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Japanese artist Megumi Igarashi, who is also known as Rokudenashiko, is finally standing trial for obscenity charges in Tokyo. If the name doesn't ring a bell, her alleged crime probably will. Igarashi is best known as the artist who created a kayak modeled after her vagina, and was arrested for e-mailing out a digital model of her genitalia to supporters of her crowd-funded project.
While Igarashi was released just days after her initial arrest in July of last year, she was arrested again back in December. Now, the artist is defending herself against the charges in court. "I do not dispute the facts [of the charge], but my artwork is not obscene," she said, The Guardian reports. "Even if it were constitutional, the defendant’s work is not a precise reproduction of the vulva and does not cause sexual arousal," Igarashi's defense lawyer told the court.
If Igarashi loses the case, she can face up to two years in prison and a fine of 2.5 million yen, or approximately $21,000.
The case has sparked worldwide debate about double-standards between the treatment of male and female genitalia in Japan. "I don't get how a country chiefly famous for superior technology, and let's call it 'creative sexuality,' has seen the perfect combination of those two talents and decided, 'No, that's too far,'" Jon Stewart pointed out around the time of her first arrest.
Igarashi said she will take her case all the way to the Supreme court if she needs to. Here's to hoping she is freed before that, though.