A Japanese artist created a kayak based on her vagina has been found guilty of breaking obscenity laws in the country.
Megumi Igarashi who works under the pseudonym Rodukenashiko, was first arrested in July 2014 after she made data available online that enabled people to create 3D prints of her vagina.
The data was made available for purchase to help the artist fund a project to create a 3d printed kayak of her genitalia, which she dubbed ‘the pussy boat’.
The Guardian report that the 44-year-old artist was fined 400,000 yen (about €3200) for distributing the 3D printing data online.
The judge in the case said that although the data was ‘inorganic’, it did realistically depict a vulva so it could ‘sexually arouse’ viewers.
She was. however, cleared of charges relating to her displaying plaster moulds of kayak she created in the shape of her genitalia at an adult store in Tokyo.
Igarashi has insisted her art is not obscene and she said she was trying to change Japan’s attitudes towards the female body.
“Because female genitalia are ‘overly hidden’ in Japanese society, I did not know what a pussy should look like.”
“I thought it was just funny to decorate my [moulded] pussy and make it a diorama”.
People have criticised Japan’s obscenity law in light of this case, considering the country’s thriving pornography industry.
Her case drew criticism of the apparent double standards in how Japanese law treats sexual imagery. The country has a thriving pornography industry, but its obscenity laws ban the depiction of genitalia, which usually appear pixelated in images and videos.
