Thread by @tkatsumi06j

#性的同意年齢 今は13歳以上との性行為が合法であっても、社会は時代の要請に応え倫理をアップデートし、それを法に反映する努力をしなくてはならないと思う。だからその前段として「いくら百年以上前の法律で合法であっても法律上の”児童”と性行為に及ぶ成人は鬼畜」という集団認識を社会が持たねば。

https://twitter.com/annaPHd9pj/status/1517294559830499329

#SexualConsent "Even if it is now legal to have sex with persons 13 years of age or older, society must update its ethics in response to the demands of the times and make efforts to reflect this in the law." 1/

"As a first step, society must have a collective awareness that adults who engage in sexual acts with legal "children" are animals, no matter how legal the law was more than a hundred years ago. (which is a reality in Japan. the under-ages sex law is more than 110 years old)" /2

Background: A 40 year-old political party leader has allegedly engaged in sex with a junior-high school student (13-14 in🇯🇵), made her pregnant and give birth to a child. Under the current law, he cannot be accused of committing a criminal offense.
news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/987e1…

Under Japanese criminal law, under-aged sex is permitted so long as it is NOT "through assault or intimidation". In 2017, the rape law was amended but without dealing with the issue of age of #sexualconsent . If an under-aged alleges a rape, the victim has to prove their case.

It makes it even harder to prove if the minor was 'under the influence' either by drugs or alcohol, because the victim would now have to prove that they were 'unable to resist' even while under the influence of these to lose their 'consciousness'.

It is outright absurd.

And of course, if minors have to suffer the consequences of just being a minor, the victims have to suffer the consequences of being a victim in the adult world too. So the absurdity stands, while victims of sexual assault must endure equal suffering.
note.com/tkatsumi06j/n/…

This really has to come to an end by the double:
1) Age of #sexualconsent must be raised to at least 16 years of age as most civilized countries do

https://twitter.com/fuemiad/status/1402205850031169536?s=20&t=WKt4oW_R7rhue8qbdh5eaA

2) Provision requiring the victim to prove if they were 'unable to resist' or 'unconscious' must be lifted

Although 🇯🇵Japan boasts a relatively low sex crime rate in the world ABOVE THE RADAR, care experts in the field disagree. There are many unreported instances that they are aware of, it's just that victims are discouraged from reporting for various reasons.
note.com/tkatsumi06j/n/…

As the well-known #ShioriIto's case has shown,
nyti.ms/2EdV7ws "the attitudes of the police and prosecutors in Japan" is discouraging victims to come forward to make the case, because they "do not expect the police to believe them," according to an expert.

As I elaborate in my translation of the above @nytimes article, statistics in fact show that victims of #sexualassult are most hesitant to report to the police. This is partly because the police force is mainly untrained to handle sensitive cases,
tkatsumi06j.tumblr.com/post/169775068…

...but also because of the distrust against the rape laws itself; that it would do more harm to press charges than to keep quiet and never speak again. This is all too common in most of Asian countries which makes speaking of rape a social taboo.
straitstimes.com/world/violated…

#ShioriIto broke this social dogma and stood for herself & others like few others in Japan. She was recognized as one of the #SilenceBreakers. She has been influential, but she shouldn't bear the burden on her own. WE have to make the change.
politico.eu/article/metoo-…

So this isn't just about a 40 year-old political pundit crossing the line of social moral to have sex with a minor and impregnating her. Far more than that. It calls for an overhaul of the social & criminal justice system on sexual offenses in 🇯🇵Japan.

https://twitter.com/tkatsumi06j/status/1517351538490212352?s=20&t=06F-p7PlwvRbgQdB3Jj-bA

@threadreaderapp Please unroll this thread.

An explanatory thread which started out as a simple translation & backgrounder on the issue of the #ageofsexualconsent in today's 🇯🇵Japan. I expanded a little more on the social, legal, and systematic dysfunctions in our society to address #sexualassults.
threadreaderapp.com/thread/1517346…