Underage Sex and Romance in Japanese Homoerotic Manga and Anime

Abstract

This article discusses a genre of Japanese cartoons and comics known as yaoi or BL (`Boys Love') and produced by female artists for essentially female audiences. The subject matter of yaoi/BL works is romantic and sexual relationships between males. Often these works depict homoerotic relationships involving underage people, and as such they are liable to being censored on the basis of legal provisions restricting the circulation and consumption of `child pornography' as defined in some western countries. After identifying the reasons for the social and legal acceptability of yaoi/BL in Japan, the article discusses its vulnerability to censorship in Australia and Canada. It then goes on to examine the distinctive features of the yaoi/BL genre and its value as a form of speech, particularly in light of the fundamental questions it raises in relation to our self-conception as sexual beings. Lastly, after arguing that the harm-fulness of yaoi/BL is very much open to debate, the article concludes by casting doubt on the desirability of restricting the circulation of yaoi/BL material.

Manga vision: cultural and communicative perspectives

“…In My Sweet Little Cat, this sense of fantasy is established when the uke claims to be able to morph freely between the forms of cat and human. The simple nature of these chords responds to what Zanghellini (2009) describes as the uke's characterisation as 'vulnerable, innocent and less experienced' (p. 171). A short tremolo is then played where two notes are repeated one after another while the left hand plays a short melody underneath.…”

“…In addition to the sexual discomfort expressed by the uke, these gestures and aspects of atonality have developed from the necessary angst exhibited by the characters' personal situations. Zanghellini (2009) explains that 'the protagonists of yaoi/BL work are commonly haunted by everything from struggles for self-acceptance, through memory loss, rejection by others, personality splits and dark pasts, to traumatizing experiences' (p. 172). Texturally, much of the piece is quite still, using held chords, repeated notes or single melody lines with no accompaniment, influenced again by the simple design and uncluttered depictions of the character figures and backgrounds.…”

Same-Sex Marriage in Japan

“…Boys' Love first appeared in the early 1970s and gained popularity in the mid-1980s, and it is now one of the major genres of Japanese comics (Zangellini, 2009). By contrast, Girls' Love focuses on the sexual or emotional aspects of relationships between young women.…”

Not ‘from my hot little ovaries': how slash manips pierce reductive assumptions

“…Within similar Japanese practices -such as YAOI and shōnen'ai, which emerged almost simultaneously with slash (see McLelland 2006/2007) -comparable male frustrations have been well documented (see Zanghellini 2009). In 1992, activist Satō Masaki blamed the women of Boys' Love and YAOI for the 'gay boom', as well as the promulgation of an image of gay men as impossibly beautiful -leading 'real' gay men to 'hide in the dark' as gomi [garbage] when they do not measure up (as quoted in Lunsing This gay male desire to create texts linked to lived experience is supported by the content analysis of sociologist Dennis (2010), which analyses 872 male homoerotic images by 442 juvenile male and female artists.…”