Save Our Hardcore-Hentai!

[truehentai]

Sign the petition now!

Help with the petition text! (was originally on the second page) We may still have minor fixes.
We also need someone with good Japanese to translate it!
thedarkangel is maintaining a pdf version of the petition text for paper mails.

There's also a similar petition, a joint letter by Dan Kanemitsu, that you can support as well!

See also Yestofreedom.org thread - Document on eroge

Shiranaihito has written a letter to UN CEDAW Comittee (you should read his note as well)

Petition Against the Persecution of Japanese Erotic Arts

We ask that the government of Japan rejects any new legislation which bans or regulates the production, sale or possession of erotic artwork.

The American feminist group "Equality Now" has started a campaign against the freedom of content in fictitious depictions in Japanese adult games, to include games produced only for sale on Japanese soil and games produced for offshore distribution as well [1].

The claim is that these fictitious depictions violate the terms of CEDAW, which require Japan "to modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women, with a view to achieving the elimination of prejudices and customary and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women." [2] Also involved is Article 14 of the Japanese Constitution, which guarantees equality under the law and states that there shall be no "discrimination in political, economic or social relations because of race, creed, sex, social status or family origin." [2]

It is unclear, however, how in their claims they relate and conclude that the production of games fictitiously depicting hardcore genres of eroge, which may involve raping a woman or a man, actually violate these laws. It behooves us to remind the public and government that depiction and actual acts differ both vastly and deeply, similar to the ways thinking of something and actually doing it differ from each other. In addition, there was no attempt to show a correlation between the mentioned eroge genre "rape" and actual crime rates. We would like to point out the _fact_ that the rape crime rate of Japan is among the lowest worldwide. [3] And also, during the whole period, no evidence, scientific or otherwise, to support their claims has ever been presented.

Therefore, the accusing organization has yet to form a solid connection between the content of these games and the laws they are invoking.

However, even with such vague arguments, a provocative pressure has emerged in Japanese media, and now adult game producers are facing potential changes in laws in Japan regarding adult games, which would force them to exclude a large variety of eroge genres as taboo. This in turn is a clear violation of Freedom of Speech, which is declared under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19.

Considering the recent history of events [1], it is possible to think that the underlying motivation of mentioned American feminist group is mere conjecture on the part of the group regarding the evolution of Japanese social structure over time, and its implications as a result of interaction with other countries, including the United States and the United Nations. The aforementioned group is well-known from their past activities to be against a large number of sexual fetishes as well as women being portrayed within pornography in general, regardless of a consensual agreement, and pushing instead for their choice of the ideal image of women they would like to see _everywhere_ [4], which would make this social interaction a threat in their eyes. As an extension to this, we believe that underlying motivation of the group is questionable, that is to say, this might be an attempt to _use_ United Nations' regulations and laws of Japan to bend future works by Japanese adult game manufacturers to their own will in order to impose their personal ethical/social values and expectations in Japan, which are not necessarily compatible with the views of the Japanese people.

Their direct demand of the Japanese government to impose various bans and regulations within Japan, and failure to mention possible regulations of games for overseas supports these arguments, whereas their focus on the depiction of the abuse of women and failure to mention the depiction of the physical abuse of males while arriving at generalized conclusions in their advertised sample letter to government officials [2] leaves their sincerity of their concerns about the CEDAW term they invoke, which focuses on both sexes on equal footing, in question.

Also, if this campaign, which is without a solid legal basis, spearheaded by Equality Now succeeds (considering their perspective and expectations as a group), it is likely that they will use this one event as a basis to induce further and more harsh regulations in Japan based extensively upon their will to shape the whole world in accordance with their personal views, and to inflict their personal justice by means of manipulating the executives via amorphous philosophical arguments and bending the actual laws in the near future.

We finally would like to point out that many of the adult games in question are made only for distribution in Japan and are not permitted by their manufacturers to be sold in foreign countries. Therefore, a foreign organization such as Equality Now should not have the right to dictate the content of such materials, since the Japanese government, people and corporations have the right to manage their own sovereign affairs.

In light of all these, we hereby request from Japanese government to cease caving to the pressure initiated by Equality Now without solid legal or moral foundations, and of the EOCS to stand on their principles and protect adult game producers in this matter.

Modifications/additions/suggestions guys! Come on!
This is my first time of an attempt to write a legalese, I'm an engineer not lawyer. I hope someone who's familiar with the jargon comes up soon.
I should also point out that English is not my mother language, so it may need grammatical/structural corrections as well.
We are also allowed to attach a list of URLs, I'm thinking of adding one from Sankaku Complex, one from Canned Dogs, and from Equality Now's site and one from Wikipedia (Freedom of Speech)
And this one: http://www.unodc.org/pdf/crime/eighthsurvey/8sv.pdf
Also required is a petition title and a short (25 words max) petition description.



