Keep fighting the good fight
After expressing her views on sexual violence in the Japanese entertainment industry, Kiko Mizuhara received derogatory comments.
In Japan, sexual violence in the entertainment industry has recently become a hot topic. Among the most notable cases are allegations leveled against director Hideo Sakaki. The premieres of his films, 'Mitsugetsu' and 'Hazard Lamp,' were canceled after allegations of sexual violence against him were made public by a Japanese magazine. Another director, Sion Sono, is accused of pressuring actresses into sexual relationships in exchange for a role in one of his films. Umekawa Haruo, the producer of the romance drama film Ride or Die,' in which Kiko recently starred, was also named a perpetrator of sexual violence.
In response to the issue of harassment in the industry, Kiko spoke out publicly and proposed the creation of an 'intimacy coordinator,' someone who controls the shooting environment and monitors the actors' comfort when shooting physically intimate scenes. The actress stated that using an intimacy coordinator could keep actors from feeling sexually uncomfortable or harassed while filming.
"This aspect still exists in the entertainment industry, and I've frequently heard sexually harassing remarks from male directors. Although the other party may have said it subconsciously, there was a constant sense of injustice, "In an interview with a Japanese magazine, Kiko explained. "There is an implicit industry compulsion to believe that an actor playing a role with nudity is a good actor."
Netizens, on the other hand, were outraged by Kiko's remarks. According to some comments, such remarks were made to get people's attention. There were also derogatory remarks about people of mixed race, as Kiko is half white and half Zainichi Korean.
Kiko responded by going live on social media on April 13 to discuss the increasing number of malicious comments.
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