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Public invited to Dole Institute’s Landmark Celebration on July 22
LAWRENCE — The public is invited to attend A Landmark Celebration, honoring the 100th birthday of Bob Dole, late U.S. senator from Kansas, and the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas. Beginning at 10 a.m. July 22, public events will include tributes to Dole and the Dole Institute, with appearances by Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, former U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole and Robin Dole.
‘Involuntary consent’ powering Japan’s adult video industry explored in new book
LAWRENCE — The adult video industry in Japan generates an estimated $5 billion a year. However, the young women who achieve “stardom” through performing onscreen aren’t always willing participants. A new book from a University of Kansas professor, titled “Involuntary Consent: The Illusion of Choice in Japan’s Adult Video Industry,” explores this topic, which the author describes as “an intersection of gender, class and sexuality.”
Full stories below.
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Contact: Maria Fisher, Dole Institute of Politics, 785-864-4900, [email protected]
Public invited to Dole Institute’s Landmark Celebration on July 22
LAWRENCE — The public is invited to attend A Landmark Celebration, honoring the 100th birthday of Bob Dole, late U.S. senator from Kansas, and the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas on July 22. The day’s events and activities are free and open to the public.
Beginning at 10 a.m., public events will include tributes to Dole and the Dole Institute, with appearances by Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, former U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole and Robin Dole.
“Like my husband, Bob, the Dole Institute of Politics is dedicated to service and building bipartisan leadership for the people of our country, regardless of political party. I look forward to celebrating this legacy in Bob’s home state of Kansas at a momentous commemoration on July 22,” said Elizabeth Dole, herself a former Cabinet member for presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, before serving as president of the American Red Cross and as U.S. senator from North Carolina.
The tribute program will also feature the U.S. Army Color Guard from Fort Leavenworth and music by Loaded Brass, part of the 312th Army Band, U.S. Army Reserves.
The ceremony will close with the dedication of a commemorative earthwork created by renowned artist Stan Herd, which will incorporate over 1,000 works of art from students across Kansas.
A Dole Institute open house and full slate of events for all ages will follow. Schedule updates can be found at www.doleinstitute.org/landmark.
“July 22, 2023, marks the Dole Institute’s 20th anniversary and what would have been Senator Bob Dole’s 100th birthday. This landmark celebration gives Kansas – along with the whole nation – an opportunity to reflect on the transformative power of principled leadership that seeks to find common ground with those who disagree,” said Audrey Coleman, Dole Institute director. “We’re excited to celebrate with the public as the Dole Institute of Politics begins another 20 years fully committed to this ideal, continuing to grow generations of new and dynamic leadership that our present moment demands.”
Schedule of events:
10 a.m. Tributes to Bob Dole and the Dole Institute
1. Dedication of the commemorative earthwork
2. Special guests including Laura Kelly, Elizabeth Dole and Robin Dole
3. Featuring U.S. Army Color Guard, Fort Leavenworth
4. Music by Loaded Brass, part of the 312th Army Band, U.S. Army Reserves, from Lawrence
11 a.m.-5 p.m. Dole Institute Open House
1. World’s Largest Stained Glass American Flag, Kansas Veterans Virtual Memory Wall, Sept. 11 Memorial, and featured exhibits and gallery activities for all ages
2. Special Exhibition: “Landmarks in Leadership: Bob Dole’s Legacy at 100 years”/features from the Dole Archives
3. Earthwork photo opportunities
4. Food trucks including Pineapple Dream Dole Whip, JB’s Taco Shop, The Corndog Company, The Pretzelly Truck and Brain Freeze (nonalcoholic) Daiquiri Shop
5. Kids Zone including inflatables, face painters, lawn games and more
11:30 a.m. Music by Loaded Brass
12:15 p.m. Music by singer/songwriter Ryan Manuel
Noon-5 p.m. Veterans Oral History Interview collecting, with KPR’s Kaye McIntyre and historian Tai Edwards
1 p.m. Special Presentations*
1. “Laughing (Almost) All the Way to the White House: The Wit of Bob Dole,” presented by Kerry Tymchuk, executive director, Oregon Historical Society and speechwriter to Bob and Elizabeth Dole.
2. “Ordinary Men, Extraordinary Legacies: President Gerald Ford and Senator Bob Dole,” featuring Richard Norton Smith, presidential historian and Dole Institute founding director, and Bill Lacy, director emeritus. Smith will appear virtually for a live interview moderated by Lacy.
