Femtech Fes! Extra Edition 2: "Normalizing Conversations About Sex"

As the second installment of the Femtech Fes! Online special edition, the three-member university student group "Mame Denki" held an event on the theme of "Making 'Sex' a natural topic - Creating a culture where no one is left behind."

The event was born from a desire to break down the barriers between activists and non-activists, to take the first step towards making sex a natural topic from its current state of being considered taboo, and to emphasize that no one is unrelated to the topic of sex.

We invited three guests, Okame, Rino Nakashima, and Hana, who are engaged in activities related to sex, similar to Mame Denki!

Okame
'The fixer of the sex world' who works to eliminate suffering caused by sex. During her undergraduate studies, she founded a club and organized a sex education event titled "Challenging the textbook-ization of AV," inviting a highly renowned adult film actor and an up-and-coming midwife to the school festival. Currently, she is studying at a law school to become a lawyer and eliminate suffering caused by sex.

Rino Nakashima
She started disseminating sex education information in high school to reduce the number of people who are hurt by sex. She has been active both inside and outside the university, such as installing sanitary products in male and female restrooms at the university, exhibiting works that empower people of all genders, and sharing "12 essential sex education tips for new university students" on YouTube.

Hana
A university student who majored in political science and is now studying education as an undergraduate. Her study abroad experience in Sweden sparked her interest in various social issues, including sex education, child poverty, and educational development. In April 2020, she co-founded an organization with friends and began working to promote sex education and disseminate accurate knowledge.

At the beginning of the event, Okame taught us about the "Six Categories of Sex (sex education, sexual violence, SOGI, sexual culture, career, and academics)." By listing keywords related to each category, we believe that "talking about sex" became a little more familiar even to those who weren't sure what they were interested in or how it related to them!

In the talk session, we asked the guests several questions.

ー"Your first encounter with a topic related to sex" and "the first action you took?"

Rino-san: I wanted to work in women's health, so as I searched online, I learned about "sex education." I followed people who were sharing information about sex education on Twitter, sent them DMs, and even met them in person to talk.

Hana-san: I started by posting on Facebook and sharing articles about what I learned during my study abroad in Sweden.

The activities of Mame Denki also started by creating an SNS account and following people!

— "What you've learned and what challenges you've faced through your activities"

Hana-san: It's only been about a year since I started sharing, but I sometimes worried that "people might not want to see content related to sex..." because my casual posts received fewer likes. Even so, receiving personal messages telling me they were watching my posts and getting positive reactions gave me energy.

Okame-san: Being known by people close to you might be one hurdle. I work with various activists, but I haven't really been able to talk to my parents about my activities.

Rino-san: I've been active since high school, so I've received some slander. However, being able to connect with various adults who are also active has been encouraging.

— "What kind of society are you aiming to achieve?"

Okame-san: My motto is to "eliminate suffering caused by sex." When I'm not satisfied with my current situation regarding sex, I want to change it to reach my ideal state.

Rino-san: I want to create an "open society about sex." This doesn't mean talking about private matters, but rather achieving three things: "access to necessary knowledge and services safely when needed," "an environment where one can easily seek advice when troubled," and "sexual health being discussed as part of overall health."

Hana-san: First, I want to prevent the people around me from being troubled or hurting others due to their lack of knowledge about sex. Then, I hope this spreads from my immediate surroundings to society as a whole. I also believe sex education is important, so I want to enhance school curricula and sex education at home.

To protect myself and to protect you.

I hope this provides an opportunity for you to reflect on your own experiences and consider the significance of university students engaging with sex, what kind of society they envision, and what they can do to achieve it.