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NEWS: Manga Artist Megumi Igarashi Appears in Court on Obscenity Charges

I just wonder how many people of influence have the courage to stand up and do the right thing here.

I was thinking the same thing. We have the CBLDF and a deeply progressive entertainment industry that can at times challenge outdated notions of societal norms (for example, Disney being more inclusive to homosexuality despite sporadic uproar that it may spark amongst certain segments of the population), but I wonder if there's a Japanese analogue to any of this?

When you think of Japanese society, the unwavering dedication to not being a standing nail comes to mind first and foremost, which doesn't seem conducive to great strides of social progression. There just doesn't appear to be a lot of courage arising from Japan that we're seeing here.

Anyone have a link to the vagina art? ANN is always awful with never putting links in with their news stories.

"Japanese artist arrested for sharing 3-D printable data of her vagina"

• Igarashi originally gained attention for her art incorporating vagina motifs (which she calls “dekoman”; a portmanteau of the words “decoration” and manko ["vagina"]). As she explains in the below video, Japanese people rarely use the actual word for “vagina” in conversation–instead, they usually refer to it as asoko, which means something like “down there.”
  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lCcm0--hzg

^^^

So, you're okay with nudists walking around in for all to see?

So, you're okay with people with exposed skin walking around in for all to see?

Second, growth of the ideas of faithfulness to one's spouse spurred the behavior of only having intercourse with your soul mate, leading to the shamefulness of exposing your genitals to people other than your loved one.

joshjoshlol wrote:

I was thinking the same thing. We have the CBLDF and a deeply progressive entertainment industry that can at times challenge outdated notions of societal norms (for example, Disney being more inclusive to homosexuality despite sporadic uproar that it may spark amongst certain segments of the population), but I wonder if there's a Japanese analogue to any of this? When you think of Japanese society, the unwavering dedication to not being a standing nail comes to mind first and foremost, which doesn't seem conducive to great strides of social progression. There just doesn't appear to be a lot of courage arising from Japan that we're seeing here.

I find it extremely interesting that you would claim the American entertainment is more "progressive" than Japan's.

Though overall, I find the comparison of social progress to vagina boats a bit of a false equivalency. Obscenity laws have nothing to do with social progress like homosexual representation.

MaxSouth wrote:

There is nothing obscene in human body (or sex). Those fake hypocritical morals are insult to humanity, what actually obscene is those stupid laws.

I think you are being a little bit extreme calling the laws an "insult". There are many reasons why and how genitals became an obscene part of the body, and it stretches to the earliest humans. First, with the invention of clothing, body parts naturally became covered with comfortable cloths that offer warmth and small protection. Second, growth of the ideas of faithfulness to one's spouse spurred the behavior of only having intercourse with your soul mate, leading to the shamefulness of exposing your genitals to people other than your loved one. There are other reasons as well such as peer pressure and protection. Imagine how easy it would be for a rapist to rape someone if the woman were walking around with their vagina open. Sometimes it not the cultural aspect, but rather all the other factors that contributed to this. There may not be anything obscene in the human body, but that still doesn't mean you get to walk around flashing your junk at people.

This is the most ridiculous thing I've read in ages on ANN. As if rape is more difficult when a woman or man wears underwear.

The idea of obscenity of genitals isn't based upon exposure to elements or failthfulness. It's a Western cultural construct based upon the the Old Testament, and represents Adam and Eve's shame in the garden of Eden. It's the Original Sin. And all of this crap stems from those religions who use the early books of the Bible like Genesis, sticking their noses into other cultures while screwing up the heads of everyone in their own by insisting our natural bodies are somehow inherently evil.

Tomino was forbidden multiple times to have a female Gundma pilot lead for example and while animes were good with female characters in the second half of the 90s till a few years ago i find it that we have regressed there in the last few years.

Yeah, Japan's been ahead of the curve on strong female leads and female representation among creators since the 60s. Maybe not so much on the latter point in terms of anime production until recently, but definitely in manga. The obscenity law is just a dumb holdover from 1907 that mattered to the Empire of Japan and should be forgotten today but yet they keep it well enforced for absolutely no reason despite knowing that JAVs and ecchi material are such a powerful business.

Most female characters nowadays are object to market out and not be capable in sense of story or equal strength compared to the males leads. Just look at the recent One Piece stuff Or "dvd specials The women are now fan service only and only get to fight other women in most battle manga/anime. Just look at this years Gangst. Great male leads. Check.[ The Female lead is a prostitute who is naked a lot. Check. Shikata ga nai is the root of all of japans problems.

American (non independent of course) comics have failed at female characters till the 90s where things changed big time thanks to the women in refrigerators blog and we are now getting big budget female superhero movies/tv shows in the coming future. Finally.