"It is a grave human rights violation"

Tokyo-based organisation Human Rights Now (HRN) has reported about Japanese women who were forced into porn.

Earlier this month, we reported how Saki Kozai and other Japanese actresses were speaking up about being tricked into porn. Kozai described her first day on set after thinking she had signed up to a modelling agency, “I couldn’t take off my clothes. All I could do was cry… There were about 20 people around me, waiting. No woman could say ‘no’ when they’re surrounded like that.”

Human Rights Now (HRN), a Tokyo-based organisation, has said now said their research showed that scouts were approaching women in the street before tricking, bullying, or blackmailing them into porn videos against their will.

The Japanese porn industry produces around 20,000 to 30,000 adult films annually, raking in £3 billion a year.

“It is a grave human rights violation to take advantage of young women who are uninformed or in financial difficulties,” HRN said. “To coerce them into performing unconsensual sexual acts in public display and to later circulate these pornographic videos on the internet.”

HRN added that the industry is not properly regulated and women are not protected by law because sex work is stigmatised in Japan. Furthermore, it is difficult for women to prove that they were forced to participate in videos against their will.

“No relevant regulatory agency exists to regulate production companies and persons involved in the making of pornographic videos,” the organisation said. “Unlawful practices in the pornographic film industry often slip through the legal net.”

The HRN report said that one woman killed herself after being allegedly coerced into pornography. Identified as “D”, the woman is described as “a timid person who had trouble saying no”. The woman was scouted and after being forced into her first porn film, she “strongly regreted” it. The company told her she had to be in the second video as it had already been scheduled.

“Within six months, D had appeared in numerous pornographic videos which were widely distributed in public,” reported HRN. D committed suicide before contacting a lawyer who she wanted to hire to prevent the distribution of her videos.

Another woman, identified as “F” was scouted on the street “by a guy in his thirties who told her that they were shooting a night show in which they dress up amateur models as cosplayers”. The woman was taken into a bus where she was confused by a “change int he tone” of male staff who became “more and more indecent”.

Several men then raped her whilst the crew filmed.

Japanese non-profit group Lighthouse, which aims to eradicate human trafficking said that more than 60 actresses who were trying to escape from the industry have contacted them in the first half of 2016.

Spokeswoman Aiki Segawa said, “and we think this is just the tip of the iceberg. Many victims feel guilty, thinking that what happened is their fault.”