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The story
An interview article featuring sociologist Chizuko Ueno discussing lookism — being ranked by appearance — and ageism — being devalued because of old age — was picked up on 5ch’s News Express+ board. Her statement “There’s no need to just put up with discrimination” sparked debate over the wording itself, with posters saying the Japanese phrasing was ambiguous about whose “putting up with it” it referred to — the discriminator’s or the discriminated-against’s. Discussion also turned, as it often does in these threads, to the perennial question of where exactly the line between “discrimination” and “distinction” lies, without reaching any consensus.
Since the 2000s, the term “ikizurasa” (the sense of difficulty in simply living, of not fitting into society) has taken root in Japanese society. Some of this difficulty comes from internal factors like personal traits or upbringing, while other forms come from external factors — discrimination rooted in how society views a person. In the latter case, people are ranked by appearance from a young age, and in old age they’re marked down for losing physical ability and independence — so this difficulty just keeps changing shape and lasts a lifetime.
We put the question of the hardships caused by lookism (discrimination based on appearance) and ageism (discrimination based on age) — something many people experience — to sociologist Chizuko Ueno.
“You’re so cute!” “You don’t look your age at all.”
Source: hakuhodo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
It should be banned outright, with real penalties for anyone caught doing it.
Miserable how, exactly?
If someone else does it, it's discrimination.
Well put.
Do a little research before you talk.
She only registered the marriage out of necessity, to care for her senile partner.
If anything, it's a heartwarming story.
So basically, someone who'll drop whatever they've been arguing for the second it's no longer convenient.
That's even scarier, honestly.
Sounds exactly like a "gold-digging second wife" (a stock trope for women who marry elderly men for their money).
"Putting up with BEING discriminated against" — okay, that I'd get.
The way it's worded, it sounds more like you're holding back your own urge to discriminate.
Japanese is hard, y'all.
What "benefit" though?
Ueno's richer than the guy she married.
Then she could've just thrown money at the problem instead.
Kind of funny that she ended up relying on the institution of marriage after all.
Nope, wrong.
This has nothing to do with men versus women.
Saying something like this just makes YOU the bigot…
Exactly.
It's a double standard — Ueno thinks women SHOULD get to hold the right and power to judge men's looks.
Still arguing "discrimination vs. distinction"? Talk about being laps behind the times, lol
Meanwhile I'll be married, living it up in my luxury high-rise condo, lol
And on top of that, turns out she was married the whole time.
Wonder how the women who missed their chance to marry,
charmed by her sweet talk, must feel now.
A person who just stirs up conflict.
Once you've successfully stirred up conflict and controversy,
all you have to do is shout "I'm against it!" and you're set.
Background and Key Points of the Debate
“Lookism” and “ageism” are relatively new concepts that have taken root in Japanese since the 2000s, and this article stems from an interview with sociologist Chizuko Ueno conducted by a media outlet affiliated with Hakuhodo. Ueno is a professor emerita at the University of Tokyo and a leading figure in feminist studies, widely known for works such as Ohitorisama no Rougo (“The Old Age of Living Alone”), which explores how single elderly people live. The thread’s disagreement centered on two main points: first, the ambiguity of the phrase “There’s no need to just put up with discrimination” itself, and second, questions raised about whether Ueno’s personal life lines up with what she says. That second point, however, comes from anonymous forum posters and isn’t a publicly confirmed fact, so it’s worth taking with a grain of salt. Where exactly “discrimination” ends and “distinction” begins is a topic that’s genuinely hard to reach social consensus on, and this thread was no exception — it didn’t land on a clear conclusion either.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Express+) thread “There’s No Need to Just Put Up With Discrimination — How Sociologist Chizuko Ueno Embodies a Life of ‘Speaking Up’ Against Lookism and Ageism.”
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