No Sex, Period.Tokyo women in boycott threat
Print Edition
Women in Tokyo are threatening a sex boycott against any man who votes for the frontrunner in this weekend’s gubernatorial election, in protest at his claim that menstruation makes women unfit for government.
A Twitter campaign group based in the capital which bills itself as “The association of women who will not have sex with men who vote for (Yoichi) Masuzoe,” has garnered almost 3,000 followers since it launched last week.
Although the founders have not identified themselves, in their profile they say: “We have stood up to prevent Mr Masuzoe, who makes such insulting remarks against women ... We won’t have sex with men who will vote for Mr Masuzoe.”
Masuzoe, 65, a former political scientist who became a celebrity through TV talk shows before getting involved in politics in 2001, is widely seen as an establishment figure in a country where gender roles remain very distinct.
In 1989, he told a men’s magazine that it would not be proper to have women at the highest level of government because their menstrual cycle makes them irrational.
“Women are not normal when they are having a period.
“You can’t possibly let them make critical decisions about the country such as whether or not to go to war,” he said.
Masuzoe has the backing of the conservative ruling party of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and is seen as likely to pip his nearest rival, former Prime Minister Moriyoshi Hosokawa who is standing on an anti-nuclear platform.
All 16 candidates in the poll are men, with many of them in their 60s or older.
But Masuzoe’s comments about women, as well as other controversial remarks on taxing the elderly, have triggered a backlash.
Another website launched by a group of women also seeking to prevent Masuzoe from becoming Tokyo governor has drawn 75,000 hits per day and 2,800 people have signed its petition.
“Masuzoe is an enemy of women. He doesn’t love Japan. He loves only himself,” was one comment on the site, by a woman who identified herself as Etsuko Sato.
On the Twitter campaign feed, a post by manatowar3 said: “I’m an old man. But I cannot tolerate him from a man’s point of view.”
Despite high levels of education, many women in Japan leave career jobs when they have children, and social pressures to play the homemaker remain strong.
There are very few women in senior political positions — Abe’s 19-member cabinet has two — and company boards are overwhelmingly male.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
