, then present what you've found, and give us your take on what you make of the information. Don't get me wrong. This is a very good topic, and you ask very good questions. But it's hardly fair to expect others to do the legwork for you, when the preliminary aspects of it, at least, isn't too hard to do on your own. |
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2021-06-08, 04:17 | Link #18 | |
Transfer Adventurer
Join Date: Oct 2017
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Also, Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin isn't a mainstream movie, but a 26 episode long anime drama series.
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2021-06-09, 07:19 | Link #19 | |||
Moving in circles
Join Date: Apr 2006
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Age: 49
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I've finally got some spare time, so I dug a little bit more into the subject. It just happens to be one of those topics that I tend to get very emotionally invested in.
Going back to the OP, "I was just wondering how well this represents the Japanese culture's take on things, as well as whether this is treated differently in any series I haven't read." I can't speak for the breadth of manga and anime portrayal of rape and other sexual crimes, since I don't watch nor read anywhere near enough of such material to have an authoritative say on the matter. But I think it's easily possible to get a more informed opinion on Japanese attitudes towards rape and sex crimes. From there, one can draw his or her own conclusions about whether fiction reflects fact and vice versa. (1) For starters, I do know that rape — especially violent rape involving young teens and even children — is extremely common in pornographic manga and anime. So, let's get that out of the way first. I have no idea why the US Department of Justice — of all things — took an interest in this. But it did, and it published a journal article on it. Pornography, Rape, and Sex Crimes in Japan A few noteworthy points from the journal's abstract: 1) The number and availability of sexually explicit materials increased in Japan over the years 1972-95. 2) At the same time, the incidence of rape declined from 4,677 cases with 5,464 offenders in 1972, to 1,500 cases with 1,160 offenders in 1995. The number of rapes committed by juveniles also markedly decreased. 3) The DOJ said the "findings were similar to those in Denmark, Sweden, and West Germany. Findings were also consistent with what is known about property crime rates in Japan". 4) The DOJ went on to conclude: "The data makes clear that a massive increase in available pornography in Japan has been correlated with a marked decrease in sex offences, particularly among juveniles as perpetrators or victims." So... my guess would be that some policymaker at the DOJ wanted a case study on whether an increase in pornography can be correlated with an increase in rape and sex crimes. And the data appears to say, no, there is no apparent link. Hmm. (2) Can we take the official data on rape and sex crimes in Japan at face value? That's where the problems and doubts begin. Current Status of Sex Crimes and Measures for the Victims in Japan (published in 2011) Quote:
Yes, there is no clear link between sexually provocative and suggestive art, and the actual rate of sex crimes. But, in the wake of all that we've learnt from the global #MeToo movement, I do hope that more consumers of manga and anime, especially the youth, would start asking serious questions about the extent to which such sexually explicit content normalises such fantasies. To what extent is that acceptable? More from Ogasawara's article: Quote:
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So, this is the apparent picture: 1) Rape and sex crimes may be much more prevalent in Japan than official figures suggest. 2) Minors make up a significant proportion of the victims of rape and sex crimes. 3) It was traumatic enough for adults to report being the victims of sex crimes, let alone for children. And it was not until recently that the investigation and prosecution process was reformed such that victims can report the crime and stay anonymous. This is crucial for ensuring that the victims don't become re-victimised by having the re-live and recount the drama in front of a courtroom full of strangers. 4) But for minors, it's even worse. The situation for child victims of sex crimes and rape can be vile, especially when the attacker is a parent. Perhaps out of shame, and not wanting to draw attention to the scandal, the other parent may even become an accomplice to the crime by keeping it hidden. There are a couple more sobering stories I found, but I'll edit them for this thread at a later time. |
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2021-06-09, 10:18 | Link #20 | |
Transfer Adventurer
Join Date: Oct 2017
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If anything, this tells us that possession of child pornography should be legalized, since then the actual child rape would decrease. But I guess the following is true:
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