Sex myths without substance: Mislabelling Japan

[joshcryer]

24. But your source said there *were no* statistics.

The point is I fact checked and found some stuff. I came to at least help clear up the picture after finding the data, and get belittled. I could've just said fuck it and moved on, but I wanted others to see the data.

It seemed odd to me that there wasn't data and that Vice, of all sources, was making shit up or portraying the situation badly. Vice isn't perfect but they're one of my favorite 'magazines' because even if they don't give the full picture they get you close to understanding it.

Whatever, I blame the Guardian for the article more than anything, I think they wanted to ride on the coat-tails of the past month's Japan sex story thing, when it's not even that big of a deal and Japan is trying to fix it. I thought it was pertinent to note that reducing the work week and stress levels would go a long ways to doing that. I think I was just annoyed Vice was dragged into it. Their documentary on sex workers in Japan is not that damning. It's just a snapshot. They don't try to explain it to any significant degree, they tell the story of Japanese sex industry, and pose it as a problem. If anything they would agree with you on this, making it a cultural thing as opposed to, as I believe it is, an economic thing. Or as Smith says (the guy I linked originally), the ultimate collapse of consumerism (that's an angle I find extremely interesting; if consumerism has limits, we as a species need to include it in our politics somehow; see my latest journal post for why).