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Sixty People Participated in the Lecture and Panel Discussion: "Who Are Victimized by Pornography?"

 On January 24, 2004, a lecture and panel discussion: "Who Are Victimized by Pornography?" was held at Tokyo YWCA hall, and about sixty people took part in it. (Sponsored by Tokyo YWCA, with the help of ECPAT/STOP Japan.)
In the first part of it, a speaker, a member of APP (Hiroshi Nakasatomi), gave a keynote speech: "What the Harms of Pornography Are: From the Research on Harms and a Dialogue with Catharine MacKinnon". In the speech, basing on the results of the questionnaire research on the harms of pornography, he held that pornography was neither fiction nor virtual, but in reality it caused enormous, serious sexual harms (see, "The Realities and Analysis of the Harms of Pornography," APP, Essays and Materials, vol. 4). The sexual harms of pornography were, he continued, caused both in the process of the production of pornography and as a result of the consumption of pornography. He spoke about the reasons why those harms were not recognized by our society. Last, the lecturer shared principles for advocates of the victims of pornography and prostitution, which he has learned from the meeting with Catharine MacKinnon held in January, 2002.
In the second part, the panel discussion was held by three panelists and hosted by Mr. Masanobu Usami (a board member of international ECPAT). Each of the three panelists talked about their own harms of pornography or how teenagers around them were involved with pornography consumption. They also discussed the issues of reinforcement and amendment of the Law for Punishing Acts Related to Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, 1999. The panel discussion ended with several questions and answers between the panelists and the participants. They also affirmed that further collaboration was essential between the Anti-Pornography and Prostitution Research Group and the groups acting against child prostitution and pornography.