It really does pay to know your rights.

Sadly, it’s not such an uncommon story: You meet someone on a dating app, hit it off, and get into a romantic relationship with them. However, as time goes on, you notice some suspicious behavior, until it’s revealed that your partner had actually been married the whole time and was cheating on their spouse with you.

Normally, this would result in a broken heart and a once-bitten-twice-shy attitude, leaving little else to do but pick up the pieces and move on. But, did you know that in Japan, the law has your back in these situations, and you might even be entitled to financial compensation for the betrayal?

On 8 December, the Tokyo District Court ruled in favor of a woman who was deceived by a man she was in a sexual relationship with and ordered the man to pay 1.51 million yen (US$9,700). According to the ruling, by not revealing that he was married with children at the time, he had violated her “right to chastity.”

The right to chastity (teisoken) doesn’t specifically relate to one’s virginity or abstinence. It could be more accurately called a “right to sexual self-determination,” in that everyone has the right to make their own informed choice when engaging in consensual sex. In the eyes of Japanese law, lying to someone in order to convince them to have consensual sex with you invalidates the consent.

However, the law stops short of calling that “nonconsensual sex” or “rape” because there was no physical or mental coercion, such as intoxication, threats, or abuse of authority. Since the woman in this case did freely agree to sex while of sound mind but was misled about the details of the situation, this is treated as a civil case rather than a criminal one.

▼ The main characters of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days could have resulted in an interesting countersuit with each other had it ended differently, and in Japan.

In this particular case, the woman met the man on a dating app and entered into a four-month sexual relationship with him. He then suddenly cut off all contact with her, which led her to hire a private investigator, who later uncovered the man’s secret family. The smoking gun that led to the court ruling in her favor was that her dating app profile specifically said she was not interesting in dating married men. The man must have seen that, but proceeded to get involved with her anyway, implicating himself with malicious intent.

The lawsuit was originally for 7.82 million yen, but the upper limit for violating someone’s right to chastity is usually around 3 million. Likely, additional penalties for things like mental anguish were added, but the awarded compensation of 1.51 million yen was likely decided on by the length of the relationship and lack of other complicating factors, such as a pregnancy.

Response to the verdict online was a mixed bag, but many were surprised that a right to chastity was even a thing.

“1.51 million wouldn’t even cover the cost of the private detectives.”
“Dating apps are crawling with unethical men.”
“I would never date a guy who uses a dating app.”
“I feel like chastity would be worth more than that.”
“I’m starting to think you really shouldn’t have sex until you’re married.”
“I studied law in college, but this is the first I’ve heard of a right to chastity.”
“But lying about being a virgin is acceptable?”
“If a woman lies about her age, can I take her to court?”

To answer both of those last questions, with regard to the right to chastity, it is not acceptable to lie about virginity, age, financial status, or anything else in order to influence another person’s decision whether to engage in sex. They’ll all have varying degrees of difficulty to prove in court, however.

The woman in this case is particularly focused on the issue of lying about marital status and has even started the Association of False Single Status Victims (Dokushin Giso Higaisha no Kai) to both raise awareness of everyone’s rights to chastity and push for stricter laws, including criminal penalties for those who do lie.

After reading this news, a lot of people were critical of dating apps, but one benefit of them is that they provide records which can be used in a court of law. Also, while it won’t turn back the clock or take away what happened, it’s still nice to know that an avenue for compensation does exist in Japan for those who are wronged in relationships.

Related: Association of False Single Status Victims official Twitter account
Source: Yomiuri Shimbun Online, Mainichi Shimbun, Itai News, Association of False Single Status Victims (link tree), Adire Law Offices, Top Court International Law Firm, Rikon no Katachi
Top image: Pakutaso
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