Vagina art deemed ok, digital data is obscene
Print Edition
A Tokyo court ruled yesterday that vagina-shaped objects created by a Japanese artist qualify as art, but found her guilty of obscenity for distributing digital data that could be used to make a three-dimensional recreation of her genitalia.
Tokyo District Court ordered Megumi Igarashi, also known as Rokudenashiko, or good-for-nothing girl, to pay a 400,000 yen (US$3,700) fine for distributing the data.
The court said a set of three plaster figures in the shape of her vagina, decorated and painted in bright colors, did not look like skin or immediately suggest female genitalia and therefore were not obscene.
However, the judges said the data, from a scan of her own vagina, could be used with a three-dimensional printer to create a realistic shape that could sexually arouse viewers.
Igarashi welcomed the court’s description of her work as “pop art,” but appealed the ruling, saying its decision on the data was unacceptable.
The vagina figures were on display at a sex shop in Tokyo but were not for sale, according to Mayuko Nakamori, one of Igarashi’s defense lawyers.
Igarashi, who is also known for creating a vagina-shaped kayak, distributed computer discs containing the data as gifts to people who helped raise funds for the kayak project, her lawyers said.
Igarashi has also sold tiny bright pink vagina dolls with frilly decorations and other related goods. She says she initially chose the subject matter because of her personal interest, rather than as a statement about women’s rights.
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