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Now is as good a time as any to bring back my thread on #sexualassault. It's now been about 5 years since I was attacked in my suburban neighborhood in Tokyo by a random man and spent until 2am convincing the Japanese police that reporting it mattered. A thread for #SAAM2021:
One of the things I recently discussed in a graduate student course was navigating public spaces as an academic. I told them that when it first happened, I spent weeks getting advice from everyone I knew on whether or not it would ruin my chances on the job market to go public.
I wanted to tell my story for me and for others, but the depressing, angry consensus everyone came to was "You just can't trust there won't be someone on a search committee who googles your name and sees it pop up and doesn't believe in talking about that type of thing publicly."
This was already after a major Japan-related news outlet had refused to published my account (despite the editor's best efforts to support me) because they didn't want to run something that was critical of the police and, of course, "How can we know what she says is true?"
I wrote my account semi-anonymously and put it up online with the help of @jakeadelstein. Despite circulating it, I waited until the last couple of years to explicitly claim it in public spaces. I guess I reached the "fuck it, it's MY story" point. http://www.japansubculture.com/who-matters-sexual-assault-and-inadequate-police-response-in-japan/
If you know anything about sexual assault/harassment in Japan, particularly towards women, you'll see familiar themes in my story: inadequate training on these issues, uncertainty about how to handle crimes involving non-Japanese, racism, and a desire for it not to be on record.
I distinctly remember calling my best friend in America crying because I knew I'd have to go back, alone, the way my attacker ran, to go to the police box, and endure questioning with vocabulary terms I'd never learned on a crime not taken seriously.
What I didn't know at the time was that I would be subject to secondary victimization, as survivors are often forced to reenact (yes, you read that right) their attacks, so that photographs and narrative records can be taken: I interviewed on this: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2017/09/27/issues/surviving-sexual-assault-japan-victimized/
I was in a very fortunate position not to have been raped or seriously hurt, and to have had the emotional energy to do more. I spent weeks wrestling with an academic institution trying to find a way to notify others who lived near me who might be at risk, or identity resources.
When I asked if resources were available to students & foreign researchers, I was told there were none, especially in English. So I made them. Whether or not they were every shared, I don't know. But I encourage you to give them to your institutions! https://shinpaideshou.com/2016/08/09/resources-on-sexual-assault-in-japan/
Students and other researchers need to know who they can contact and how to get help if sexual assault happens. There are advocates, but we don't always know how to find them. Any barrier you can remove to making that happen is incredibly helpful.
I'm sure there's many more updated articles and such about how poorly handled sexual assault and harassment are in Japan, but here is a past thread I put together of some examples: https://twitter.com/paularcurtis/status/1166725779776053248
I am keenly aware my experience was filtered through my privilege as a foreign resident, a researcher at a prestigious institution, & a white woman. Others can be far more at risk & in need of support. So share resources. Create safe spaces. #BelieveWomen. Be good to one another.
