Christmas is fetish season #4 – Chikan koui – Who’s hoping for a groping?
Posted on | December 10, 2008 | 10 Comments |
This week’s topic is my (rather stupidly combined) “Public groping and sex” option, which is, in fact, two fetishes. The first fetish which is an increasing problem and interesting piece of evidence for Japanese society is Chikankoui or public groping. This is typified by your typical male salaryman on the crowded morning train feeling up some poor Japanese high school girl (she was asking for it with her loose socks). The other fetish is exhibitionism which it seems is more a Western fetish, where pleasure is had by the having of relations in public places. I’ll be tackling each of these topics individually, with groping in this post and exhibitionism at a later date…
Chikankoui in Japanese culture
Chikankoui is a compound word which comes from the Japanese word for pervert – Chikan (Though referring specifically to a “pervert who likes to rub himself against other people non-consensually”) and deed – koui. Together, this word refers to a man indecently rubbing against a woman non-consensually. The term is gender specific, so if it was a woman rubbing against someone non-consensually, the term would be chijokoui.
Chikan continues to be a major problem in Japan today. Although brought to public knowledge by anime and manga culture, it is difficult to imagine the scope of the offences that are committed avary day. It is said that you only have to go on the subway in Tokyo or Osaka during the rush hour in the morning to catch 3 or 4 chikan in the same carriage just going about their daily business. A couple of surveys of Japanese women hint at the size of the problem: In 2001, a survey of high school girls said that around 70% of the had been groped at some point on the train. Another survey of female office workers showed a lesser number of around 20% who admitted to having been groped in public.
Chikan, it seems, is one of the best pieces of evidence around of what remains of the Japanese sexist society. Japan has always nurtured the gap between the sexes, promoting the image of the mother taking care of the children at home while the father appears as a distant figure, sending money home for his family while the wife waits patiently for his return. Even in today’s age of OLs where a lot of Japanese women work for themselves, there still is a great deal of sexual discrimination in the workplace. Whereas in other countries, women have thrown off their shackles and refused to do what was expected of them by centuries of culture and tradition, This process has been somewhat slower in the honour-steeped Japanese society.
As a lot of you may already know, a lot of Japanese culture depends on honour, specifically, your appearance as an individual in front of other people. This is probably best summed up in the existence of the Japanese words – Honne (本音） and Tatemae　（建å‰ï¼‰ literally “true-feelings” and “standing in-front”, referring to the gap between what one thinks and how one acts in front of others. It therefore seems that women in trains may be putting up with gropers to this extent purely because they do not want to kick up a fuss and be embarassed in front of others on the train.
On the other hand, this is not to say there are no “independant women” on the train every day, and arrests for groping are on the rise (especially since an awareness campaign in the 1990s). Some women will even blackmail a groper caught in the act to withdraw large sums of money to pay them off rather than suffer the shame of being hauled into a police box. The campaign also heralded the birth of the “Women-only carriage” which you will have seen if you’ve spent any time at all in any Japanese major city. Here women are free from the greasy hands of the salarymen in the next coach, liberated to talk about shoes and make up and whatever girls talk about when they’re alone with other girls…Unless there’s a Chijo around, of course ^_^
Chikan as a fetish
Like most Japanese fetishes, its incarnation this side of the water is something taken to an extreme. Japanese people like to make an art out of everything, and so rightly, there are schools of groping where you can go and become a member (members have to attain a certain number of gropes to be promoted) and be taught secret groping techniques, such as how to pick a girl who is least likely to blackmail you out of next month’s wages. Obviously, the sex trade has taken advantage of this fetish already, and there are image clubs (イメクラ） where you can pay to rummage around one of their women of dubious virtue in a train-carriage mock up set.
Hilariously, they also hire girls to ride on train carriages in the mornings for them as “dry runs” (as it were), so trainees can cop a feel in a safe environment and be treated to a breakdown of their technique afterwards with some constructive criticism over some tea and cake.
