Police in Tokyo have arrested an artist after she distributed a digitized model of her vagina for it to be printed in 3D.
Megumi Igarashi sent the designs to 30 recipients to thank them for supporting her crowdfunded project she was working on to create a kayak model of her vagina (as you do).
The artist works under the pseudonym Rokudenashiko, which roughly translates as “good-for-nothing girl”.
However, the Tokyo Metropolitcan police clearly didn't think much of this as they decided to arrest the creative woman on the grounds of breaking Japanese obscenity laws.
According to the police the controversial artist, aged 42, received 1 million yen (£5700) in exchange for the scans although she denies this isn't the case, as she doesn't believe that the work is obscene.
Igarashi, posing with her very own kawaii (cute) mascot of her vagina
The artist already produces other items based on the look and design of female genitalia, such as T-shirts, dioramas, phone covers, toys and games, in a bid to make female genitalia more acceptable and less of a taboo in Japanese society.
In a programme about the designer back in January (below), she discussed why she wanted to get people to discuss vaginas more in Japan and why she went about creating models of her own.
"They never show the vagina in the media," the artist says, "so I didn't know what a normal vagina looked like. I was wondering if mine was weird. So that's why I made a mold."
Despite the fact that Japan has strict obscenity laws, with female genitalia and sex is a still a very taboo subject, the country came under fire for its lack of anti-child pornography laws.
The government only made it a crime to possess child pornography images last month after years of international pressure.
There's currently a Change.org petition for her release which already has over 10,000 signatures.
Topics
undefined
By signing up you agree to occasionally receive offers and promotions from Stylist. Newsletters may contain online ads and content funded by carefully selected partners. Don’t worry, we’ll never share or sell your data. You can opt-out at any time. For more information read Stylist’s Privacy Policy
Thank you!
You’re now subscribed to all our newsletters. You can manage your subscriptions at any time from an email or from a MyStylist account.