Magazine says sorry for varsity sex listing in Japan

TOKYO: A Japanese tabloid magazine apologised for an article ranking women’s universities on how easy it is to convince students to have sex at drinking parties.

The list appeared in the Dec 25 issue of the weekly magazine Spa! and prompted outrage, particularly online where one woman launched a campaign seeking an apology and suspension of sales of the offending issue.

Her petition on the change.org platform accused the article of “sexualising, objectifying and disrespecting women” and had collected support from more than 28,000 people by yesterday.

“We would like to apologise for using sensational language to appeal to readers about how they can become intimate with women and for creating a ranking ... with real university names ... that resulted in a feature that may have offended readers,” the magazine’s editorial department said in a statement obtained by AFP.

The article was about a practice the magazine described as gyaranomi or drinking parties that male participants pay women to attend.

It said the parties are popular among female college students and interviewed the developer of an app intended to help men and women find potential attendees.

The magazine said its list was based on information from its interview with the developer.

“On issues that involve sex, we will do what we can as a magazine to listen to various opinions,” the statement said.