<![CDATA[ - Jezebel Comments]]> <![CDATA[ - Jezebel Comments]]> <![CDATA[]]> @Kajj: Facetious...you should look it up.
No need to explain these things to PICKLES IN MY TUNA but, gee thanks for showing the rest of us how smart you are.


Utter-SHOCK-at-your-stupidity

]]> <![CDATA[]]> It's not rare at all. What makes Japan different is that Japan has the global (economic?) power to stand up for itself (and it's young women/girls) in a way that, say, Somali just doesn't.

dakardame

]]> <![CDATA[]]> it is by far the rarity of who these men and women are"-- It's not a rarity dude, as I've said. Most military guys visit prostitutes, and most of the prostitutes in certain areas-- Japan, Eastern Europe, South Korea, the Phillipinnes-- are trafficed women. Like I said, maybe some of them don't know what they're doing. But if they had three brain cell's they'd realize that no fifteen year old Russian girl got to South Korea by herself. Also, the Korean and Japanese yakuza are famous for targetting Philipinna women, so if the prostitutes are Philipinna, and not in the Philippinnes, they have most likely been trafficked as well. And honestly, I doubt much of the professed ignorance, and at the end of the day ignorance is a poor, poor excuse for what's happening to these girls.

pheagan

]]> <![CDATA[]]> I think, at the risk of provoking those troop-supporters, that the US Military has an atrocious history of sexual criminality. I lived in South Korea and over there there's all these Russian girls, and it's well-known they're prostitutes. Or, that's what I thought. They're actually sex slaves. See, when the S Korean economy started to get better Korean girls stopped turning to prostitution. With the dearth of "comfort women", some US military guys teamed up with the Korean yakuza to start a trafficing pipeline to supply the needs of these men with kidnapped fourteen-17 year old Russian and Eastern European girls-- the S Korean gov't is totally complicit in this, they have a Visa known to Koreans as the prostitute Visa. And then there's the Philippines, where prostitution, much of it traffic-fueled, exploded after the advent of the US military. The same thing happened in Bosnia, only it was UN peacekeepers who started it. If you read Jarhead, you'll see that many military recruiters actively recruit men with the promise of cheap and beautiful prostitutes. Having grown up next door to a military base (which I took tae kwon do at), I've always had a distaste for army guys. After learning all of this, I don't talk to Army guys at all now. I know they're not all bad, and many of them sleep with these girls without knowing the particulars of their situation, without knowing they're actually raping them. I explain the situation where I can to these guys, but I've met a lot of them who just don't care. So at this point I've realized that the oil the US Military machine runs on is rape and sexual exploitation-- like any military unit, I guess. But yeah, if anyone's interested, there's two books-- The Natashas, and Sex Slaves, that are very informative.

pheagan

]]> <![CDATA[]]> A lot of this could be avoided if the military would stop hiring so many criminals. However, the sign-up rates for the military ares so low (we have WARS to fight, people!) that they've lowered their standards to previously unheard-of levels. All you have to be to join the military these days is warm.

♥ dosido ☮

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @roodles: "chuui" -- it means "danger" or "beware", so it's "Beware of perverts."

(注意's useful to know/recognize, because it's on lots of signs, along with あぶない to warn you of scary/dangerous things).

kimsama

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @dummyfakeroller: That reminds me of the song "Alice's Restaurant" where the rapists and killers are put on the Group W bench, and aren't allowed to go to war to kill people.

CorporateTool

]]> <![CDATA[]]> "was charged with kidnapping and raping a 14-year-old woman"

um. 14 y/o not a woman. I know it was commented up top, but I felt need to repost that.

@jeska: When we offered to leave they begged us not to. Which is why we're still there despite the fact that we *buy* most of our military stuff from Asia now. Go figure.

warmaiden

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @langtry:

I'm guessing most people who make blanket statements about the armed forces have not known too many people who view it as a viable career choice.

jeska

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Call me ignorant, but isn't the US only there because Japan isn't "allowed" to have their own army?

jeska

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @thenotoriousrhod: For real. I had a stalker during the time I lived in Japan, and he groped me in public on a few occasions. I reported him to the police, natch. My supervisor followed up to do some translation on my report for me, and when he did so he found out that the police had THROWN AWAY MY REPORT.

