Return-Path: <nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id h5NFcoC09728; Mon, 23 Jun 2003 11:38:50 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2003 11:38:50 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <sef6e608.072@langate.gsu.edu> Errors-To: alcrsb@langate.gsu.edu Reply-To: nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: "Daphne Greenberg" <ALCDGG@langate.gsu.edu> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-WOMENLIT:2621] Japan's Battlers of Sex Abuse Confront Culture, Law X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII X-Mailer: Novell GroupWise Internet Agent 6.0.4 Beta Status: O Content-Length: 2746 Lines: 26 I am in the process of going through old emails and noticed an article from Women's e News (run date 4/17/03) that might be of interest to some of you-especially those of you who have Japanese ESL students in your class. I think that articles such as these help us understand the experiences of our learners who come from different cultures and have different expectations. Here are some excerpts: "... JUST, Japanese Union for Survivors of Trauma, [is] a nongovernmental organization offering support for women who have been raped or sexually abused. The group, which began operating in 1997, this year became the first organization in Japan to offer an advocacy service for victims of sexual violence. The Tokyo-based group offers a telephone hotline, group and individual counseling and works with public-welfare officials to take abused women to doctors, hospitals and lawyers. Among the annual 140 phone calls fielded by JUST are shocking revelations of women breaking almost 30 years of silence to talk about rape or other sexual violence. Yuko Yamaguchi, director of the Ishikawa Fusae Kinenkaikan, Japan's oldest feminist organization, founded in 1962, said the reluctance to act against sexual violence in Japan can be tied to the society's 'traditional male domination and the pressure to understate individual emotions for the sake of group harmony.' After intense lobbying by feminists, Japan passed the Law for Prevention of Spousal Violence and Protection of Victims in October 2001. Under the law, hitting a woman can lead to jail terms of up to a year or a $10,000 fine. Advocates say the law was the first recognition of domestic violence as a crime, instead of a private domestic matter. The law also recognizes sexual abuse as an aspect of domestic violence, but stops short of calling it spousal rape, a disappointment for activists. Still Sumita, also a committee member for the Council for Gender Equality at the Prime Minister's Office, said there have been some startling signs of encouragement in recent years. For example, the National Police Agency established a special rape unit in 2000 that employs female policewomen to help victims." The full article can be found at: http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm?aid=1295 A website that describes JUST is written in Japanese and may be helpful/interesting to your students who are literate in Japanese and not English: http://www.just.or.jp/aboutjust/profile.htm Do any of you have Japanese students or have experience working in Japan? Daphne Daphne Greenberg Associate Director Center for the Study of Adult Literacy MSC 6A0360 Georgia State University 33 Gilmer Street SE Unit 6 Atlanta, GA 30303-3086 phone: 404-651-0127 fax:404-651-4901 dgreenberg@gsu.edu
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