03.08.23

Teach-In on Harms of Pornography Was Held in "Forum of Women's Study and Gender Studies" at NWEC

　

On August 23, 2003, APP-JP held a teach-in, "Pornography and Its Harms." It was one of the programs in "Forum of Women's Study and Gender Studies 2003" sponsored by NWEC (National Women's Education Center) on August 22 and 23.

As many as twenty people participated in the teach-in so that some people were not able to sit on chairs.

The first speaker spoke about basic topics, such as how APP-JP was born; reasons and purposes of the "questionnaire survey on harms of pornography" conducted by APP-JP; what "harms of pornography" are; and major forms of harms of pornography. The next speaker explained brief summary of the results of the survey.

The third speaker told the audience about the harms of pornography, which were revealed by the survey, where men force their wives and daughters to watch pornography and to have the same sex as in pornography.

The last speaker introduced the audience a serial rape case in Fukushima committed by a high school student, who started to watch rape porn videos since his childhood.

After these reports, the speakers and audience discussed harms of pornography enthusiastically. Many kinds of opinions based on one's own feelings and experiences were stated, such as the importance of education; issue of sexuality of the disabled; and a personal experience that she shocked to know in her childhood that her father secretly kept pornography.

Through the discussion, it became clear that many participants had taken the issue of pornography so seriously.