Osaka Prefecture’s Tenma Police has teamed up with popular establishment R・J CAFE for a rather interesting (read, tone-deaf) initiative. The collaboration aims to curb molestation incidents with latte art messages warning customers to “Beware of gropers” (ちかんきをつけて). A similar initiative to prevent scams against the elderly is also ongoing, as Japan’s rising elderly population, unfortunately, makes them the perfect target for financial scams. The cafe will also place stickers bearing similar cautioning messages on to-go cups[1].
A Tone-Deaf Message
However, this collaboration is proving more offensive than helpful. While the Yahoo News article above collects a couple of favorable reactions, it’s a far different story on Twitter. Aside from general reactions of disbelief and disgust, others pointed out how messages like this could trigger former victims of molestation. One user angrily tweeted: “Is this implying someone’s victimized because they weren’t careful? It’s 100% the perpetrator’s fault.”
Another user wrote a tongue-in-cheek tweet, stating: “It’s because the molestation of women is taken so lightly that countermeasures like this happen. Why don’t you do latte art of ‘Don’t get murdered’ and serve that to everyone, huh?”
Twitter user @kamenokoaikouka mentions how women are already on the alert for unwanted advances. [Note: Original tweet no longer available.]
“There’s not a woman out there who isn’t being wary of molesters. I’m fed up with seeing all these messages about watching out for perverts. Do you really have to go and write it on our drinks? I’d rather see more security cameras installed and more proactive arrests of molesters.”
User @taniyanyanz made a brutally honest observation about molestation countermeasures in Japan:
I think we all know how ludicrous this latte art initiative is, but I’d like people to consider that the issue doesn’t lie in the latte art itself. Whenever anti-molestation measures are brought up, only victims (the majority of them women) are targeted and made responsible for prevention, whereas outreach towards perpetrators and bystanders is practically nonexistent.
Targeting the Wrong Demographic
This is, unfortunately, not the first molestation prevention campaign to put the responsibility of self-preservation onto women. Indeed, the onus ideally shouldn’t have to be on women and other vulnerable people to protect themselves from sexual harassment. Unfortunately, that’s how it’s long been in Japan. Apps like Digi-Police and Chikan Radar carry “anti-groping” features ranging from loud alarms to sharing a perpetrator’s location to a pre-registered address. While certainly more helpful than triggering latte art messages, it still places the responsibility on women to use these apps.
Self-defense options are also limited; while in the States I can carry a knife on my keys and pepper spray, these and similar options are either outright illegal or occupy a legal gray zone in Japan[2] that discourages people from taking advantage of them. It’s not uncommon for women to use safety pins or mechanical pencils to dissuade gropers and other unwanted advances. While police have made more arrests in recent years, notably arrests made in 2018 and 2019 involving “Airdrop perverts”, harsher legal consequences remain largely a rarity.
Like Twitter user @kamenokoaikouka pointed out earlier, security cameras and more arrests will go much farther in preventing groping incidents than in-your-face latte art messages. The cafe and police collaboration will end April 30, and hopefully, all this criticism will deter any future distasteful (and, as some people pointed out, practically illegible) initiatives.
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Sources
[1] ラテアートで防犯呼び掛け カフェが大阪府警とコラボ. https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/6b8c414d2883126c2e5584b36f6ce6efa8f97945
[2] In the Right? Your Questions on Japanese Law Answered. https://www.tokyoweekender.com/2009/08/in-the-right/