As I am loathe to threadjack, I am proud of this community for defending the rights of this girl, and I am disgusted at the GI.

h_bee

]]> <![CDATA[]]> I've always heard jokes about Marines being the "rapeyist" of the armed forces, rapeyist being the best word I could come up with.

Chivone

]]> <![CDATA[]]> There should be serious mental screenings for joining any armed service as well as a more in-depth look into criminal histories. Also, guys, go to a fucking brothel if you're that desperate. Or better yet, all servicemen must be eunuchs.

dummyfakeroller

]]> <![CDATA[]]> It's not just Japan. Female soldiers in Iraq are being raped by their male brethren.

The military has a real woman problem - has for decades. Until they face it, get it out in the open, and work on fixing it - nothing will change.

PaintedTrollop

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @ineffable.me: That's really a gross generalization. I know plenty of good men and women who are in the military, and you cheapen them by making such a blanket statement about who goes into the military and why. I can understand why this situation pisses you off, but it is by far the rarity of who these men and women are and what they do on a day-by-day basis.

langtry

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @kimsama: what do the two kanji characters mean in that sign "chikan ni..."?

roodles

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @saltie: is this in japan proper or Okinawa? i feel like there is still some weird extradition stuff regarding soldiers being tried for crimes committed in Okinawa.

There's already an anti-American backlash brewing in Japan my friends tell me so this isn't good.

roodles

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @saltie: The term is accused, and presumed innocent until proven that he's a fucktard that needs to eat through a straw for the rest of his life.

Or, they may simply discharge him and hand him over to Japan's courts.

Xavoc

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Also disgusting is the fact that this is pretty much the only time when Japanaese media/government gets up in arms about sexual harassment.

Ever.

thenotoriousrhod

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @PICKLES IN MY TUNA: Lumping those two issues together weakens our defense against both. Miley is a young girl whose handlers stirred up controversy to hasten her transition from squeaky-clean tween to femme fatale.

It's a problem because it reinforces the idea that females are only marketable if they're sexually desirable, so young girls have to make themselves desirable as soon as possible, but the girl in Japan didn't know the serviceman, so I doubt that his thought process was "teenagers on TV present themselves as sexually mature, so this girl probably is too." Rape is about domination and dehumanization.

If the young girl had been dating the serviceman you might have a shot at blaming it on the oversexualization of teens, but rapists don't need that kind of excuse.

Kajj

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Let the Marines keep raping away, just keep heroic female medics out of combat! We can't have brave women like Monica Brown making these boys look bad.

Gingerlime

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @BAngieB: And yet we have 15 year old Miley in Vanity Fair looking very much like a woman, a sexualized, sultry, come hither and sex me up again woman...is it really any wonder.

PICKLES

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @Charlotte Corday, Miss Stabby Stabby 1793:
It's that disgusting combination of far too much testosterone + encouraged violence + stupidity + alcohol = disaster
they need to throw some courses in their with their training along the lines of "The US will not defend you against foreign governments if you pillage the locals in any way"



HoneyLush

]]> <![CDATA[]]> I see a lot of hate and name calling in this thread. What the individual serviceman did is despicable, but tarring the the whole bunch for his actions is unfair. And ask yourselves, is the crime rate among service members in Japan higher than the local civilian population, higher than the rate for the US military overall, or higher than the crime rate in the US? My guess would be that it is not.

If the only news you read from Japan on US service members is when one is accused of a crime, is that a fair picture of the behavior and conduct of our soldiers?

PeteRR

]]> <![CDATA[]]> I think we all agree that a 14 yr old is a girl, not a woman. Everybody doesn't have to keep yelling about. That's not the point of the story.

