The Anti-State Blog

One of the key problems with government regulation is that it always has unintended consequences. So while a vehicle tax-credit may help many struggling business owners, it may increase the number of Hummers and other luxury vehicles on the road. There are many other examples, but I thought I would discuss an example that is a bit off the beaten path. Warning: this article gets a bit explicit.

Japan has for a long time prohibited the display of vulvas or penises. So even in Japanese pornography, the genitals have to be blurred. The idea is that the genitals are obscene and by prohibiting their display society is protected. But  Japanese pornography has come up with other things to replace the titillation that the ‘obscene’ genitals would otherwise provide. For example, Japanese porn is dominated by ‘chikan‘ pornography, in which unsuspecting women are molested, groped, and raped (although I should note that in all cases this is simulated; all women are consenting actresses). In one particularly outre form of pornography, bukkake, a bunch of men stand around a woman and masturbate until they reach orgasm and they cover the woman with their semen.

If this all sounds sick to you, then I agree with you. Much of Japanese pornography denigrates women and encourages illegal and obscene behavior. This is unlike most American or European porn which deals mostly with one on one sex. One could argue that the Japanese culture is different from Western culture, and that is true. But the extreme forms of pornography found in Japan are not found in other Asian cultures; even in Thailand and Hong Kong, where pornography flourishes, the most common form of pornography is simply sex between one man and one woman. By prohibiting the display of genitals, Japan has unwittingly encouraged abnormal sex acts, because the consumers of porn want to be titillated and aroused and more bizarre behavior is necessary to do that if the genitals cannot be shown.

So by attempting to prevent obscenity, the Japanese censors have encouraged even more obscenity. Not a very effective or useful policy, if you ask me.