In Japan, 'calf hair harassment' exposes gender-based appearance conflicts between women and men

Soaring summer temperatures have prompted the Tokyo metropolitan government to launch a campaign promoting a more relaxed dress code at the office. However, some Japanese women, who say they cannot stand the sight of body hair, have denounced what they call visual 'harassment.'

Soaring summer temperatures have prompted the Tokyo metropolitan government to launch a campaign promoting a more relaxed dress code at the office. However, some Japanese women, who say they cannot stand the sight of body hair, have denounced what they call visual 'harassment.'

Statistics and budgets do not reflect whether the state’s interventions are fit for purpose and effective.

"Stay together." That was the advice we were given as we stepped off our minibus and boarded a local bus instead - the kind that locals would recognize, not the kind that would draw attention - to reach Redes da Maré's office in Complexo da Maré, a favela in Rio de Janeiro. On the surface, Maré looked like any other bu