1 A discursive analysis of the #KuToo movement.
KuToo is a movement started by 32 year old actor and freelance writer Yumi Ishikawa. Yumi started the movement because she was forced to wear high heels when she worked part time in a funeral parlour. Yumi has been quoted as saying "If you think something isn't right, then I don't think it's such a bad thing to talk about it." The hashtag comes from a play on words of the MeToo campaign and the Japanese word Kutsu meaning shoes. The hashtag was started in early 2019, after Yumi tweeted about how annoying it is to wear high heels, the Twitter post instantly blew up with women complaining about high heels, thus, Yumi started the hashtag #KuToo. This caught on very fast and Shino Naito, vice senior researcher at the Japan Institute for Labor Policy and Training believes it is because "Japan is a society where people are often hesitant to speak up. But once one person does speak out, others tend to follow,"
In some of the many offices in Japan, women are required to wear high heels. High heels can be very uncomfortable and can cause health problems for your "spine, hips, knees, ankles and feet, while altering your posture and gait." also high heels can cause problems such as bunions and ingrown toenails. High heels also cause problems with balance, and this means that a slight stumble could turn into a twisted ankle or worse.
Japanese men have tried on high heels to see what it is like, they were given 5cm stilettos and they have found that wearing heels is very uncomfortable,"I'd be quite annoyed if someone asked me to wear these," shoemaker Jun Ito, 34, said as he put on a pair of black heels. He promptly took the shoes off after posing for a photo. "Wearing heels makes me feel unstable and my feet got sweaty," he added. Another experiment where men were given heels had the response that the heel feels like it will snap, walking across grass is dangerous as the heel digs into the ground and when walking they have to stay in a bad posture. The are unable to see how women could stand wearing them whilst doing things like running or climbing stairs.
The movement is trying to get laws in place to ban companies from requiring women to wear high heels. The movement has gained support worldwide from areas such as Canada, the UK and the US. Women on the red carpet are walking barefoot to protest the flat shoe ban. "It has become really obvious that if (a man and I) were walking the red carpet together and someone stopped me and said, 'Excuse me, young lady, you're not wearing heels. You cannot come in.' Then (I'm going to say), 'Neither is my friend. Does he have to wear heels?'"- Kristen Stewart. In the UK there are also companies that require women to wear high heels whilst doing things like climbing ladders, this is very dangerous and yet it happens frequently all over the world.
Sexism in Japan is a massive problem, and having women forced to wear footwear men do not have to is seen as sexist and discriminatory. Disallowing this 'descrimination' could help Japan become a more equal society.
The reason for the ban not being in place is, according to the Health Minister of Japan, "I think it's within the range of what's commonly accepted as necessary and appropriate in the workplace," I think that this point is reasonable, because if someone wore shoes like trainers to a meeting with another company, the other company could perceive that as a lack of care for the latter companies image, this would have them believe that the company of the woman wearing the shoes is extremely unprofessional, thus they may feel disinclined to work with the other company. Dress codes for women to wear high heels exist all around the world, including in scotland, and as long as the employer has a reasonable reason to have said dress code, it is perfectly legal. "A dress code can often be used by employers to ensure workers are safe and dressed appropriately. ... Any dress code should be non-discriminatory and should apply to both men and women equally. Standards can be different, for example a policy may state 'business dress' for women but may state for men 'must wear a tie'." - extract from https://www.acas.org.uk/dresscode
Society as a whole judges people for what they wear; children have to wear school uniforms, office men have to wear suits, office women have to wear heels and elderly have to wear flat caps. Although this stigma could seems stupid depending on your outlook, there is no way to change the fact that people judge others by what they wear, thus apathy towards the dress code of a company will generate opinons of unprofessionality about said company, wether or not this is a good thing.
Additionally men in offices have to wear dark suits and ties, these can cause a lot of problems during hot weather, which is common in Japan. However women are allowed to wear lighter clothes that do not absorb as much heat. There are other occupations where people (men and women) have to wear uncomfortable shoes, I.e construction or the military. Heavy work boots cause blisters and sore legs easily (I have experienced this).
Furthermore, some women have defended the custom of wearing high heels and "don't see it to be a big deal." This shows that the hatred of high heels is not unanimous among women, so there needs to be more said about the argument before a true consensus can be found. Also, men have large biological differences from women, thus men trying on womens high heels was not a very scientific study, however it can provide a slight insight into the troubles of wearing this.
The campaign is still ongoing, however my consensus is that, I don't find myself leaning to either side, as I am not a woman i do not understand how bad high heels can be, however I do find that when I think of office attire that is appropriate, I would think of a suit and tie for men, and a skirt and heels for women. I also think that during certain circumstances, such as meeting others from outside the company, that high heels are necessary, however during casual work hours, more comfortable shoes should be allowed. This would be a happy medium as it conforms to allowing women to wear safer, more comfortable shoes, while also keeping it professional when needed.
Cody Word count: 1000
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/japan-high-heels-women-kutoo-movement-companies-corporate-rules-female-employees/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/03/women-in-japan-protest-against-having-to-wear-high-heels-to-work-kutoo-yumi-ishikawa
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-women-high-heels/kutoo-no-more-japanese-women-take-stand-against-high-heels-idUSKCN1T50G5
High heels health issues http://www.thespinehealthinstitute.com/news-room/health-blog/how-high-heels-affect-your-body,
