The woman is always to blame

[Aaron Gerow]

Some of you might have seen this, but the Asahi TV morning show featured 
in its "Onna no sodanshitsu" on Wednesday this week a woman who was 
suffering extreme mental strain from having a male stalker hang around 
her all times of the day.  The show's attention-getter was the fact they 
also brought out the stalker himself.

The advice format is quite common in Japanese TV with a person either 
calling in or, as here, appearing in disguise in front of a panel of 
talento who offer advice after hearing the story.

The problem was the following.  I actually caught part of this before 
coming to work, seeing only a bit of the woman explaining her problem 
before the stalker came on, but even that part made me nervous.  Two of 
the female talento seemed to latch on to the fact that she's a hostess to 
hint that maybe she led him on.  They also said that men frequently 
"attack" agressively before the woman caves in.  "That was the case with 
one of my marriages," joked one female talent.  "Aren't you just a bit 
pleased you're getting this much attention?" asked another.

While I didn't see it, what happened next sparked not only protests to 
Asahi, but also newspaper reports on the incident.  The stalker came on 
and the same two female talento said things like, "Oh, he looks so nice.  
How could you say such things about him?" "He doesn't look like he could 
have done any of the things you said he did."  The topper was, "I think 
you should try to feel for him a bit more."

Given that stalking is a major social problem in Japan with little legal 
recourse for the mostly female victims, many viewers found this response 
by the talento extremely offensive and socially dangerous.  It was 
practically a justification of stalking.  And given that stalking itself 
is a kind of rape, it reminded me that in at least one Japanese 
televisual discourse, the woman is still the one to blame for the crimes 
that men commit.

Anyone see the whole show?

Aaron Gerow
YNU