A Japanese woman faces jail for helping women build their own “p***y boat”.
A Japanese woman known as the ‘Vagina Artist’ was arrested last year for building a kayak modelled on her, well, vagina.
Now, she’s facing two years in jail, because Japanese authorities claim the project is “obscene”.
Megumi Igarashi, who goes by the psuedonym Rokudenashiko, was charged after giving 30 other people the 3D printing code to build their own “p***y boat”
Rokudenashiko is famous for her efforts to break down Japanese taboos around female genitalia through her art.
“When I pronounce the word ‘vagina’ especially men get very angry with me,” she says. “By doing this I say that they should not take it that serious.”
The ‘offensive’ vagina kayak was her latest project. To create it, she took 3D scans of her vagina, and used them as the base design for a kayak.
Rokudenashiko funded the Vagina Kayak by raising $10,000 through Kickstarter, and that was how she got herself into trouble with Japan’s antiquated obscenity laws.
As a thank you to her donators, Rokudenashiko emailed each of them copies of the 3D scans she used to make the kayak, which led to her arrest for ‘distributing indecent material’. Ten police officers came to her apartment to take her away, and she faces up to two years in prison and a $25,000 fine.
“I am innocent because neither the data for female genitals nor my artworks shaped like female genitals are obscene,” she told Tokyo District Court.
Officially, Japanese law defines ‘obscenity’ as anything “that stimulates desire and violates an ordinary person’s sense of sexual shame and morality.”
Rokudenashiko’s lawyer, Takashi Yamaguchi, said the charges were outrageous.
“It is extremely outrageous that anybody can be arrested and forced to stand before judges because of making artworks or working as an artist,” he said.
Read more: Chloe Sevigny poses half naked with a lobster covering her vagina.
It is a sad, sad day when vaginas are legally categorised as violating an ordinary person’s sense of sexual shame and morality.
Rokudenashiko’s apartment was also cleared of all her other work, which includes various models and objects based on her vagina. They are whimsical and amazing (golf course vagina model, anyone?):
Here’s hoping Rokudenashiko is released without charge, so she can get back to proving that vaginas aren’t offensive.
And now, just because we are lucky enough to be able to without getting arrested, here’s a gallery of things that look like vaginas:
Top Comments
As far as I'm aware, Japan has taboos about both male and female genitalia. This, like so many things, is not a gender issue.
It might look like a VULVA but a vagina is the 'inny' bit not the outside bit, Common widespread error in the media, probably due to the word VAGINA being more headline-worthy.
Actually, you're just as wrong. The Vulva is only one part. You can also see the Labia, the clitoris and the clitoral hood. No one cares when someone uses vagina because it's a well known word used in a colloquial way.
Actually Iggy, the vulva is the name for the whole external area including the labia, clitoris, clitoral hood, vestibule and vaginal introitus. They are all parts of the vulva.
Wrong! The Vulva is NOT a 'part'. You are misinformed. The vulva is the name for the ENTIRE REGION down there, the SUM of the labia, clitoris, clitoral hood, vaginal entrance etc. Labia, vaginal entrance, clitoris et al are parts of the vulva. The vulva is what they are called, all together. And yes, most people care as the vagina is internal and cannot be seen, so its inaccurate and childish to call it a vagina when you (if) know better.