Touch move

Japanese politicians have a scandalous way of recognizing the LGBTQ-plus community. Members of the Liberal Democratic Party’s youth division in the western city of Wakayama recently organized an event to promote diversity. Their good intention, however, backfired when Tetsuya Kawabata, deputy head of the local LDP youth wing, invited controversial guests to the gathering as entertainers.

Local media that reported the performance of the Osaka and Kyoto-based Glamor Dancers troupe said LDP members teased the women to use their mouths in taking banknotes dangling from the politicians’ lips.

The “go-go dancers” from nightclubs were the wrong choices for Kawabata, who was forced to resign because of the fiasco. Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also said the event did not “match the cabinet’s goal of diversity,” according to BBC.

“What my cabinet seeks is an inclusive society where all people feel the meaning of life with their dignity and diversity respected,” BBC quoted Kishida as telling local media.

Seemingly naughtier than sexist Japanese politicians is the artificial intelligence-powered humanoid of Saudi robotics firm QSS.

The robot named Mohammad was recently introduced at the DeepFest technology fair in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Built in the kingdom, Mohammad can speak two languages, and is “fully autonomous.” It operates “independently without direct human control,” according to the New York Post.

Journalist Rawya Kassem of Al Arabiya was reporting in front of the robot when its right hand moved, touching her behind. A video of the incident shows Kassem awkwardly annoyed by the unexpected intrusion.

Social media users who saw the video speculated about the robot’s motive as QSS explained that Mohammad was trying to signal to Kassem that she was unsafely close to the platform’s edge. One social media commenter said the robot was coded to be a creep, and another labeled it as a womanizer.