3. *Program at the Lied Center of Kansas, adjacent to the Dole Institute
3 p.m. Birthday Party including free birthday treat
1. Special appearance by former Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Tony Adams
3:30 p.m. Music by Ryan Manuel.
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Don’t miss new episodes of “When Experts Attack!,”
a KU News Service podcast hosted by Kansas Public Radio.
https://kansaspublicradio.org/when-experts-attack
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Contact: Jon Niccum, KU News Service, 785-864-7633, [email protected]
‘Involuntary consent’ powering Japan’s adult video industry explored in new book
LAWRENCE — The adult video industry in Japan generates an estimated $5 billion a year. However, the young women who achieve “stardom” through performing onscreen aren’t always willing participants.
“Japan is famously – or notoriously – known for its people not being able to say no,” said Akiko Takeyama, professor of women, gender & sexuality studies at the University of Kansas. “That was an intriguing aspect for me regarding how ‘consent’ works if people cannot say no.”
Takeyama’s latest book titled “Involuntary Consent: The Illusion of Choice in Japan’s Adult Video Industry” investigates the paradox of consent in modern liberal democratic societies. Taking consent as her starting point, she illustrates the nuances of contract making and the legal structures (or lack thereof) that govern the nation’s sex entertainment industries. It’s published by Stanford University Press.
She calls this topic “an intersection of gender, class and sexuality.”
Japan’s adult video industry has elicited public scrutiny and criticism in recent years due to a series of arrests involving former talent agency executives. This led to investigations over the issue of “forced performance” in the industry.
Takeyama said, “Women coming from suburban Tokyo or elsewhere are approached by these men and asked, ‘Are you interested in becoming a model or television personality?’ Usually, the guy is really good at appealing to whatever you’re interested in. You just register your name so that you can choose the job modeling if you want. And obviously they say if you don’t want it, you don’t have to take it. But then they hold the contract over you, and it becomes an ‘empty threat.’”
Many of these women had no intention of becoming an adult video performer, Takeyama said.
“But they signed a contract. They can’t really withdraw. Or they’ve already performed once and their products are circulated,” she said.
The professor ran into roadblocks while researching this topic. Because of the negative media publicity, the last thing those in the industry wanted was more scrutiny.
“It wasn’t a friendly environment to do this research,” said Takeyama, who is also director of KU’s Center for East Asian Studies.
“But I was persistent. I told them I needed to get multiple perspectives. The more persistent I was, the more some people started to see they are the ones being silenced. Society doesn’t listen. They are the scapegoat of this social issue and a sexist society.”
Yet her book also investigates the male perspective. What she found was that — in many ways — men were also trapped in a cycle of which they had no control.
“Both the adult video actresses and their fans who keep this industry going are victims of a contract society,” she said.
“These fans came of age during Japan’s employment ‘Ice Age.’ They are now in their 30s and 40s, but they are still like temporary workers and must renew contracts every year. Because of this economic challenge, and also social class, they’re not really attractive to women. They don’t have any partners to date. They don’t have money to go to more interactive places like hostess clubs. But they can afford to purchase an adult video, which costs about $25, and also allows them to attend live appearance events and shake hands and have personalized interaction with their favorite adult video actresses.”
Takeyama recently explored this concept in a chapter concerning “Self-Ownership, Consent and Contractual Abuses in Japan’s Adult Video Industry” found in the book “Feminist and Queer Theory” (Oxford University Press, 2020). When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she noticed similarities between the options faced by female essential services workers and women in the adult industry.
“To me, the issue is larger than the sex industry. It’s more about the national economy, in which 40% of the labor force is a temporary worker or non-regular worker,” she said. “These women were normally not willing to take a job as an adult performer, but there were no other choices because regular work is extremely rare.”
A native of Hamamatsu, Japan, Takeyama first came to KU in 2007. She is also the author of the 2016 book “Staged Seduction: Selling Dreams in a Tokyo Host Club” (Stanford University Press). She considers herself a cultural anthropologist in gender studies.
“‘Consent’ itself is more or less a modern concept. Just like ‘identity,’ the word didn’t really exist before the 1980s. The ‘self’ of Japan is more relational — like I’m a daughter, a wife or a teacher at an institution. That is the kind of identification marker rather than ‘I am Akiko Takeyama no matter what,’” she said. “So if you have no identity, how can you determine consent?”
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