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Paper short abstract

Revisiting ethnographic data from working with two grassroots organisations with active sexual consent projects, this paper presents the timeline of recent consent activism in contemporary Japan and the challenges of ‘voicing up’.

Paper long abstract

Sexual consent education campaigns emerged in response to specific incidents of sexual assault and harassment, such as the internationally known case of Ito Shiori and the publication in the magazine Shukan SPA of rankings of universities with sexually promiscuous female students. Non-profits, such as Voice Up Japan (VUJ), formed in response to these ‘scandals’, driven by the fear, frustration, and outrage that young professionals and students—often female or gender non-conforming—felt they could no longer contain.

This discussion draws on both ethnographic vignettes and semi-structured interviews to analyse two Tokyo organisations that are ‘voicing up’ (koe o ageru) by developing sexual consent workshops and handbooks aimed at university students. Tracing the inception of these relatively small organisations and their resulting campaigns, this paper will discuss the notion of belonging, often referred to as iibasho or anzen na basho, as a powerful call to potential volunteer members to join a project. The emotional demands of participation were evident in the strong push and pull of individuals’ feelings that shaped the atmosphere and practice of these two groups.

Bashing and backlash are also relevant within the specific context of consent activism. The paper highlights the personal experiences of interlocutors with ‘bashing’, a colloquial term for activists’ negative interactions with public audiences when platforming their consent materials. Most of this bashing appeared to occur online, with Twitter/X being the most frequently mentioned SNS platform during these 2021 to 2023 interviews.

Lastly, this paper will examine a common symptom of these activist projects and organisations—the occurrence of burnout. Particularly because voicing up about sexual consent education is so emotional and personal—with many people drawing from their own or friends’ experiences with sexual harassment—individual activists often face burnout by the end of a brief yet intense campaign.

This paper presents the three stages of contemporary Japanese gender activism as the current, yet not final, evolution of grassroots and community organising. Instead, it seeks to ‘voice up’ about the characteristics of activist efforts and propose greater visibility—rather than stability or continuity—for these often-short-lived projects.