Japanese artist goes on trial over "vagina selfies"

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Heh. “pudant”

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Has she ever made a manga, or are all Japanese artists considered manga artists? I didn’t see one on her site.

Interesting trivia: pudendum is from the Latin “that of which one should be ashamed.”

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So Florida is the US pundendum?

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Well, she did get to promote her work.

I wouldn’t buy any because I think it’s shit, but some may…if for no other reason but to support her legal defense.

The funny thing is, the ban on depictions of genitalia is a thing imposed on the Japanese by the American occupation after WW2. Before then, Japan had no such prohibition, and quite happily depicted (usually oversized) male and female genitalia in shunga prints.

And I should point out that the whole tentacle-rape meme in Japanese manga and anime arose specifically because Japanese artists couldn’t draw things that traditionally had been allowed subjects. Unintended consequences, yo.

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I just remembered this picture I took of a sculpture in Yokohama in 2007:

DSCN5887.jpg

I wonder if this artist can look forward to a visit from the Japanese sex police?

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The images are NSFW, but just Google “Japan penis festival”. There’s a bit of a double standard going on here.

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Or Google “Ososo Matsuri” to rethink that double-standard.

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Cool, but that makes the prosecution of this artist even harder to understand.

I think that the ritualistic/cultural background of the festivals makes it so that it’s protected. I believe that the utility of sex objects (fleshlight, dildo, etc) would make them ok for sale - and certain artistic works for personal possession have been deemed ok (Maplethorpe lawsuit).

Really, the issue is that it’s a law from 1907 that has just never been changed.

A person who distributes, sells or displays in public an obscene document, drawing or other objects shall be punished by imprisonment with work for not more than 2 years, a fine of not more than 2,500,000 yen or a petty fine. The same shall apply to a person who possesses the same for the purpose of sale.

The key being “distributes, sells or displays in public”. This is article 175 from the Japanese Penal Code.

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Not a lawyer, but isn’t “distributes, sells, displays” already conceded? She’s wearing a rainbow-colored model of herself around her neck in the video.

That leaves the issue: what’s obscene, anyway? Not unlike when James Joyce’s writings were banned in the US (not long ago).

I hope the liberality of the Japanese people doesn’t turn out to be a big disappointment. That Rokudenashiko didn’t quietly go away after her first rude encounter with the law shows both sides are up for a fight.

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I don’t even know where to start with this. I lost my shit totally at “pussy kayak”.

I found this woman’s work hilarious (the hole in one diorama is just perfect), inspired by an seemingly legit reason (so much banning on images of genitalia, she didn’t know what was normal- much like many men have no clue what size or shape a normal penis is, because why would you be looking at other ones unless you are gay mentality), but bordering on strange.

I think she really means well, she seems well minded enough that she’s not doing it purely for stunt sake- but that is in there. I think she’s just taking a theme to the max in the same way there is Hello Kitty branded everything. Very Japanese in the branding aspect, even visible through art, but coming across in a beating-a-dead horse (should I say beating a pussy kayak?) kind of way, the same way George Rodrigue kind of beat the Blue Dog horse to death in his art by only doing that, but in themes.

I don’t know if it’s because I’m a man, or I buy into social taboo at some level somehow, or I’m not prog-art enough, but I don’t find this particularly appealing as a theme. And I have no problem with the subject, but it just doesn’t do anything for me. The hole in one piece is well done though, quite clever.

The drawings made me howl. It seems the only thing she doesn’t want to make out of her vagina is a monologue!

And bonus- now I know a lot more, linguistically speaking, about the placement of the word for pussy, まんこ, aka まん中. And I mean that in a completely legitimate scholarly sense. I didn’t know the the kanji for middle was part of how it was written. I don’t know if it’s an ironic reading she chose, either, due to multiple puns possible, ie, the 1st part, man, then middle, ie: man in the middle, or even “mannaka”, which means right in the middle of something. It’s all quite funny.

And as for the word? Saying “manko” in japanese does equate to the useage of the word “pussy” in english (I do have a degree in Japanese language- I’m sure my teachers love me right now :blush:), but it’s more akin to saying “c*nt”. Even I censor that, it just sounds raw and filthy- which is how even my male Japanese friends reacted to hearing it. Japanese women find the term just as you saw in the video. The artist is correct- that word is very taboo in Japan to pretty much everyone. The more lewd people will actually choose the English word “pussy” in not so polite conversation over “manko”.

This is a subject with which I simulataneously have professional background to discuss, never thought I would discuss, and am embarassed and serious all at the same time with. But language, and how people interpret it, especially “taboo” words, are very important in our understanding in society.

I think this woman gets that, and says to hell with traditions and modesty. That- I like.

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Her vagina minecraft lanscapes should be able to slip by the censors anyway…

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Minecraft yields some pretty edgy art.

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Wait! So she’s the little man in the boat?

I’m so confused…

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Jail is insane.

It’s one of those things that if you are a bit prudish, then just say “Ick” and move along.

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No…

It’s not a kayak, it’s a cunoe.

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I don’t think 中 can be read as “ko”; jisho.org lists “ata.ru”, “uchi” and “naka” as the kunyomi and “chuu” as the sole onyomi.

I don’t think there’s a kanji for the term in question either; you might have more luck with more medical terminology but it’s hard to imagine that there would be an explicit kanji for such a colloquial term.

My best guess would be that most Japanese people would read まん中 as “mannaka” but it means “right in the middle”, with the joke being that because the first part is in hiragana (like the word manko) rather than written 真中, she is making an innuendo about the middle of her vulva, which is where she is sitting in the picture. I think the word you were thinking of was 田舎 (inaka)…

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