RANmagazine Issue 6 July/August 2010

SUMMERINTHECITY

RANMAGAZINE.COM

July / August 2010|ISSUE 6|

Forward

初めに

|By Adam Pasion|

I

n August of last year RAN Magazine took its maiden voyage into the sea of mass media. If my math is correct, then that would make this the one yearanniversary issue, and the 'little magazine that could' is still chugging alongthanks to the support of our community. In one year RAN has jumped from thesperm of a thought into a social force able to gather hundreds of people at ourRock This Town event. That means RAN is serving the purpose it was created for –to build and support a better community in Nagoya. To that end, we want to inviteeveryone to come out and party with us at Bang Bang Boogie, guaranteed to bethe best beach party this community has ever seen.On a related note, some of our readers have expressed offense at ourpromotional poster for this event. Thank you for having the courage to voice yourconcerns, it is this sort of feedback that helps us to improve our craft and hone ourskills to better reach our readership, but this particular issue goes deeper than that.Recently some of our advertisers have abandoned ship on account of what theyhave deemed “objectionable content.” As a matter of fact some of our readers andeven a few or our own staff have voiced similar concerns, and a few locationsaround town have even refused to let us leave copies. We continue to publishwhat we think is relevant and important even though we are losing revenue andreaders, because we believe in what we are doing. Creating a magazine is atime-consuming, labor-intensive and meticulous endeavor. Every graphic, everyphotograph, every word of text and point and pica is a deliberate choice. Nothinggets into our magazine by chance and that includes our more “objectionablecontent.” RAN is the magazine that comes kicking and screaming off the printingpress with a kernel of wisdom tucked in its lip and both middle ngers blazing.We have published some editorials that I felt were slanted, spiteful and abit vitriolic, but on second inspection they reflect the true opinions of peoplein this community who feel displaced and misunderstood. RAN Magazine in itsinception was conceived as a sounding board for these types of voices, to remindeveryone that we are not alone. But lets talk turkey, “objectionable content” is notabout our writing, its about sex.I am going to give people the benet of the doubt and assume that the reasonfor taking offense is that they see the sexual content as objectifying womenand using sex to push more products. Ostensibly these seem well intended,but the end result is actually the opposite. This attitude reinforces traditionalstereotypes about gender and sexual repression. In our rst issue we intervieweda male host, and in the third issue we interviewed a sex worker. These were alsodeliberate choices, attaching a human face to an industry that is misunderstoodand frowned-upon. The people stealing the dignity of men and women in thesex industry are certainly not the patrons, but rather the twisted cultural attitudesthat attach a stigma to this type of work. Consider that a woman working at a sexparlor can never have pride in her job. No matter her skill, no matter how hardshe works or how much money she makes she will always be expected to have acertain amount of shame about her work. Sexuality is a raw energy that can be asource of empowerment, not merely exploitation. This type of moralist judgmentis shameful and that is the reason we published our interview without changingthe words or blurring the face. Everyone deserves dignity and respect and theability to take pride in the sweat of their brow.Sex can be one of the most important tools for building the deepest bondsbetween humans, and not only between lovers. Men and women talking abouttheir sexual exploits, their crushes, failures and fantasies is one of the mostintimate ways we can communicate to each other. Exploring the powerful natureof human sexuality through art, humor and editorial is essential for our societyto progress, and that is the fundamental principle behind our magazine. Eachissue is intended to push the envelope a little bit further, but not for the sakeof controversy, and certainly not to sell more magazines. Everything we do issubjected to meticulous scruples, and although those are certain to step pastcertain people's moral barrier, remember that the tide comes in to wash awayall lines drawn in the sand. See how I just brought it back to the idea of a beachparty? Pretty clever right?Thanks for reading RAN and showing us love and support. It has made all thedifference. Please come out and show your support at our upcoming beach partyas well as RAN Unplugged, our second charity event partnering with the HardRock Cafe.