Prada in Japan: a story of sexual harrassment

November 17, 2013 7:10 PM

The sexual harrassment within the Prada company of fine clothing as translated into Japanese culture Fascinating article in Salon about a woman who worked for Prada in Japan and was discriminated again and then stigmatized. Her case, years later, has been taken up by the United Nations.
posted by DMelanogaster (12 comments total)

I am virtually speechless. Or whatever it is when you're typing.

I hope she wins a billion dollars from those fuckwits.

And WTF is this shit????:

[I was in the] private office of the female judge, with my four lawyers, and she screamed at me … She said, “If you don’t settle the case, I am going to make you lose, and you are going to have huge trouble financially and socially, because you have created so many problems in society.”

I will make you lose because you have created so many problems in society????

I mean really just WTF?

Counterexample number twelve million to cultural moral relativism...
posted by Fists O'Fury at 8:05 PM on November 17, 2013 [5 favorites]

I hadn't heard any of this; Prada's not exactly a huge part of my wardrobe but I really appreciate you sharing this. It was interesting and eye-opening.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 8:16 PM on November 17, 2013

Astoundingly poorly written article. Amazing woman, good on her for continuing to pursue this! If you found the writer's prose as difficult to parse as I did, there are a variety of other good articles out there. As loathe as I am to link to Jezebel, they have a quite decent one as well.
posted by stewiethegreat at 8:17 PM on November 17, 2013 [4 favorites]

Someday I am going to see an article about Japan not being sexist. At which point I will start looking for the zeppelins and goatees.
posted by happyroach at 12:00 AM on November 18, 2013 [2 favorites]

Astoundingly poorly written article.

The article is 3332 words long, and all but 213 of them are a transcribed and edited interview with Bovrisse. What did you find so objectionable?
posted by Ian A.T. at 1:08 AM on November 18, 2013 [2 favorites]

That whole process of "you're fired - you weren't fired - you have mental illness - why are you back at work - here's the resignation letter we agreed to" is some next-level super-evil crazy-making bullshit. Unreal.
posted by molecicco at 1:11 AM on November 18, 2013 [5 favorites]

What did you find so objectionable?

Part of why the byline says "Eidelson" rather than "Bovrisse" is a legitimate expectation that the writer will take a complicated story, including a detailed first-hand account from the primary person involved, and add the right words to help the readers understand the context, the situation, and ramifications without paging up and down the story scratching our heads.

Bovrisse's narrative inspires horror for me - the gaslighting by itself is a terrible thing.

Her story would have been (and has been) represented more effectively with a different author.
posted by stewiethegreat at 5:47 AM on November 18, 2013 [3 favorites]

I wish I could afford Prada so I could boycott it.

I know that's flip, but seriously, what a nasty abuse of power. If I had to go through everything Bovrisse did, I'm not sure I'd be functioning right now.
posted by Metroid Baby at 7:49 AM on November 18, 2013 [2 favorites]

The brazen quality of the lying, the relentless intimidation, and the complicity of the judicial system all make this look like organized crime.
posted by jamjam at 10:35 AM on November 18, 2013 [1 favorite]

Shared this article on Facebook, because a lot of women I'm friends with there are into fashion.
posted by luckynerd at 12:02 PM on November 18, 2013

I was never in any danger of blowing money on Prada, but hoo-boy, you'd think someone from New York would have put the kibosh on this nonsense.

Yeah, if I do come into money, I'm not spending it on Prada. Fie on them!
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 1:49 PM on November 18, 2013

[Prada] didn’t know how to increase sales, so they came up with this idea that if staff buys the bags or whatever, you can boost the sales … Whoever raised opposition with the management, they received a warning letter from human resources …
I'm still reading the article, but Prada Japan didn't come up with this winning idea. Toyota is known for pushing this policy anytime things get tough, but they sell cars! If you're a real team player, you will buy two cars.
posted by whatzit at 9:19 AM on November 19, 2013