Photographer Sued by Female Pro Wrestlers Over ‘Suggestive’ Portraits
A photographer was sued by female professional wrestlers after he captured and posted suggestive images of them during their performances.
Last month, World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana, an agency that manages female wrestlers in Japan, settled its lawsuit against a photographer over the invasive images he took of its athletes.
The Tokyo District Court announced that a settlement had been reached in the lawsuit, which stems from events occurring back in April 2023.
According to a report by Japan Times, one of the professional female wrestlers managed by World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana, whose name has been withheld for privacy reasons, discovered photos captured during her performances that sexualized and accentuated parts of her body.
The suggestive photographs, that has been posted across various social media platforms, caused the female wrestler, to become “anxious to the point that she cannot concentrate during her matches,” according to the lawsuit.
Taishi Fuwa, general manager at World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana, reached out to the photographer behind the invasive images on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) on behalf of the female wrestler.
Fuwa requested that the photos be taken down, but the photographer refused to do so. The agency felt there was no other option than to sue the photographer behind the images.
Japan Times reports that the agency also found that there were suggestive photographs of other female wrestlers posted online, besides the athlete previously mentioned. Among these images was a photo of a female pro-wrestler as young as 14 years old.
A Lawsuit to Protect Athletes From Illicit Photography
World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana filed a lawsuit against the photographer in January 2024. Last month, the agency and the pro wrestler reached a court settlement with the photographer. The photographer was ordered to pay 500,000 yen ($3,340) each to the agency and the pro-wrestler mentioned.
The photographer is prohibited from sharing any information or images about the agency or its wrestlers on any media platform, including social media. Additionally, they have agreed to avoid all events organized by the agency or those attended by its wrestlers, even if hosted by other companies.
As part of the settlement, World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana has also agreed not to reveal the photographer’s identity unless there are new violating images, at which point the agency reserves the right to take appropriate action to protect its athletes.
“I think it (the lawsuit) will serve as a certain deterrent,” Fuwa says in a news conference in Tokyo. “Rather than simply imposing a severe punishment on the individual, our primary goal was to raise awareness and prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.”
PetaPixel previously reported on a Japanese sportswear brand Mizuno that had introduced an infrared-blocking fabric to protect female athletes from illicit photography before the 2024 Olympics.
Mizuno’s sportswear clothing blocks infrared light. This is because some untoward photographers have used infrared thermal cameras to pick up heat signatures beneath female athletes’ undergarments.
While Japan is lauded for its low crime rates and general safety, iniquitous issues remain for women such as nonconsensual photography. In 2023, a bill against “photo voyeurism” was passed into law in Japan which prohibits acts such as “upskirting” and taking sexually exploitative images and videos of others without consent.
However, women athletes in Japan receive a unique form of sexual harassment that is difficult to stamp out. Cameras are widely accepted at sporting events but some photographers arrive with ulterior motives.
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.