BAngieB

]]> <![CDATA[]]> here we are: "James Douglas Ross Jr. was not so fortunate. Ross, a military intelligence officer stationed at Fort Bragg, was caught shipping disassembled AK-47s to the United States from Iraq in 2004, officials said. When investigators searched his off base housing, they found a weapons arsenal, thousands of rounds of ammunition, and hate group materials. Ross was forced to return from Iraq and given a bad conduct discharge. "But they let him keep the weapons [he kept in his house]," said Department of Defense investigator Barfield, adding that Ross has since relocated to Washington, where he's a leader of the Eastern Washington Skins, a neo-Nazi gang. "He kept his military connections, and he's still trying to recruit soldiers, so we're still dealing with him." "

southernbitch

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @southernbitch: The hate groups terrify me, because I feel like they infiltrate police depts, etc, not just armed forces.

Something else that we're not talking about? The "essential staffing" overseas who aren't members of the armed forces... KBR, just to name one.

gingerkhan

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @eleanorstrousers: I am not sure what is going on, but I'm guessing if you're recruiting & enlisting those who may not be equipped to deal with any of this, bad things will probably happen.

I remember talking to a friend, who's cousin was in the military, who had never left home, barely graduated from HS & was being shipped off to Japan. That's not such a good recipe.

rosasparks

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @blackbirdfly: i remember hearing a story that a member of some crazy neo-nazi militia who was stationed in iraq got caught hoarding ak-47s, which he had been shipping home to the rest of his wacky compatriots so they could create an armory. i don't think he even got in too much trouble over that. i also know that apparently there is all sorts of white supremacy graffiti springing up all over baghdad right now, which is deeply fucked up.

southernbitch

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @southernbitch: Yes, I have heard of that. Also, there was a show about that same issue on the History Channel's series "Gangland." Gays? Not okay. White supremacist neo-Nazis? Why not?!

blackbirdfly

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Good for the woman who was groped for going to the police! A lot of women in Japan are too ashamed to press charges against chikan, but there has been a big push in recent years to confront them (well, "confront" them in a Japanese way) and an acknowledgment that it happens and it's wrong (it's not ignored anymore, there are ちかんに注意 signs everywhere). It's good to know that women there are taking action against this.

So sad about the 14-yr-old girl. When I heard about it the first time I flipped my lid. I'm fully in support of limiting non-base access if military men can't behave themselves (even if only a few apples are ruining the barrel).

kimsama

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @CorporateTool: chalmers johnson wrote a great book called blowback that is all about the inherent paradox that is peacetime deployment and the fact that the us has military bases on foreign soil (something that no other state has). it specifically focuses on asia, and has a long long chapter on the okinawa bases and the misconduct of us soldiers on the island. it's a great read.

southernbitch

]]> <![CDATA[]]> The media often refers to underage sexual assault victims as "women;" it's done to make the crime seem less serious and the perp less reprehensible.

SarahMC

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @gingerkhan: the southern poverty law center did this terrifying study where they also discovered that the army is real chill about whether or not you've a member of a known hate group, such as the aryan nations. they're totally fine with that. give them guns. ship them overseas. they'll totally behave, right?

southernbitch

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Japan has been trying (and rightly so) to get rid of our bases for years. 10 years or so ago this was a big issue. A couple of servicemen (who were 18, I believe) sexually assaulted a local girl.

Overseas peacetime deployments are often asking for trouble.

CorporateTool

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @emdy: I'm confused about that as well, especially since in the article that is linked to she is referred to as a 14 year old girl.

whats_in_a_name

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @funnyface: Agreed! Miley Cyrus is still called a girl at 15, why is a 14 year old Japanese girl called a woman?

emdy

]]> <![CDATA[]]> My brother's been stationed in Japan for almost two years now and he's always going on about all the dumbasses he has to deal with over there. He was settled in his base and taking Japanese classes when one idiot decided to get drunk and destroy a military jeep right before he was going to be put on a ship for six months. Guess who went in his place once the jackass was demoted? Idiot serviceman always ruin it for the good ones.

tiffcat

]]> <![CDATA[]]> It's not surprising, considering that servicemen are generally under-educated boys who have been trained to kill and to be aggressive. See: Haditha Killings and Al-Mahmudiyah killings/gang in Iraq. The last incident was particularly brutal - a group of US servicemen killed the family of a 14 year old girl before gang raping and murdering her.

