Recently, when the yakiniku chain restaurant “Gyukaku” decided to offer a “half-price for women” campaign, albeit with conditions, for a limited time, the restaurant came under fire for “Discrimination against men! The campaign was criticized and went up in flames. Until now, there has not been much fuss about preferential services for women, such as ladies’ day.
Recently, however, an increasing number of restaurants have dropped ladies’ day and are treating men and women equally in the true sense of the word. In the midst of all this, a firestorm has broken out when sexist service is about to take place.
This is evident from the following online article.
- Men are angry…? Why are there so many flames of “No!” to “too much” gender equality?[Japanese] (2024.9.2 LASISA Editorial Division)
- Gyukaku’s “half-price for women” campaign is “sexist”? Why men criticized it one after another?[Japanese] (2024.9.1 LASISA Editorial Division)
- Gyukaku’s “half-price sale for women” has caused a huge firestorm… “too lousy defensive arguments” by those who claim that it is “not discrimination against men” and “backhandedness of non-motivated people”.[Japanese] (2024.9.6 by Kei Mitatera)
- Gyukaku’s “half price because you’re a woman” no longer works… “Restaurants loved by female customers” are using a more effective method than “women only” -Although there are many voices defending Gyukaku on SNS…[Japanese] (2024.9.4 by Mamoru Nishiyama)
Today, it is commonplace for women to enter the workforce, and it is no longer unusual for women to enter formerly male-only workplaces. In other words, more and more women are becoming independent. Since gender equality in employment opportunities was introduced in the 1990s, more and more women have been able to advance their careers.
Of course, there is a disadvantage due to physiological phenomena, so it is necessary to favor women in this respect. However, as a result of excessive assertion of rights by some misguided women, excessive preferential treatment of women has become prominent. As a result, men gradually came to be oppressed by women in Japanese society.
As a result, it is only natural that the strange perception of Japanese society that women are weak and should be pampered, and men are strong and should be patient, takes root. I had been feeling frustrated by the fact that women’s suffering was being over-reported, while men’s suffering was being under-reported. The phenomenon of “women being overly pampered and men being overly trampled on” is occurring. When it comes to this point, even men cannot accept it.
And the preferential treatment of women at Gyukaku led to the explosion of male dissatisfaction, and that’s how the incident happened. If women don’t like it, men don’t like it either. It was just that it was strange that only men had to put up with it until now, and it has only now become a normal movement.
I think that the obvious thing of treating people as human beings regardless of gender is finally starting to be realized. And if we are going to give preferential treatment based on gender, shouldn’t we carefully consider whether it is really necessary and appropriate based on social systems?
This is not a matter of “thinking” or “feeling” in a naïve and naïve way. It is not too much to assert, but rather too little to say. This is “the fact”, “the reality” and “the truth”. It’s not a matter of good or bad, it’s nothing more than a golden rule that can’t be described in any other way and has absolutely no room for doubt.