[KineJapan] Sexual harassment in the Japanese media world

[Gerow Aaron]

As some of you have seen, the film director and actor Sakaki Hideo, whose film about domestic sexual abuse was due to be released soon, has himself been accused of "casting couch" sexual harassment by a number of female actors. 

https://www.nikkansports.com/entertainment/news/202203090001188.html <https://www.nikkansports.com/entertainment/news/202203090001188.html>

The widespread media reports about the incident have brought the issue of sexual harassment in the Japanese media world to the fore, a problem that some believe is quite pervasive. There have been some #MeToo successes in Japan, especially the successful lawsuit by Ito Shiori, but just a couple of years ago an accusation by a female tarento against prominent comedians resulted in only her losing work. 

Several groups have issued statements prompted by the Sakaki case, urging the industry to deal seriously with sexual harassment. Reports have also emerged of many other forms of power harassment.

The film directors Koreeda, Suwa, Sode, Nishikawa, Fukada, and Funahashi have posted a statement against all forms of violence employed by film directors:

https://action4cinema.theletter.jp/posts/877aa260-a60c-11ec-a1bd-3d3b3c9fc3bd <https://action4cinema.theletter.jp/posts/877aa260-a60c-11ec-a1bd-3d3b3c9fc3bd>

And the Japanese Film Project, which is an advocacy group fighting against gender discrimination and other labor issues, has also made public a statement:

https://note.com/jpfilm_project/n/neb60f3a95b17 <https://note.com/jpfilm_project/n/neb60f3a95b17>

Let us hope there is some change.


Aaron Gerow
Alfred W. Griswold Professor of East Asian Languages and Literatures and Film and Media Studies
Chair, East Asian Languages and Literatures
Yale University
320 York Street, Room 108
PO Box 208201
New Haven, CT 06520-8201
USA
Phone: 1-203-432-7082
Fax: 1-203-432-6729
e-mail: aaron.gerow at yale.edu <mailto:aaron.gerow at yale.edu>
website: www.aarongerow.com





















-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/kinejapan/attachments/20220319/cb6719b8/attachment-0001.html>