Word: raping
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...rest of the world, the central question of the trial may be simple: Did Woodland rape the woman, or didn't he? But in Okinawa, the already murky case has been churned into a raging whirl by nationalist politics, screaming media, a half-century of dammed-up local grief and--roiling beneath it all--an undercurrent of racism...
Both racism and sexism are relevant because they may dictate this case. Still, in the days immediately following the rape charge, most news outlets didn't report the race of the accused. Some Western journalists did, but they didn't note that the accuser was almost certainly a kokujo and that the nightclub culture around the Okinawa bases is almost as segregated as the Jim Crow South. When off duty, most military personnel tend to congregate according to race. The clubs that black servicemen frequent are also kokujo haunts. Of course, for a kokujo to say she was there...
...vehicle. At 2:32 a.m. local police received a call from the woman's friend. Soon, blue-uniformed officers were pacing the parking lot. Short, the 3F bar manager, had just closed up and, puzzled by the crowd gathering outside, asked a serviceman, "What's up?" The answer: a rape...
...Given Japanese courts' bias against the plaintiffs in rape cases, it seems evident that if the defendant were a Japanese man, he may never have been indicted. But deep, negative stereotypes exist about American military men, too. Locals insist that soldiers act here in ways they never would at home. They blame the effects of battle training, coupled with upbringing in rough areas and poor education. And though it's left unsaid, it's hard to believe they think race plays no role. "When a suspect is black and from the military, people here assume he must be guilty," says...
...opinion, both Woodland and his accuser have taken a beating. In late July the putative victim sent a letter to the media begging Japanese reporters to stop hounding her and her friends. "There is victim-bashing both in the press and the public," says Suzuyo Takazato, founder of the Rape Emergency Intervention Counseling Center in Okinawa and an Okinawan assemblywoman. Makiko Tanaka, Japan's female Foreign Minister, is reported to have said to colleagues there must have been "something wrong with the girl, going out so late at night." Old-fashioned attitudes impose shame and blame on the victim; studies...