The Japanese Experience
Historically, pornography has been much more acceptable in Japan than it has been in the US. There has been an age-old tradition whereby obscene graffiti has been drawn on new buildings to express the artist's sexual desires (Diamond and Uchiyama 1999). Therefore, it could be argued that the line of acceptability of pornography was set very high in Japan. Interestingly, pornographic images in this country might have sprung from fertility worship. Various religions in Japan through the centuries have featured icons of fertility to be worshipped and reverenced. By Western standards, many of these so-called religious depictions of fertility would be considered pornographic. One could conclude from this that religions in Japan did not do their part in stifling the growth of pornography (Gluck 1985). In fact, it is actually a traditional part of Japanese culture to both venerate and celebrate erotic and fertility themes. Yearly festivals are still organized around these themes. However, in the 19th-century the Japanese began to modify these practices somewhat, due largely to Western influence in Japan, and particularly having to do with Western attitudes towards sex and pornography. In order to gain respect from the West, the Japanese government of the Meiji era attempted to modify the attitudes of its people toward sex and pornography by promoting "nudity and mixed bathing" instead of more outward displays of sexuality (Diamond and Uchiyama 1999). Nevertheless, more liberal attitudes in terms of sexuality quickly spread throughout Japan. It is widely known that Japan for centuries has been a male dominated culture. Typical in this kind of culture women are generally thought of as objects or commodities rather than as human beings. Nevertheless, in 1910, the Ministry of Education created the "1911 Committee on Literature" to control written materials in literature that might be considered offensive (Kanemitsu 1998). Moving ahead...