The popularity of pornography is predicated on the idea that those participating have given their consent.
Taking consent as her starting point, Takeyama illustrates the nuances of contract making and the legal structures, or lack thereof, that govern Japan\'s Adult Video and sex entertainment industries..
In this ethnography of Japan\'s porn industry, Akiko Takeyama investigates the paradox of Involuntary consent in modern liberal democratic societies.
As a result, they are frequently pressured to comply with what production companies (mostly run by men) expect and often demand.
Because sex workers are employed on a contract basis, they fall outside of the purview of standard labor and employment laws.
Using this moment as an entry point, Takeyama argues that contract-making writ large is based on fundamentally dualistic terms, implying consent and pleasure on the one hand, and coercion and pain on the other.
This report has had ripple effects beyond Japan, as the US Department of State subsequently also cited forced performance as a human rights violation.
This led to a report calling for a systematic investigation of the Industry over the issue of forced performance.
In recent years, it has drawn public attention, and criticism, because of a series of arrests and trials of former talent agency owners and executives.
Japan\'s AV Industry alone generates a conservatively estimated $5 billion a year.
And yet modern society, built on beliefs of autonomy, free choice, and equality, renders it all but invisible.
This phenomenon, she argues, is ubiquitous, not only in the porn industry, but in our everyday lives.
Looking at behind-the-scenes negotiations and abuses in Japan\'s Adult Video industry, author Akiko Takeyama challenges this pervasive notion with the idea of Involuntary consent.
That is what allows the porn Industry to dominate the media economy today, generating staggering sums of money.
The popularity of pornography is predicated on the idea that those participating have given their consent
