Collectivizing trauma: everyday experiences, empathy, and grassroots activism in Japan’s Flower Demonstration against sexual violence

Abstract

ABSTRACT The Flower Demonstration is an anti-sexual violence movement launched in Japan on Twitter, 2019. By October 2023, the movement has established 67 local branches across Japan and sustained its monthly demonstrations for over four years, contributing to a landmark reform of Japan’s sex crime laws in June 2023. Based on participant observations, semi-structured interviews, and media analysis, this research explores how the Flower Demo expands and sustains to challenge Japan’s prevailing victim-blaming culture and politics. It finds that demonstrations in smaller, less visible communities feature safe expression of personal traumas (my pain), which are integrated and transformed into a collective trauma identity (our pain) through social media and in-person interactions with demonstrations held in symbolic and resourceful larger cities. Social change is then fostered through a nationwide grassroots network that engages directly with the broader society by establishing safe alternative spaces, which can be activated to challenge the male-centric institutional framework when it trivializes sexual violence. Although participants hold varying expectations for the Flower Demo, their common goal centers around trauma healing. This resonates with the vision of Tarana Burke, the initiator of MeToo, who advocates for anti-sexual-violence movements to prioritize empathetic connections and mutual care.