Men Exposed For Selling Sexual Assault Videos In Japan: Sickening Perversion In Society

Recent investigations in Japan have revealed that several websites are commercially selling videos of women being sexually assaulted in public places, often on public transport in East Asia, including Japan.

This shocking revelation came to light when the Japanese parliament was discussing a landmark bill to reform the country’s sexual assault laws. This is the second time the country has revised the same.

Thousands of offenders are arrested in Japan every year for "Chikan" (a term that refers to public sexual assault). However, the nation lacks strict laws against the crime, and offenders are merely let go after paying a small fine. Other Asian countries, such as South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and mainland China (where they call it "Chihan"), have a similar problem with perverts profiting from selling sexual assault videos.

Sexual Assault Videos In Japan

The investigative wing of BBC World Service called BBC Eye discovered the identities of three offenders who regularly sell sexual assault videos. Some of these videos even show men ejaculating on women’s clothes or hair on public transport. The BBC Eye has unearthed this nauseating crime as a part of their new expose, "Catching a Pervert: Sexual Assault for Sale."

The three prominent male figures who sell these videos were tracked down as a part of the BBC’s investigation. The three men are Chinese nationals who currently live in Tokyo, Japan.

Tang Zhuoran, one of the offenders who used the alias "Maomi" and posted sexual assault videos under the username "Uncle Qi," is hailed as a guru-type figure in the Chikan online community. The 27-year-old runs one of the leading websites that post videos of women being sexually assaulted on public transportation.

In a meeting with BBC Eye’s undercover journalist, Maomi said that one of the websites named DingBuZhu generated revenue between 5,000 and 10,000 yuan on a daily basis. He also revealed that the site uploads 30 to 100 videos every month and has 10,000 active paid members. The videos are also openly promoted on Twitter.

Maomi admitted that people liked to see such things. He stated that people don’t like to see women being penetrated but like to see this kind of sexual assault in public places to appease their sexual fantasies. He added that he knew what they wanted because he had such a fetish himself. When confronted by the BBC, he lashed out, covered his face, refused to comment, and has since left the country.

What adds to this problematic situation is that when the BBC alerted Twitter regarding such videos being openly promoted on their platform, they got an excrement emoji in reply.

Sickening Perversion In Society!

Now this whole situation makes one wonder where the problem lies—is it the perversity of men like Maomi, the thousands of people who have a paid subscription to watch these sickening videos, or the wilful ignorance of a leading social media platform like Twitter, where these contents are openly promoted? It’s more of a domino effect—offenders are encouraged to create and post more of this content because of the increasing number of people signing up to watch it.

It's shocking to know that thousands of people fantasise about sexually assaulting women. Sexual fantasies are fine, but how is sexual assault even considered a fantasy? It’s not just perverse but highly sadistic that people have such repulsive fantasies. What sort of human would derive happiness and satisfaction from watching another person be exploited? One group of men make money from violence against women and another pays to watch this stuff. Doesn’t this indicate how troublesome and perverted our society is becoming?

What’s even more bothersome is Twitter’s irresponsible reaction to this incident. As one of the most prominent social media platforms, don’t they have a social responsibility to regulate the kind of content that’s posted on their platform? A lot of people’s accounts get banned from Twitter, but is this how the site reacts when a crime is reported? It’s about time social media platforms acted with a higher sense of social consciousness. And hopefully, stringent laws will be passed in Japan, China, and other Asian countries where this heinous crime is widespread.

Suggested Reading: ‘Groping Insurance’ To Tackle False Molestation Claims In Japan

Image Credits: Quartz

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