(my original first post begins here )


I've been reading the stuff going on, primary on Canned Dogs, and we have several debates on the topic around.

Various eroge producers who are facing this thread have disabled foreign access to their websites as a reaction to hentai censorship. You should read the notice minori's homepage

However, I think threat big for us too! To my surprise, nowhere on the net was I able to find a protest campaign against this ban, led by Equality Now. At least in any site in English. These guys actually need our help.

I personally took Minori's advice and sent my complain to officials . I think you guys should do as well.

The so-called Equality Now is pretty active in putting pressure, just check out their campaign page. If you check out that page, you'll see template letters they prepared for their supporters to send to Illusion, Amazon and worst, Japanese officials Obviously, they are able to put pressure on them.

I think we should start a campaign as well. I'm no good with legalese or such stuff so I can't write a good "template mail" to send Japanese officials, but well, I did my call. Hopefully, someone here might prepare a good template for us all.

From what I see from Sankaku Complex's summary of events, I don't think that Equality Now has a strong legal basis. The legal arugment they're invoking is

Japan has an obligation under Article 5(a) of Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) “to modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women, with a view to achieving the elimination of prejudices and customary and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women.”

which is quite a vague statement. However, I don't think it's that vague to conclude that these fictional depictions are "social and cultural pattern of conduct of men and women" or "discrimination in political, economic or social relations because of race, creed, sex, social status or family origin"

they're just taking the advantage of common taboos and gathering a herd to bend Japan to their will (see Sankaku's website for reference links):

An Irish rag on a slow news day picks up the story that importers have been selling Rapelay via Amazon. The theme is that the game encourages rape and is child pornography.

Amazon completely drops the product, including in Japan. Other retailers soon follow suit.

Feminist busybody group “Equality Now”, which organises spam campaigns to keep its members busy without actually having to deal with problems directly, targets the game, accusing it of human rights violations and telling the Japanese government it should be banning this sort of thing, like low crime paradises such as the UK.

The developers tell the foreign feminists to get lost.

Soon after the Rapelay developers cave in and completely remove the game from distribution.

Equality Now’s Japanese lawyer (the group has no presence in Japan) drums up anti-eroge media attention.

A Japanese diet member, an avowed feminist, picks up on the scandal and starts calling for a ban. Objections start with the opposition and minor parties and soon the ruling party jumps onto the bandwagon.

A “study group” is organised to decide how best to ban the games.

Broadcaster TBS falsely reports that the EOCS has banned the games.

The EOCS bans the games.

At no point at any time has any evidence that such games (which amount to illustrated novels) contribute to sexual assault been presented.

I'd like to point out that if they're actually standing on principle, whole gaming world 90% should face their doom, for almost all games depict some sort of violence (which is regulated by similar rules, under human rights), both against men and women, and no one is trying to censor them --where's Equality Now?
Mind you that such games are labeled as such, and are not forced to remove their contents.
Nor there is such big fuss about Japanese AVs or even US' own extreme stuff. And thing is, they are yet to form a solid connection between fictional depictions and the legal terms they are invoking, which is not equal to manipulative protesting voice of a group of feminsts, or zillions of copy-paste mails.

There's a lot of hyporicsy going around in this business, so please, even if you're not into the hardcore stuff, stand on principle and write to Japanese government. Or do something.

[Shiranaihito]

Apologies in advance for the "shameless plug" here, but it only makes sense to drop it here...

Please, if you're interested in helping fight against the actions of Equality Now and similar groups, join me and everyone else in Yes To Freedom. I just found out about this Hongfire thread and clearly we aren't coordinating all of our fragmented efforts well enough. You can hit up Azarius or the_pragmatist (me) on irc.rizon.net #yestofreedom and we can all work together. I'll read through this thread and start keeping tabs. If you have any suggestions as to how YTF can bring on interested Hongfire members, I'd love to hear 'em. Thanks in advance.

I am a big fan of the YTF site and its efforts. Much of the information we used for our efforts here came from your site and I thank you for that. I emailed your group a while back and suggested a cooperation between our groups. But the response I got said that a collaboration was not possible due to your group's policy of avoiding any association with otakus. If you've seriously changed this policy and want to work with us, I certainly accept more allies. You can use this thread to provide suggestions for our campaign actions as well as propose new campaigns for us to pursue.

I checked UNESCO's website and found some contact info. First, the delegation is at dljpn.all@unesco.org. Then there's the "Japanese National Commission for UNESCO" in Japan at jpnatcom@mext.go.jp, website: http://www.mext.go.jp/english/unesco/. Take a look at that website. Maybe we should e-mail the letter to both places?

