At PAPS, we believe that it is necessary to inform young women who are facing difficulties in their lives that there is a place for them in society and in the daytime, and that there are people who can accompany them. We have been commissioned by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to conduct outreach activities as part of the “Tokyo Metropolitan Government Support Project for Young Victimized Women.
At PAPS, we have heard from many young people in their teens and twenties who are faced with issues of sexual exploitation and digital sexual abuse, and are worried about whether or not they can talk to us about it. The more difficult the situation is, the less likely the perpetrator is to be aware of the situation and to be able to give an SOS. It was a continuous process of trial and error to see how we could lower this hurdle.
Outreach in the field of social welfare means “to communicate the need for services to those who are in need of assistance but do not voluntarily seek services, and to provide on-site support. In PAPS' concept of “outreach,” PAPS reaches out to young people so that they feel that it is okay to talk to someone about their problems or to ask for help.
Specifically, we will focus on those in their teens to 20s who are vulnerable to sexual exploitation and digital sexual violence. There will be a variety of activities, including educational activities such as calling out to people in downtown areas in Tokyo, such as Shinjuku Kabukicho, Shibuya and Omotesando, and distributing flyers and pamphlets, and using the Internet to disseminate information and talk to people.
Until I got involved as an outreach staff member, my previous sense of value was that these women were not in need in the first place, and I wondered if there were people who would listen to me when they were approached by counseling and support groups even though they did not need assistance.
It has been two months since we began our outreach activities and we have been working on pamphlets and other handouts through a process of trial and error.
Our staff members who actually go to the site at night, regardless of the weather, are very surprised at the number of young women and even more surprised at the number of scouts from agencies who try to sexually exploit them. What was even more surprising was the number of men approaching the women for prostitution.
During an outreach activity on the first sunny day after a long period of rainy weather, five or six middle-aged men surrounded a squatting woman in a corner of a park, waiting for their turn to talk to her, and it looked like they were negotiating for prostitution. Witnessing this scene, I was frankly disgusted by the men and I made a mental note to reach out to her as soon as she wanted to make a change in her current environment.
Although the law prohibits the act of prostituting or being a partner in prostitution (prostitution), there are no penalties for prostitutes.
Not being arrested or otherwise criminally prosecuted is a problem.
A street outreach by about 5-6 PAPS staff members twice a week is not nearly enough to cover the number of scouts.
Furthermore, after the staff does outreach, they are often taken by scouts or hosts. We are keenly aware that in the downtown area, the welfare force is completely outnumbered by sexually exploitative businesses.
To compete with the glittering world that is so attractive to those we call on in our outreach, our welfare force must also be attractive to them.
For this reason, a public relations strategy that approaches young women is essential here as well.
Outreach to those who congregate in the downtown area will receive a variety of responses.
We believe that those who are able to ignore all outreach and those who are able to firmly refuse, saying, “I'm not interested, I don't want it,” are those who do not have to worry about falling victim to scouting.
We believe that an attitude of decision-making and clarity of intent will have the same power in soliciting scouts.
Conversely, we believe that those who take the trouble to remove their earphones and stop to listen carefully and respond to our conversation are the ones who have the element of concern.
Some people say, “I agreed to talk to you because you are a woman,” or “It's been a long time since I've talked to a woman.”
I felt that these women had some kind of difficulty in living and were looking for a connection.
In the future, we will conduct outreach to scouts and other sexual exploiters. We would like to make sure that scouting on the street is a crime and that scouts are put out of business so that they can find a way to make a living without being part of sexual exploitation.
Although we are still in the seed-planting stage, we will build a relationship of mutual trust through outreach with those who have no place to stay or who want to quit the sex industry but cannot, and lower the hurdles for them to seek advice, We will also create a society that does not tolerate sexual exploitation.
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