Landmark sexual violence survey reveals shocking data

More robust action against sexual violence and abuse is required in Japan, which lags behind many countries in terms of gender equality, ranking 125th in the World Economic Forum’s latest Global Gender Gap Index.

High rates of sexual violence persist in Japan, with 1 in 14 women having experienced forced intercourse, according to a 2020 Cabinet survey — a scourge symptomatic of patriarchal attitudes, values and practices that put many at risk of abuse.

At the same time, underreporting remains a problem, as revealed by a landmark online survey conducted by NHK in 2022, whose questionnaire I helped draft.

In 2017, aspects of the Penal Code relating to sexual violence were amended for the first time in a century. The revision led to the prohibition of sexual and obscene acts involving those under 18, as well as the recognition of male victims for the first time.

Despite the changes, rape charges still required proof of violence or intimidation, or that the victim was "incapable of resistance." Subsequently, four rape cases sparked public outrage in 2019 by highlighting how this proviso made it difficult to convict offenders.

In one case, a father was acquitted of charges that he had repeatedly assaulted his then 12-year-old daughter. The judges ruled that, because this happened in the family’s small house, other family members would have been aware if there had been any resistance on the girl's part, but did not testify to this effect. (A higher court later overturned the acquittal and sentenced the man to seven years in prison.)

Following an outcry, the sex crime law was revised again last June. In addition, Japan hosted the Group of Seven summit last spring and was showered with unfavorable coverage regarding its stances on gender and LGBTQ rights, as well as domestic and sexual violence, which generated additional pressure for reform.

The crime of rape was changed to that of “nonconsensual intercourse,” therefore broadening the definition. Also, the law no longer requires there to be evidence of resistance and consent is no longer assumed to be intrinsic to marriage, as it was before.

Furthermore, the age of consent was raised from 13 to 16, and the act of groping a person under 16 for the purposes of indecency or voyeuristic photography was criminalized. Moreover, the statute of limitations was increased by five years for the crimes of indecency (becoming 12 years), nonconsensual sex (15 years) and indecent assault (20 years).

The legal landscape has thus shifted due to heightened awareness of, and public anger over, crimes that had been off the radar for far too long. Helping stoke this outrage was the aforementioned NHK survey of victims of sexual violence and harassment, which drew 38,383 responses. To put this in context, such surveys typically elicit about 4,000 responses. Of the participants, 91.3% identified as female, 5.4% as “X-gender” and 1.1% as male.

Many victims reported multiple experiences of assault and abuse, including being undressed against their will (16.4%), penetrated by genitals or other body parts (18.6%), ejaculated on (8.9%), forced to watch as someone masturbated (10.8%), touched (39.6%) and verbally harassed with sexually explicit language (40%). Over half of victims claimed to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, however, only 3.3% were diagnosed, highlighting a shortage of specialists and care options.

I was especially shocked by the young age of many victims: Half were under 15 when they suffered abuse, while just over one-fifth were younger than 10. Overall, almost three-quarters of victims were below the age of 20.

The negative effects of these traumas are devastating. Many become emotionally unstable, suffer from insomnia, experience feelings of hopelessness and suffer from low self-esteem. In the survey, 36.7% blamed themselves for what had happened, 29.7% felt they had been defiled, 26% wanted to die and 11.8% said they had tried to commit suicide.

The survey also shows how unrealistic the resistance requirement for rape was prior to the most recent legal revision. Only about one-fifth of victims reported being able to physically resist their assaults. Many fell into a "frozen state" and were "unable to understand what was happening to them" (58.3%), "unable to think straight" (32.5%) and "unable to move" (38.8%).

Several victims also encountered an empathy deficit when sharing their experiences, with 23.5% being told that it was "no big deal" or "a common occurrence" and 14.9% being advised to forget about the incident and pretend it had never happened.

Such attitudes protect perpetrators, increasing the likelihood of repeat offenses and of victims feeling isolated. About one-third of survey respondents did not tell anybody about what happened (other than participating in the anonymous survey). Others felt vulnerable to retribution, with one person writing, “Because the perpetrator is a relative, I’m afraid of retaliation if I tell. I thought that talking about it wouldn’t solve anything. I don't know where to go for help.”

Many victims are suffering in silence and only a few reported reaching out to professionals of any sort: 2.3% consulted a one-stop support center for sexual violence or support group, 2.2% a medical institution, 0.9% a lawyer or other legal specialist and 10% the police.

The survey also found that perpetrators were found guilty in only one-tenth of cases in which victims went to the police. Inexplicably, police fail to record about half or more of the rape cases that are reported, according to research published earlier this year in the International Journal of Asian Studies. Therefore, official rape statistics are meaningless and, generally speaking, perpetrators enjoy a cocoon of impunity, with only between 10 to 20 convictions for every 1,000 cases, according to the aforementioned research.

The costs of such violence are not just psychological. Many victims are often unable to go to school or work, with long-term impacts on their development and earnings. In the survey, 7.5% of respondents said they had missed a significant number of school days and 2.2% quit education altogether. In addition, 24.3% of those affected in the workplace quit their jobs and 12.1% said they were no longer able to work full time.

These numbers are significant. Based on the data, we estimate that the 11,526 responses of those who quit their jobs or full-time work amounted to economic losses worth some 2,500 billion yen. One way of seeing this is that this is income the victims could have earned if they had not suffered abuse.

The government must lend more support to relevant services, including civil society organizations that play a key role in helping victims. There is also a dire need for nurturing expertise in diagnosing, treating and counseling victims, as well as facilitating access to such care.

As Japan moves toward better addressing the scourge of sexual violence, it is also essential to engage the police and judiciary in improving sensitivity toward victims and increasing accountability.

Sexual violence not only harms people, but the economy and society as a whole. And since the number of people whose well-being and work have suffered is far larger than what the survey reveals, the overall costs to society are also much, much greater.