Paper short abstract:

Critical discussions of Japanese pornography in Hong Kong contribute to a new era of transformed pedagogy, in which sexuality studies become an important and safe domain in which to debate the future of feminism and sexual entertainment amongst fading civil liberties.

Paper long abstract:

This contribution offers an overview of Japanese pornography research and pedagogy in Hong Kong with a focus on new initiatives and youth critical voices that resonate in the era of “post-democracy” and the aftermath of the 2019 Anti-Extradition Movement. The paper speaks back to a turning point in Hong Kong history by positioning new openings for the study of Japanese erotic and sexually explicit media. It will do so by highlighting a porn seminar and symposium that was conducted at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2020-2022, coinciding with the Covid-19 pandemic and the implementation of a National Security Law on July 1, 2020. Within this transformation, the role of emancipatory sexualities and sexually explicit media remained somewhat “pristine” and became a productive space for student engagement and radical-critical thought. It will sketch out an education model based on the notion of dialogic aesthetics in art theory, an opening up of definitions and practices of “art” and “pornography” to foster relations within wider socio-cultural publics and inclusive audiences. But rather than arguing that Japanese pornography can contribute to a grand narrative, it will pay attention to “de facto” media, subcultures, and approaches to the study of sexually explicit media that are small, momentary and hidden from larger public domains. The paper will also use samples of students’ in-class conversation pieces and assignments, while keeping their names fully anonymous for safety purposes.