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JAPAN-GENDER-SOCIAL-MEDIA-WOMEN
Japan magazine apologises for women’s university ‘sex listing’
TOKYO, Jan 8, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A Japanese tabloid magazine apologised
Tuesday for an article ranking women’s universities on how easy it is to
convince students to have sex at drinking parties.
The list appeared in the December 25 issue of the weekly magazine “Spa!”
and prompted outrage, particularly online where one woman launched a campaign
seeking an apology and suspension of sales of the offending issue.
Her petition on the change.org platform accused the article of
“sexualising, objectifying and disrespecting women” and had collected support
from more than 28,000 people by Tuesday.
“We would like to apologise for using sensational language to appeal to
readers about how they can become intimate with women and for creating a
ranking… with real university names… that resulted in a feature that may
have offended readers,” the magazine’s editorial department said in a
statement obtained by AFP.
The article was about a practice the magazine described as “gyaranomi” or
drinking parties that male participants pay women to attend.
It said the parties are popular among female college students and
interviewed the developer of an app intended to help men and women find
potential attendees.
The magazine said its list was based on information from its interview with
the developer.
“On issues that involve sex, we will do what we can as a magazine to listen
to various opinions,” the statement said.
There was no indication that the offending issue would be taken off the
shelves.
Japan ranks bottom of the G7 countries on female representation in politics
and business, and campaigns like the #MeToo movement have struggled to take
off in the country.
Last year, a leading medical university admitted it had routinely lowered
the scores of female applicants to keep the number of women in the student
body at around 30 percent.
The discovery prompted a probe that uncovered similar discrimination at
several other institutions.
BSS/AFP/GMR/1300 hrs