Artist who makes 3D-printed objects that look like her vulva is charged with ‘distributing obscene data’
Prosecutors on Wednesday charged a feminist artist who makes objects shaped like her vagina with distributing “obscene” data, according to her lawyer, in a case that has sparked accusations that authorities are out of touch.
The charges follow ‘Vagina artist’ Megumi Igarashi’s arrest this month after she raised funds online to pay for a genital-shaped kayak that she made on a 3-D printer.
“We don’t agree with the prosecutors’ contention at all,” Takeshi Sumi, one of Igarashi’s lawyers, said. “We will continue pleading not guilty on behalf of Igarashi, who argues her works are not anything obscene.”
Igarashi, 42, was first arrested in July but was freed after several days following a legal appeal and after thousands of people signed a petition demanding her release.
But Tokyo police arrested her again this month — along with sex shop owner Minori Watanabe, 44, who is also a writer and feminist activist, for “displaying (Igarashi’s) obscene goods in her shop window.