[chacyung]

Drat, an IRC channel. Not the first time IRC has bocked me.
(and yes - I meant to spell it that way - LOL)

We could contact both.
Just to cover all the bases.

[Shiranaihito]

I just sent the UNESCO letter to Japan's UNESCO delegation in Paris and to the Japanese National Commission for UNESCO. I only hope they both can read English.

Thus concludes our UNESCO campaign for now. It's time to start thinking about our next effort to protect hentai. Let's open it up to new ideas and suggestions. If anyone has any new professional groups we can contact, or any way to support our previous efforts, please let us know. Or maybe we can think outside the box and come up with an idea that nobody has had before.

As reported earlier, Equality Now updated their anti-hentai campaign to "Women's Action 33.2". I took a look at it to see what kind of actions they're taking now, but I couldn't find anything. The only thing new is that they "call upon the newly elected party in Japan" to pass laws against rape games. No new actions, though. I think they're just spouting new rhetoric to make it look like they're doing something when they know they can't.

But maybe we can call upon Japan's new Prime Minister and related agencies to protect hentai and not listen to the feminazis. We can use the same Japanese government contact websites as they do (those links were posted here earlier). Any thoughts on this idea?

[chacyung]

I just sent the UNESCO letter to Japan's UNESCO delegation in Paris and to the Japanese National Commission for UNESCO. I only hope they both can read English.

Thus concludes our UNESCO campaign for now. It's time to start thinking about our next effort to protect hentai. Let's open it up to new ideas and suggestions. If anyone has any new professional groups we can contact, or any way to support our previous efforts, please let us know. Or maybe we can think outside the box and come up with an idea that nobody has had before.

As reported earlier, Equality Now updated their anti-hentai campaign to "Women's Action 33.2". I took a look at it to see what kind of actions they're taking now, but I couldn't find anything. The only thing new is that they "call upon the newly elected party in Japan" to pass laws against rape games. No new actions, though. I think they're just spouting new rhetoric to make it look like they're doing something when they know they can't.

But maybe we can call upon Japan's new Prime Minister and related agencies to protect hentai and not listen to the feminazis. We can use the same Japanese government contact websites as they do (those links were posted here earlier). Any thoughts on this idea?

Ooo! O_O
I like that Idea.
Let's use their own links against them.
That's how they would fight I'd bet you.
Turn about's fair play after all ^.^
But what would really be helpful is if we could find new material to use.
Unfortunately, I think that we've used it all up V.V

Unless some of the other people just poping in to read has any ideas !?!
"HINT - HINT"

[Shiranaihito]

After being offline for a day, Hongfire network just lost everything that was done in the last seven days. Was it a hacker attack? Mice in the server? Who knows. But we lost quite a few good posts here, so I'll repost some of the info I gave:

First, I am working on a letter to the new Prime Minister of Japan. It will have four points:
1. Explain the recent attack on hentai
2. Attack Equality Now's actions
3. Argue against the CEDAW
4. Defend hentai as a harmless form of media and part of Japan's culture
It's going to be a long and complicated letter, so it could take some time.

Second, Chacyung found the FEMINISTS AGAINST CENSORSHIP site. They're based in England. Though they don't actually negotiate with government agencies, they distribute information and increase public awareness of censorship issues. Maybe they can talk to Equality Now, since they are also in England.

Equality Now is also sending their letters to Japan's Gender Equality Bureau and Minster of Justice. We could also try countering this with our own letters.

Article 1 of the CEDAW says:

For the purposes of the present Convention, the term "discrimination against women" shall mean any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field.

Hentai is just a form of entertainment which has no purpose of discriminating against women. Scientific evidence shows that it also has no effect on women's rights. So by the CEDAW's definition, hentai DOES NOT discriminate against women.

Article 23 of the CEDAW says:

Nothing in the present Convention shall affect any provisions that are more conducive to the achievement of equality between men and women which may be contained:
(a) In the legislation of a State Party; or
(b) In any other international convention, treaty or agreement in force for that State.

So if we can show that censorship is bad for women's rights, we can use this article to refute EN's use of Article 5.

[chacyung]

Dang, I wonder what happened?

Thanks for reposting what you could, dude.

[Rick]

After being offline for a day, Hongfire network just lost everything that was done in the last seven days. Was it a hacker attack? Mice in the server? Who knows.

Dang, I wonder what happened?

You know, it wouldn't hurt checking the other subforums besides the Hentai Lair one: http://hongfire.com/forum/showthread.php?t=120847

Anyway, nothing to contribute to the topic at hand but I do appreciate your efforts, guys. Keep it up.