Lulu82

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @gingerkhan: **Murderers**

gingerkhan

]]> <![CDATA[]]> My friend's husband was in the Navy for 25 years and was stationed all over the place. He said that the guys would go nuts in Japan, especially the younger soldiers, and that there would be an assault accusation about once a WEEK.

TheUptightMidwesterner

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @ineffable.me: Not just sex offenders, but murders, arsonists, puppy-killers, the mentally unstable, the functionally retarded, and anyone who committed felony who can get a special "waver" - I think from a judge.

The armed forces are really scraping the bottom of the barrel for recruits, and this is what happens.

gingerkhan

]]> <![CDATA[]]> When I was living in South Korea, there was an incident where a US military tank ran over two schoolgirls: [news.bbc.co.uk]
The Worst part is that Korea could not prosecute the bastards. Sucks.

whatthisis

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Considering the high level of sexual assault by US soldiers* against other US soldiers* or against US civilians who live in/around military bases, the only thing that's shocking about this is that anyone's shocked by it.

(*and airmen, and sailors and Marines)

BeckySharper

]]> <![CDATA[]]> An interesting thing I studied this semester is how often Peacekeepers cause problems with the populations they are there to protect - it raised the point that most pacekeepers are actually just soldiers with little to no special training for the work they're doing - it was interesting to think about whether being a good soldir inherently means being a bad peacekeeper. Kind of off topic, but it shows that problems with sexual assault and militarization don't just arise during times of violent conflict.

angelheadedhipster

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @dvs: hear hear

Her_royal_Highness

]]> <![CDATA[]]> 14 year olds are women now? No wonder this world is getting so fuked up.

MsMichelle

]]> <![CDATA[]]> 14 year old girl, NOT woman.

niaray

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @haguenite: Agreed. This can be rehashed until the cows come home. It's action by the U.S. Government that's required.

NefariousNewt

]]> <![CDATA[]]> whaa? is it that they think they can get away with it? i know testosterone + alcohol = stupid, but srsly.

Charlotte Corday

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @saltie: That's so crazy! How about They WILL face court martial. There need to be some major investigation into why these servicemembers are so violent towards civilians.

pinkyBella

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @Seriously, its not!: Yeah. Let's call it what it was, the rape of a teenage GIRL.

funnyface

]]> <![CDATA[]]> I'm living in Japan right now, and yes, there are a lot of problems with U.S. servicemen here. Not only with sexual assault...a serviceman here recently confessed to murdering a taxi driver.
And I'm sorry, "could" face a court martial?!?!? What, rape and murder aren't punishable offenses, but cowardice is? Oh, yeah , I forgot about that whole "rape and pillage" thing...

saltie

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @eleanorstrousers: Any culture=rape culture these days. War or no war.

weedie

]]> <![CDATA[]]> WTF is the government fucking recruiting sex offenders exclusively?

hey you, you like to molest girls?
THEN JOIN THE ARMED FORCES!

ineffable.me

]]> <![CDATA[]]> @haguenite: I'm with you on that. Too much for a Friday afternoon...

Cuteasabutton

]]> <![CDATA[]]> I can assure you, this is not a rare occurrence (against women in other countries or women in the US military). Apparently war culture = rape culture in a lot of ways.

Sigh. TGIF.

eleanorstrousers

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Something very fundamentally wrong is going on here since this seems to be such an ongoing problem.

pinkyBella

]]> <![CDATA[]]> 14 year old /= woman.

dvs

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Thats gross. I wonder though, can a 14 year old really be considered a woman?

Seriously, its not!

]]> <![CDATA[]]> Goddamit!

I think I'll sit this one out. I'm not in the mood for the "what's worse, court martial or the general justice system" discussion.

haguenite

]]> <![CDATA[]]> For shame. No wonder this government refuses to join the ICC -- this mess must be rampant in Iraq, and that would make it a form of war crime, no?

CorreLola

]]>