Paper short abstract:

This paper discusses ‘consent activism’ by local Tokyo grassroots groups and how the fieldworker became involved in intimate forms of boundary and self-making through volunteering in sexual consent project teams.

Paper long abstract:

Recent consent projects by grassroots organisations in Tokyo have demonstrated the importance of ‘boundaries’ (kyōkaisen) in both their educational content and in interactions between members. Such materials struggle to introduce concepts of sexual intimacy and relationship building which use a ‘yes means yes’ model instead of one where the absence of a no means yes (iya yo iya yo mo suki no uchi, lit. ‘no’ also means liking it). Within the matrix of ‘consent activism’ are affective practices of collaboration which expect trust and rapport between team members, such as sharing sessions and talk events where the fieldworker is also expected to contribute. Such processes, however formal or informal, reaffirm that boundaries, especially around intimate topics like gender identity, sexuality, and sexual orientation, are constantly negotiated. Depending on the members spoken with or the setting of an event, the fieldworker becomes more entangled in the intimate lives of individuals. Around the theme of ‘consent’, this is inevitable, uncomfortable, but far from unwelcome.

This paper uses anecdotes from the field, to underscore the growing emphasis on boundary-making in activist projects and how it nearly always overlaps with understanding individual desires and needs—of both fieldworkers and interlocuters.