[Shiranaihito]

I just came across some new information that I thought I should share. The meetings of the CEDAW happen 2 or 3 times a year, each one focusing on only a few countries. Japan was one of the countries at the 44th meeting last August. The last time Japan was at a CEDAW meeting was at the 29th meeting in 2003. Future meetings have been planned through 2011, and none of them include Japan. It could be another six years before they have to face those guys again, so Japan does have some time to consider the proposed rape-game ban.

It was just REALLY bad luck that Japan had their CEDAW meeting at the same time as the Rapelay controversy.

[DingoEgret]

All I can say is, I don't get how a game like that would discriminate women. I'm femenist and all, but I draw the line here. They can't do this WITHOUT learning the facts first. They think it is wrong for Japan to make such things? They think it is wrong to rape a women, and yes it is, but I would like to think about the opposite. What if it was the WOMEN raping the MAN. What then? Do they still blame the man for raping her, when he had no intention to?

On a side note, how exactly does a COMPUTER PROGRAM discriminate women? The game doesn't express the views of the company or the country, it just appeals to a group of people that might like that fantasy. I would rather it be a girl who is NOT REAL be the one, rather than a real women.

Also, why should this affect ALL HENTAI? Thats the same as saying, "Hey why don't we do away with ALL REAL pornography too?" I seriously wish they would attempt that, they would get so owned by the industry.

Anyway, I've said my two (or three) cents. Keep fighting guys. We can't lose, or risk losing one of the best things in the world(at least in my opinion). If you haven't, SIGN THE PETITION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/eroge/index.html

-Dingo Egret

--EDIT--

Came up with a new topic to go against them. Why don't they target all video games that include violence towards video games? That's what RapeLay is and I see this as what they are essentially doing. Just another thought to develop upon.

[chacyung]

You know, it wouldn't hurt checking the other subforums besides the Hentai Lair one: http://hongfire.com/forum/showthread.php?t=120847
Anyway, nothing to contribute to the topic at hand but I do appreciate your efforts, guys. Keep it up.

Yeah, there are other stuff other places I'm sure.
But there aren't that many of us here.
That's why we're asking for help.
Especially in finding all this new material.

I just came across some new information that I thought I should share. The meetings of the CEDAW happen 2 or 3 times a year, each one focusing on only a few countries. Japan was one of the countries at the 44th meeting last August. The last time Japan was at a CEDAW meeting was at the 29th meeting in 2003. Future meetings have been planned through 2011, and none of them include Japan. It could be another six years before they have to face those guys again, so Japan does have some time to consider the proposed rape-game ban.
It was just REALLY bad luck that Japan had their CEDAW meeting at the same time as the Rapelay controversy.

Damn, how unlucky can you get.
I think they planned that so the rest of us wouldn't be able to prepare for it in time and have to wait till maybe it's too late.

All I can say is, I don't get how a game like that would discriminate women. I'm femenist and all, but I draw the line here. They can't do this WITHOUT learning the facts first. They think it is wrong for Japan to make such things? They think it is wrong to rape a women, and yes it is, but I would like to think about the opposite. What if it was the WOMEN raping the MAN. What then? Do they still blame the man for raping her, when he had no intention to?
On a side note, how exactly does a COMPUTER PROGRAM discriminate women? The game doesn't express the views of the company or the country, it just appeals to a group of people that might like that fantasy. I would rather it be a girl who is NOT REAL be the one, rather than a real women.
Anyway, I've said my two (or three) cents. Keep fighting guys. We can't lose, or risk losing one of the best things in the world(at least in my opinion). If you haven't, SIGN THE PETITION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/eroge/index.html

-Dingo Egret

--EDIT--
Came up with a new topic to go against them. Why don't they target all video games that include violence towards video games? That's what RapeLay is and I see this as what they are essentially doing. Just another thought to develop upon.

ALL TRUE !
Thank you for agreeing with us, but we still need help.
So if you can find anything, like other freedom groups, or contacts to related japanese groups, that would REALLLY be helpful.

Also, why should this affect ALL HENTAI? Thats the same as saying, "Hey why don't we do away with ALL REAL pornography too?" I seriously wish they would attempt that, they would get so owned by the industry.

The problem it that these extremest types won't just stop there if they win. Now that they know about hentai, they'll attack every form of hentai one by one untill it's all banned. They have to get the REP before they can go after the big stuff. That's how these groups do it. The more cases they win, the more pull they will have for the next one. And unfortunately, hentai, despite how popular it is, still has a relatively small backing. (globaly speaking) So they won't even consider going of that massive "real porn" industry until they, themselves are big enough.