You know that dream of yours to have a boat shaped like a vagina? Well, thanks to Japanese obscenity laws, your dreams may never come true.
Toyko-based artist Megumi Igarashi (aka Rokudenashiko) was arrested for sharing 3D models of her vagina, scans that were made as a part of a crowdfunded vagina-shaped kayak project. According to Styleite, the project was started because Igarashi felt that "lady parts didn’t get much airtime in movies. Her intent was to make vaginas more acceptable and to call out our ignorance about the female body."
The project was funded 194%, giving Igarashi 1 million yen to make her one-woman watercraft a reality. As a thank you, Igarashi sent the file to 30 of her supporters and that's when she was arrested. "I wanted to make p**** more casual and pop. That's how I came to make a p**** lampshade, a remote-controlled p**** car, a p**** accessory, a p**** smartphone case, and so on," the artist says on her website. She argues that there is nothing obscene about her art, and a change.org petition has been started to have her immediately released from custody.
UPDATE JULY 21 12:32 P.M. ET: Igarashi was released from jail Friday following her arrest on obscenity charges, reports The Guardian. It's unclear if the artist will face criminal charges, but if convicted, she is facing up to two years in jail or a fine of 2.5m yen. The case has sparked a debate over Japan's censorship laws, a country that has a thriving pornography industry yet still considers the depiction of genitalia illegal. Also, while Igarashi's vagina kayak landed her in jail, all these penis-shaped toys are roaming free on the streets.
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[via Styleite]
