Japanese company’s sexual harassment seminar has a brutally honest opening exercise

Handsy old bosses, try this as a way to remember not to harass your female employees!

Sexual harassment is a big problem in companies around the world. It happens most often when men, particularly those in positions of power, make unwanted advances towards their female associates or employees, and sometimes, the women are forced to accept these advances in order to get a raise or a promotion. Other times, it’s simply one-sided abuse.

Japan, unfortunately, is a country that still seems to have a tendency to blame the victim, like saying short skirts cause sexual assault. Thankfully, however, more companies in Japan are now taking countermeasures such as requiring their employees to attend sexual harassment seminars. Methods differ, of course, but one of the most shocking, and likely effective, ways to teach sexual harassment prevention might be to tell men, in no uncertain terms, that they just aren’t attractive in they eyes of their female employees, if this story by Nikkei news curator Yoshiaki Yamaguchi (@girlmeetsNG on Twitter) is to be believed:

▼ Translation below:

ある大企業の管理職以上を対象としたセクハラ研修の内容が衝撃的だった… 全員の席に手鏡が置かれていて、講師が開始直後に 「はい、鏡でご自分の顔を見て下さい。分かりますよね。若い女の子があなたに優しいのは上司だから。それ以外の理由はありえません。」 からスタートするらしい…😮

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山口 慶明@日経新聞キュレーター (@girlmeetsNG) March 24, 2019

“A sexual harassment seminar for the management division of a large company was pretty surprising…
At every seat was a hand-held mirror, and just after starting, the instructor said, ‘Okay, look at yourself in the mirror. You understand, right? The reason that young girl is being nice to you is because you’re her boss. There’s no other reason for it.’
That’s what they start with, apparently.”

Although it might be construed as somewhat insulting, this opening “activity” is an effective way to remind men that just because a woman is nice to you, it doesn’t mean she’s interested in you. This is most especially important for men in managerial positions to remember. “If that woman isn’t nice to you, she could lose her job,” it seems to imply. “She is not nice to you because she wants to sleep with you.” Which can then be translated to: “Do not try to sleep with her.”

Yamaguchi’s tweet spread throughout Japanese Twitter because it’s not only an amusing story, but one with a moral to it as well. Most netizens approved of the method:

“That’s freaking funny. I want them to do more of that!”
“When your smart phone screen goes off and reflects an old bald guy, that’s not a bug. That’s a sexual harassment prevention tool.”
“Young men are nice to you for the same reason~ lol”
“Nice, that’s funny. But it’s kind of like they’ve created an interment camp for the guilty lol”
“This is the first time I’ve ever heard of a seminar that attacks so sharply with the truth!”
“It’s the same at a hostess club lol”
“I’d like them to come to my office, please.”

Those who didn’t like the message complained that that the activity in itself is a form of sexual harassment. That may be true, since it involves an unwelcome comment on a person’s looks, but it’s nothing like what women often experience from men on a daily basis. Plus, that may have been one point of the exercise, as one netizen put it:

“People are saying the seminar itself is sexual harassment and it’s gross, but that’s kind of the point. Maybe they want to convey the same sense of discomfort that women feel.”

Maybe by making men feel uncomfortable after someone commented on their looks, they’ll understand the feelings of the women around them. Perhaps that’s the goal.

In any case, no matter how confident you are in your looks, harassers of the world, the next time you want to make advances towards someone who’s being nice to you, think about where you are, and who you are, and decide whether that’s really an appropriate thing to do.

Source: Twitter/@girlmeetsNG via Hachima Kiko
Top image: Pakutaso 

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