Is unlimited pornography justified?
(Weekly Friday, March 30, 2012 issue)
A battle is underway between a publisher and a civic group over the republication of the popular series "Yorimichi Pan! Se," which has sold over 1.8 million copies.
The "Yorimichi Pan! Se" series was first published by Rironsha in 2004. The stories, which explain social phenomena, philosophy, and everyday events in an easy-to-understand way for children and adults alike, became popular, and a total of 56 books have been published.
However, Rironsha filed for civil rehabilitation in October 2010, effectively going bankrupt. In January 2011, it became a subsidiary of Japan BS Broadcasting. In order to ensure stable publication, the "Yorimichi Pan! Se" series was transferred to East Press Co., Ltd. in 2011 along with its planning editor, and the series was gradually republished.
However, in response to the fourth series of the novel "Hito wa Mina, Hadaka ni Naru" written by Baksheesh Yamashita, women's groups and others called for the book to be recalled and taken out of print.
The problem was the career of Baksheesh Yamashita. Baksheesh made his debut as an adult video director in 1990. He became famous for his documentary-style series "Johan" in which he humiliated the women he appeared in, showering them with all sorts of insults, stripping them to their core, gang-raping them, beating and kicking them, and showing their reactions as the "truth." This method of violent pornography was later passed on to other adult video directors, and became the catalyst for an escalation in the trend of filming brutal footage. Some violent pornography producers have been sued by the women who appeared in them and received prison sentences (as reported in the February 18, 2005 issue of this magazine).
In 2008, women's groups and others launched a petition campaign calling for the former Rironsha to recall and discontinue printing the book, claiming that they could not give children a book written by someone whose work promotes sexual violence. On December 17th of that year, a protest was held at the former Rironsha with about 10,000 signatures. However, the former Rironsha responded that they "proudly published a good book," citing freedom of publication and expression, and the talks were at a stalemate.
Since East Press, which took over the "Yorimichi Pan! Se" series after the bankruptcy of the former Rironsha, is currently planning to republish the entire series, the "Society for Considering Pornography Victims and Sexual Violence" once again requested East Press CEO Shigeru Kobayashi to postpone the republishing of the book on January 30th of this year. However, East Press promptly rejected the request, giving the following reason in a subsequent written response:
"I don't think there is any social significance in helping young people understand adult films and the sex-related industry. Your organization's actions are the methods of Nazism and the state. In Japan, the freedom to publish any publication, regardless of who it is, is a fundamental human right."
However, East Press's response shows no understanding of the risk of children inadvertently coming into contact with sexually cruel and human rights-violating images that the author did not include in the book. There are also statements in the book that are far removed from the reality of Bakhshi's work, such as "I want to film the 'normal' feelings of people who have 'normal' sex." In addition, the cover of the old Rironsha edition reads in capital letters, "Curiosity is enough," which not only easily piques the interest of young people, but also explains the process of filming pornography in a humorous way, which may give young people a wrong understanding of pornography.
Hiroshi Nakasatomi (Associate Professor at Fukushima University), an expert on pornographic expression, had this to say about the case:
"It should be understood that the book poses specific risks infringing on children's right to the development of sexual dignity. It is unreasonable to equate citizens who criticize it with 'Nazis.' Citizens' criticism is an exercise of freedom of expression that should be respected."
In the UK, a law was enacted in 2008 that defines "extreme pornography" and lists specific examples of content that is "unpleasant" or "explicit" to readers or viewers. Can publication be justified by simply citing freedom of expression, while ignoring the danger of suddenly exposing children to sexually violent information without any preconditions?
(Setsuko Miyamoto, Association for the Study of Pornography Victims and Sexual Violence)