Japanese women lead the safe sex education push
The Japan Times has published an interesting article about Pilcon, a safe sex organization started by a young Japanese woman.
“Asuka Someya discovered she was pregnant at the age of 20 when she was a university student.”
This proved the fuel for her later founding of Pilcon in 2013. Now every two months it holds workshops and talks to make up for the shortcomings of sex education (or lack there of) in Japanese schools and families.
It has also produced YouTube videos about safe sex, such as this one which has been viewed 1.5 million times since late 2012.
It contains the quite awesome Jinglish: “The Skill using a Skin saves Life.”
It is not so surprising that Japanese women are forced to lead the safe sex education push, since the guys just ain’t interested. Given the rate of shotgun weddings in Japan and among celebrities, it’s no secret just how foolish local men are when it comes to either contraception or pulling out in time.
Saying that, the Japan Times article does include the curious pithy statement that “sexuality is a Japanese cultural taboo.” Err… according to who? Have you ever looked at Japanese history?! In mythology, the very islands were created out of sex between Izanagi and Izanami — and incestuous sex to boot!
The article also highlights how condom-maker Okamoto also aired its first TV commercial in a decade in December with Yoshimi Tokui (you may remember him from being the host of the “handjob game show”).
In general, Japan’s condom-makers are a creative bunch when it comes to marketing and developing products in efforts to encourage the famously bareback-loving men of Japan to reach for a sheath.
For example, this has led to a Durex horror movie-style TV ad, “condom day” in Japan, and a condom cookbook.
Sagami and Okamoto have even made the thinnest condoms in the world, at a mere 0.01mm! Is there any excuse for not wearing something so thin?!
In Japan, the birth control pill and morning-after pill are hard to get compared to other countries.
1 in 5 pregnancies in japan is aborted; 190,000 in 2013 alone. 80% of woman getting abortions are in their twenties or thirties.
Moreover, the lack of contraception usage has led to a spike in STDs, especially in syphilis cases among women. There were also nearly 12,000 men and over 13,000 women infected last year with chlamydia.
Can Asuka Someya and her colleagues change this?
