On December 18, Ito Shiwei won a successful bid for spiritual damages from Yamaguchi. It's been a tough road, but she's also publicly supporting her mother in front of the media.

Survivors of sexual assault, often alone, are fighting in the face of public opinion. No friends, no family, solidarity is sparse.

And this time in the course of Ito's poetry weaving, we saw that there were quite a few supporters on the sidelines of the day in solidarity.

On December 18, Ito broke down in tears in front of the courthouse, holding up a large "win" paper.

In April 2015, Ito shiweaver sidopa on the idea of an internship with Yamaguchi, a reporter for Japan's TBS television station, met for dinner, and Ito lost consciousness and was taken to a hotel room where he was sexually assaulted.

Initially criminally prosecuted, but failed because of insufficient evidence, the civil suit was moved to claim 11 million yen (about 3 million yuan) in moral damages for sexual assault and to speak publicly about his experience. Finally, the judge awarded Yamaguchi 3.3 million yen (about 920,000 yuan) in compensation and dismissed Yamaguchi's counterclaim.


Photo Credit Dazhi Images/Japan Times

Can get to this point, Ito poetry weaving suffered great pain and blame.

Survivors of sexual assault often suffer as much as they do at the moment after the incident - being sexually assaulted are questioned whether they are not enough to check, or are greedy for interests, and may be subjected to verbal abuse and intimidation after speaking out about their experiences. In society's eyes, any move by you that doesn't meet the "standard victim" is evidence of a lie. Even more often, your closest family may turn their backs on you and blame you in the same tone as the outside world. (Extended reading: "Mom doesn't believe I was sexually assaulted" Ellen DeGeneres recalls being sexually abused by her stepfather at a young age

Asked about the feeling of winning the case, Ito said: "I don't know how to react yet." But when I walked out of the courthouse, I got a lot of hugs from people who had been supporting me. I think I've had a stage success. One of the supporters said: "It's great. Japan's judiciary has finally shown a bit of conscience. 」

On top of that, there was a powerful supporter in court that day, accompanied by Ito, her mother.

I'm proud of my daughter's courage.

After the verdict, she said: "I am very proud of my daughter's courage. Worried about her, I wanted to praise her for 'doing well'. 」

Not only the mother, but also her father and sister supported her. Some family members will ask the victims to bear the risk of "family ugliness and not to go out on the other". But from the court to the book, Ito's family did not object, even more angry than Ito poetry weaving.

In an interview with reporters, her mother explained the reasons why Ito's poetry had come forward bravely: "She didn't want to think that what had been suffered had happened. She's been a righteous child before, so I don't think she can hide her experience to live. The mother's words confirmed that Ito's words in an interview with women's fans said: "To tell the truth, is the only way I can survive." I can lose my job, but I can't lose my faith. (Recommended reading: #METOO interview with Ito: Breaking the silence ofJapanese sexual assault, I bet who will believe me)

Finally, she shouted to Yamaguchi: "Try to imagine that you have a daughter, and when your child is sexually assaulted, the pain of being torn apart as a parent." The same nostrils and daughter out of breath, holding the love and support for her daughter, with words to wave a strong stick.

From her mother's speech, we can see that she is fully supportive of Ito's poetry weaving. When a parent chooses to stand on the same side as a child, it is likely that they will suffer from injury and heartache because of the injury of their daughter in the process. But Ito's mother was not afraid, and still chose to accompany her. In addition, even though the outside world constantly criticized and questioned Ito's poetry weaving, the mother still did not change her assessment of her daughter, firmly believe in her sense of justice. Not only to support her daughter internally, and even to shout directly at Yamaguchi, not with anger attacks, but to invite the other side to set up their place. How gentle and strong.


Photo Credit Dazhi Images/Japan Times

In the world, there are survivors of sexual assault who know the cruelty of the process, and who choose not to take up arms, and who have also been alone and wounded. If there are more people in this society who can be as empathy and support as the same day's solidarity with the ito's mother, or even without support, as long as they try not to look at the victim with colored glasses, the victim's actions as evidence that he lied, believing that the number of black reports of sexual assault is expected to decrease, And Ito's victory will be only the beginning of a change in Japanese society.

"The law, the way the media reports and the education, there are a lot of issues ahead waiting for us." I hope you can take this victory as a milestone and think about these issues together. (Extended reading: What's wrong with sex education in Taiwan? Su Yuling interview: Taiwan's progress, can not be driven by tragedy alone )

The critical message on the Internet is on, Ito shio will continue to struggle, his family still have to continue to do her backing. And around these topics, we also have a lot of room to struggle.