While the circumstances were very different because we’re talking about all public facilities for an entire group of people distinguished by the color of their skin, there were many justifications for the separate bathrooms, water fountains, even roads for African Americans and for White Americans. The decision that came down from the Supreme Court in 1896 was overturned in 1954. That’s a long time to sanction a racist philosophy.

It appears this kind of thinking hasn’t stopped in some places. In order to avoid groping and accusations of groping commuters in Tokyo are petitioning for men-only train cars. It actually sounds more like a story I read last week about universities in India banning women from wearing jeans in order to limit sexual harassment. It appears to be an admission that those perpetrating the offenses simply cannot help themselves. Therefore, the only way to stop the problem is to force the victims to change their behavior. Am I the only one who thinks this is backwards?

It’s “easy” to talk about and to legislate separation because it’s much harder to teach respect. While it’s not the government’s job to teach respect towards all groups and between the sexes, the policies and laws that are implemented always reflect a set of values. That’s a sad set of values. What does that say about women? Worse yet, what does it say about men?! Can men not control themselves? Are they not even expected to control their urges? Are they given a pass while the responsibility is shifted to women? It appears to me that the answer is “yes” to all these questions.

Maybe they already have groping laws on the books there in Japan. I don’t know. But, if they don’t, they ought to. And, if they do, perhaps a harsher punishment would actually stop the persistence of this issue. I cannot imagine what this kind of public conversation would do to the mindset of a female commuter. My guess is that they’d feel unprotected and probably scared. And if the tone of the discussion puts the burden on the woman to get away from the man, what are women who have no choice but use public transportation to think?

Clearly, I have lots of questions and not many answers to the Japanese issue. Perhaps you have an idea about how to resolve this battle of the sexes. Do you think that the petition to begin separating men and women on train cars is reasonable? Do you think that it’s a realistic and quick solution? Or are you less pragmatic, like I am, and would like to see solutions to begin to solve the bigger issue here?

Is society moving backwards or is this type of behavior just the reality that we like to pretend is beyond us all?

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(Original photo by OiMax, used under Creative Commons license.)