VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN | ASIA | ADVOCACY & POLICY | CULTURE
Under the Surface: The Hidden Reality of Rape in Japan, Part II
WORDS BY RICCARDO CHIARAMONDIA | R.CHIARA@THEIWI.ORG | 16 SEPTEMBER 2024
Under the Surface: The Hidden Reality of Rape in Japan, Part I
The previous article analyzed the situation inherent in rape in Japan through legislative shortcomings, and offered an in-depth reading of national statistics, and the example offered by Itō Shiori's Black Box. The present article investigates the role of Japan's porn industry in more detail.
What is porn?
This question - necessary as a starting point for this reflection - is often ignored and answers to it are often based on subjectivity and empiricism. In a previous paper, entirely focused on pornography, I took several definitions into analysis and after eliminating moral connotations such as that of “obscenity”, I concluded that pornography is the explicit depiction of a sexual act, aimed only at economic intent, without artistic intention, in which the viewer is stimulated by the eroticism of others through the illusion of participation. It remains a definition that is not always valid - especially on artistic intent - but close to reality and useful in delimiting the perimeter of pornography in the age of the Internet.
Finally, it must be emphasized that the pornographic market is not only composed of videos and films but is much broader including video games, books, manga and, generalizing, every creative form.
Pornography and rape myths
In Japan, the depiction of sexual harassment and sexual violence in consumer products is widespread and often normalized or institutionalized. One example is Kumamon, the mascot bear of Kumamoto prefecture featured in many highly circulated advertisement videos: characterized as a business manager, he is often depicted in the act of lifting skirts, physically harassing women, or attempting to undress them(i). Sexual violence, moreover, is depicted as entertainment. For instance, the case of RapeLay, a video game released in 2006 by Illusion Soft, a production company specializing in erotic video games, where the player must impersonate the male protagonist with the goal of repeatedly stalking and raping a woman and her two daughters, depicted as school-age. The video game, narratively not representing an anomaly, circulated in the Japanese market for a few years without causing a stir(ii). In 2009, the game also became available in the United Kingdom, where it sparked numerous protests that quickly led to its prohibition on the international market and heavy pressure on Japan to change its laws on the production of similar material. The international pressure led to some changes in the regulation of rape-themed games, although - based primarily on a system of self-regulation by the producers - it did not represent a real breakthrough and awareness of the problem, so much as a way around it(iii).
In a market saturated with violent and rape-related material, one can expect pornographic videos and films to follow this trend as well. This is confirmed both by Abramson and Hayashi (iv) who identify rape as one of the most common narrative strategies in Japanese pornography that spread after World War II, and by Ohbuchi who, in his studies on rape myths, identifies three different types of pornography “(1) Consenting sex [...] (2) Negative rape: a woman who was raped expressed only pain. (3) Positive rape: a woman who was raped finally expressed pleasure(v).”
The question then is, what are the effects of these products on viewers? Much research has been done on the possible harmful effects of pornography, often with ideological biases and questionable aims and without consistent results. This could be due to the impossibility of categorizing pornography as a compact and homogeneous element or the error of trying to find the cause of deviance in the depiction of sex and not in the underlying economic-productive system or its use. However, some studies such as Ohbuchi's, although limited to a specific topic, in this case the influence of pornography focused on sexual violence on rape myths in a group of 73 male students, offer insight into the effects of pornography. The experiment was carried out in two phases: in the first, a questionnaire was administered to assess the presence of rape myths in the participants and their rape proclivity; in the second, each participant was shown a porn film belonging to one of the three categories previously listed and a second questionnaire was administered. The questions concerned acceptance of sexual violence, victim's responsibility, desire for being raped and invention of rape cases. The results showed that in the group of students exposed to the “positive rape” category, the beliefs that women invent rape cases and that they enjoy being raped increased, while in the other cases they remained unchanged. Ohbuchi noted, finally, that these variations are not substantially influenced by prior rape proclivity. The main limitation of this study is that it was carried out in 1994, but with an approximation related to changes in the social environment over the past thirty years, it is still possible to consider the analysis and its results since it is based on a reliable scientific method and recognizes the correlation.
Pornography and Rape
The precarious legislative situation regarding rape analyzed in the previous article and the use of sexual violence as the central theme of many pornographic products underlie a widespread lack of consideration and respect for women. It is therefore necessary to ask what are the working conditions of actresses in this industry. To answer this, however, one must first frame the size of the market to understand its impact: in 2016 it was estimated that Japan's average annual production of pornographic titles was 20,000 for a turnover of about $4.4 billion, without taking into account a large illegal market whose extent is impossible to calculate(vi). In the face of this vast production until 2022 with the enactment of The Adult Video Appearance Damage Prevention and Relief Bill there were no specific regulations for the pornographic market. As highlighted by Human Rights Now and Lighthouse reports, the recruitment process of young actresses in many cases was the result of deception: contracts were offered by agents who promised them an entrance to the world of fashion or television. Instead, the contracts contained clauses to produce pornographic material and its dissemination on the Internet. The psychological pressure exerted on the victims, moreover, left no freedom to object(vii). In a country where, as seen in the previous article, demonstrating one's dissent to the sexual violence suffered is so difficult, the presence of a signed contract is often a condemnation. Despite a few arrests in 2016 of high-ranking officials of fashion agencies involved in this human trafficking and a token apology from representatives of some pornographic production companies involved, nothing changed until 2022 with the enactment of the aforementioned law. It introduces regulation of the timeframe that must elapse from the signing of the contract and the making of the first video and its release, the possibility of termination of the contract by the actress, and penalties of up to three years in prison for those who submit fictitious contracts(viii). Although this represents a step forward, one has to wonder how these laws can be enforced within an industry that remains by size and existence an illegal market that is highly difficult to regulate.
i.Xilun Pang, H., & Tomlinson, M. K. (2023). The trivialization of sexual harassment in Japanese mascot culture: Japanese audience responses to YouTube videos of Kumamon. Feminist Media Studies, 23(7), 3533-3549
ii.DeWinter, J. (2015). Regulating rape: The case of RapeLay, domestic markets, international outrage, and cultural imperialism. In Video Game Policy (pp. 244-258). Routledge
iii.Hiroshi, N. (2012). ‘Rapelay’and the problem of legal reform in Japan. electronic journal of contemporary japanese studies.
iv.Abramson, P. R., & Hayashi, H. (1984). Pornography in Japan: Cross-cultural and theoretical considerations. In Pornography and sexual aggression (pp. 173-183). Academic Press.
v.Ohbuchi, K. I., Ikeda, T., & Takeuchi, G. (1994). Effects of violent pornography upon viewer's rape myth beliefs: A study of Japanese males. Psychology, Crime and Law, 1(1), 71-81.
vi.Human Rights Now (2016). Japan: Coerced filming of Adult Pornographic videos. Human Rights Violations against Women and Girls Manifesting from the Adult Pornographic Film Industry in Japan. Retrieved from https://hrn.or.jp/eng/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/ReportonAVindustry-20160303-tentative-translation.pdf
vii.Human Rights Now, Nonconsensual Pornography, 2023 Retrieved from https://hrn.or.jp/eng/womens-rights/nonconsensual-pornography/
viii.Udagawa, H. (2022, June 16). Fighting a 'hellish situation': Japan's new law to stop adult video exploitation praised. The Mainichi