A Sex Tourist's "Made Up" Defense

by Angela Longerbeam · 2010-09-03 09:09:00 UTC
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What’s a tourist to do when accused of repeatedly buying a 13-year-old for sex? Why, “make up” an excuse, of course. Forty-year-old Atsushi Kato of Japan is in court for purchasing a young girl several times in a Cambodian brothel. But because the girl was wearing makeup, he says, he really had no idea she was a child. The makeup made her look 18, at least.

Arrested in September 2009 after visiting the rehabilitation center where the girl was then staying, Kato is now being charged for human trafficking and sexual exploitation, with 7 to 15 years of prison time in his future if found guilty. Additionally, he would owe the victim herself $6,000 and face deportation after serving his sentence.

Aside from the sheer stupidity of visiting the rehabilitation center and falling straight into the hands of law enforcement, Kato’s makeup defense is super-lame – and all too easy. “I thought that the girl’s age must be 18,” he told the court, “because she wore cute makeup at nighttime, and she agreed to have to have sex with me voluntarily without forcing.” I suppose cosmetics companies will have us believe their products are truly magical in their transformative powers, but making a 13-year-old appear unequivocally 18? Doubtful. Do child beauty pageant contestants look older, or just plain creepy?

Better question: Do sex tourists generally mull the ethics of purchasing a girl who is either over or under age 18? Do they visit a brothel and back out of the transaction once a child appears?

As for the girl having sex “voluntarily without forcing,” again one has to wonder how much water this argument really holds. In a brothel, if a girl struggles, there are often seriously negative consequences for causing trouble, in the form of physical punishment and increased debt to the brothel owner. Lack of resistance might be the only way to make internment less unbearable.

The outcome of this case, while yet to be determined, will speak to whether it’s okay for sex tourists to fabricate the excuse that they didn’t know how old the girl was, and should therefore be given a free pass. In my book, that’s about as sad as a rapist arguing consent where there was none. And if sex tourists can play that card and win, then we have to ask ourselves who we are actually protecting.

Photo credit: pumpkincat210

Angela Longerbeam is a freelance writer and pop culture addict fighting to end modern-day slavery with an MFA degree and irrepressible snark.
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