The thrill of the feel
As to why Chikan is so prevalent in Japan specifically, one can only think of the aforementioned sexism as being the catalyst for how the practice has found its niche in today’s society. One can imagine that the tradition started with frustrated middle-aged salarymen unhappy with their work life and either far from home or with a wife who doesn’t put out enough for their (obviously voracious) sexual appetites. What better way to relieve some of that stress than by surreptitiously fondling a young girl who is unlikely to protest or call for help. And for free no less! In other words, I believe that it was probably not the male urge to fondle (since I suspect, a lot of men would grope if they could be sure that they wouldn’t be caught), but that in Japanese society there existed a unique situation in which the women of the day allowed men to have their way rather than be shamed. And now since the popularity of the practice has soared, it is now difficult to cull.
Chikan in Western contexts is known as frotteurism coming from the French word frotteur meaning “rubber”. In the case of the frotteur who lets his fantasies take place in real life, there is a DSM IV classification for him, classifying him as a nutcase. This is not to be confused with frottage which refers to consensual rubbing occurring during sexual intercourse.
It is interesting that Chikan scored relatively highly on the poll (though I might suspect that a lot of those are for the exhibitionist aspect), since it does feature regularly as a topic or background for sexual hijinks in doujinshi. However, the main difference (as ever) is that girls on the receiving end of those grubby fingers end up enjoying it far more than they really should (if they had a normal sexual appetite ^^;;). This means that either:
1. People who read chikan would like to commit the act themselves and get excited watching others do it
2. Fans like watching chikan and enjoy the voyeuristic aspect of the act
3. Fans like the dominant aspect of the act.
4. Fans like the exhibitionist aspect of the act.
In short, chikan ties in with a fair few fetishes and I would say that it was pretty much an aside that practitioners of chikan like to read public groping doujinshi. I would suspect that the vast majority of people who enjoy reading about the situation fit into the lower three categories since they are far more common fetishes that might predispose you to be aroused by this kind of situation.
Of course as always, I bow to the opinions of the masses, so if you have ay differing opinions I would love to hear them!
Fetish season takes a short break this week as Love and I are off to Germany for a short break over the weekend. But we’ll return next week with some more titillating Christmas fetishes!
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10 Responses to “Christmas is fetish season #4 – Chikan koui – Who’s hoping for a groping?”
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December 11th, 2008 @ 8:21 am
Nice run-down. I enjoy reading about your scientific approach to pornography.
I had a friend that female ejaculated for every orgasm. She said the strength of it was so intense, it would sometimes hurt her bf.
I believe she has more testosterone than normal. From her naturally well muscled physique, to the masculine shape of her face, and her rather aggressive attitude in general.
December 11th, 2008 @ 3:55 pm
You skipped Anal..(´･ω･`)
December 11th, 2008 @ 6:27 pm
Its actually something new to hear from something like this, because theres nothing to not agree with, but to write something at least, lets look. The 2nd picture is no yuri?. Ok just fun.
Enjoy your break in Germany ^^. Home sweet home.
December 12th, 2008 @ 12:57 am
Have fun in Germany. ^_^
I also agree with HappyHappyJoyJoy, where there’s more than just a “ooooh fetish *fap fap* (Or the female equivilent) mentality. Looking forward to the next post. ^_^
December 12th, 2008 @ 10:01 am
An interesting read, as always. And where did you get that pic of Haruhi and Mikuru? I would like to snag that one for myself.
December 14th, 2008 @ 4:46 pm
Another reason to be female and Japanese.
I was hoping for a breakdown of the techniques.
December 15th, 2008 @ 10:37 am
and…. people on the subway don’t notice when you are groping?
December 15th, 2008 @ 11:25 pm
ANAL
December 16th, 2008 @ 9:16 am
@chris: People don’t want to get involved. They’re too scared of getting caught up in the process or being somehow blamed themselves if they were to say anything. e.g. My friend once fell off her bike into a ditch at the side of the road. A minute later two people walked pass and totally ignored her calls for help. Japanese aren’t callous, but they keep quiet and to themselves.
As for actually seeing it on trains, I’ve never seen it, but then I’ve never hit the trains bang on morning rush hour in Tokyo. I always keep an eye out though…
December 16th, 2008 @ 5:21 pm
pkx – I’m doing that post now – it needed love’s input, so I was waiting for her to have some time on her hands. Be patient!