Japan – Update on Rape Simulator Games & Normalization of Sexual Violence

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UPDATE: https://www.equalitynow.org/english/actions/action_3302_en.html

Japan -Rape Simulator Games & the
Normalization of Sexual Violence

Image:
https://www.commondreams.org:80/files/images/Rapelay.jpg

In May 2009 Equality Now launched a Women’s Action on rape
simulator games produced and sold in Japan. The Action highlighted the game
RapeLay which was produced by Illusion Software and sold on Amazon Japan.
RapeLay shows a schoolgirl around 12 years old travelling on a commuter train.
A man who has been following her gropes and sexually molests her. Eventually
the train stops and she runs frightened into a public toilet, followed by her
assailant who handcuffs and rapes her. The assailant takes her prisoner and
repeatedly rapes her in various locations. Her mother and teenaged sister
suffer the same fate. This family is targeted for rape as punishment because
the older sister had previously reported to the police the attempted sexual
assault of another woman by the rapist. The aim of the RapeLay game is for the
player repeatedly to rape the mother and her daughters until they begin to
“enjoy” the experience.

Japan ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1985 and was last examined by
the CEDAW Committee, which reviews government compliance with CEDAW, on 24 July
2009. The CEDAW Committee expressed concern at the “normalization of sexual
violence in [Japan] as reflected by the prevalence of pornographic video games
and cartoons featuring rape, gang rape, stalking and sexual molestation of
women and girls.” The Committee also stated that it was concerned about the
stereotypical depictions of women in the media and that, “the over-sexualized depiction
of women strengthens the existing stereotypes of women as sex objects and
continues to generate girls’ low self-esteem.” In its concluding observations
the CEDAW Committee strongly urged the Japanese government to “ban the sale of
video games or cartoons involving rape and sexual violence against women which
normalize and promote sexual violence against women and girls.” The new
Japanese government, elected in August 2009, has the opportunity and
responsibility actively to address the concerns expressed by the CEDAW
Committee by banning all media which promote violence against women and girls.

Since Equality Now issued its original Action, Japan’s
Ethics Organization of Computer Software (EOCS), the industry’s self regulatory
body whose job it is to rate computer software, has reportedly banned its
members from producing games containing certain forms of violence against
women. EOCS is a voluntary organization with a large but not universal
membership. It is not yet clear what aspects of violence against women its
rules will address and to what extent they will be applied. However, online
gaming magazines suggest that due to the international attention, game makers
in Japan are merely changing titles and pictures on game covers to make them
appear innocuous and/or preventing anyone from outside Japan from accessing
their websites, but are not addressing the actual content of these games. The
Japanese government must take decisive steps to ban outright games that promote
violence against women and girls and to address the objectification of women
and promotion of violence against women in various media including in
pornography.

Amazon Japan and Illusion Software have now withdrawn
RapeLay from sale, however both continue to sell similar extreme pornography
games in the form of cartoons known as hentai which include women and
girls being raped, gang raped, stalked, molested, sexually assaulted and
groped. In a furious backlash against moves to restrict the normalization of
sexual violence against women and girls, Equality Now has been targeted through
online blogs and emails with hundreds of abusive and sometimes threatening
communications, including seemingly credible videos of real girls actually
being gang raped. The videos were passed on to the Japanese police who
initially refused to investigate, stating that, based on the officers’ analysis
of the shape of the girls’ pubic hair, the girls were over eighteen, therefore
the tapes were not considered child pornography. Only after Equality Now
impressed upon the police that actual (and not enacted) gang rape videos are in
fact sold on the open market in Japan, did they finally agree to re-examine the
tapes, but it remains unclear what, if any, action has been taken including to
trace the sender of the videos. The failure by the police even to contemplate
that a serious crime might have taken place remains a deep concern.

The hostile responses provoked by Equality Now’s advocacy
against extreme pornography, including the examples above, underscore the
urgent need to address all instances of discrimination against women and girls,
including the promotion of sexual violence. Article 5 (a) of CEDAW, which
obligates States Parties to “modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct
of men and women, with a view to achieving the elimination of prejudices and
customary and all other practices which are based on the idea of the
inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles
for men and women” is just one of many clear international standards adopted by
the international community. In the same way that it would be unacceptable to
promote violence against religious or ethnic groups, so it is unacceptable to
promote violence and discrimination against women.

In addition to Japan’s obligations under CEDAW, Article 14
of the Japanese Constitution guarantees equality under the law and states that
there shall be no “discrimination in political, economic or social relations
because of race, creed, sex, social status or family origin.” Computer games
such as RapeLay and real rape “pornography” videos condone and promote gender
stereotypes and gender-based discriminatory attitudes. As the CEDAW Committee
has noted, these, in turn, contribute to gender-based violence.

_______________________________________________________________

https://www.mg.co.za:80/article/2009-05-08-software-firm-shrugs-off-rape-game-protests

TOKYO, JAPAN May 08 2009

Japanese computer game maker dismissed a
protest by US rights campaigners against the game RapeLay, which lets
players simulate sexual violence against women.

New
York-based Equality Now launched a campaign this week “against rape
simulator games and the normalisation of sexual violence in Japan”.

It urged
activists to write in protest to the maker and Prime Minister Taro Aso, arguing
the game breaches Japan’s obligations under the 1985 Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

The
Yokohama-based games manufacturer Illusion brushed off the campaign.

“We
are simply bewildered by the move,” said spokesperson Makoto Nakaoka.
“We make the games for the domestic market and abide by laws here. We
cannot possibly comment on [the campaign] because we don’t sell them
overseas.”

Players
earn points for acts of sexual violence, including stalking girls on commuter
trains, raping virgins and their mothers, and forcing females to get abortions,
according to the group’s online statement.

Japan,
often criticised as a major producer of child
pornography,
in 1999 banned the production, distribution and commercial use of sexually
arousing photos, videos and other materials involving those aged under 18.

However,
the law did not criminalise possession of such materials, and the ban also
failed to cover child porn in animation and computer graphics, often
categorised as “hentai” [pervert].

US online
retail giant Amazon in February took RapeLay off its websites after
receiving complaints but clips of the game were still available this week on
popular video sharing websites.

A Japan Committee for UNICEF spokesperson said
the Japanese loophole hindered international efforts to crack down on child
porn.

“In this globalised world, connected via the
internet, even one loophole could jeopardise all the regulations,” she
said. “The world trend is to try to ban even the accessing and looking at
websites of virtual images.”

A spokesperson for the Japanese government’s gender
equality bureau said the office “realises the problem is there”.

“While we recognise that some sort of measures
need to be taken, the office is currently studying what can be done,” she
said. – AFP