Osaka has classified a variety of boys love (or yaoi) manga as “harmful publications” and placed restrictions on their sale and distribution.
The new restrictions, previously covered here, ban under 18s from buying or reading the publications in question, which in practice means the rags will be consigned to the “adult corner” along with actual pornography. Their circulation will likely be adversely affected as a result.
The standards for inclusion as a “harmful publication” are extremely easy to apply – if more than 10% of the pages, or more than 10 pages outright, deal with sex the manga can be classed as harmful. 8 magazines have so far been designated as such.
For a thick magazine with many hundreds of pages, 10 pages of content dealing with “sex, etc.” may well be a very low proportion of the overall content, making a large number of publications potentially bannable.
Osaka’s governor recently began talking about adopting copycat legislation based on Tokyo’s loli ban, but it went further by singling out BL manga.
Just why it is necessary to ban girls from reading stories about homosexual men has never been effectively explained – the stories cannot promote sodomy amongst girls as they are incapable of performing it, and nor is it likely they are turning girls into sexual predators intent on raping men or boys. Most girls of that age are already sexually active in any case.
Sheer moral hysteria, for its own sake, seems the only plausible explanation.
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This is the beginning of the end I guess, even something as harmless as yaoi is being targeted these days.
Japan is changing.... We must adhere to the change and adjust our activites, both legal and illegal. I think it's time...
It's time for artists to stand up for the rights of freedom of expression. This nonsense has gone far enough I think.. the hell with this crap..
Although I really don't like yaoi (or traps), I don't see how it to be harmful. what kind of harm do they expect??
*Guy walks by yaoi manga on a rack and glances at it*
"damn, i am gay now. i think i will go rape me some men"
Edit: Also it will encourage people to look it up online instead of buying it.. further killing the market and economy
@ DFC 18:10
Government: "We've heard your concerns about [issue of the moment], and we're 'doing' something about it!"
(government proceeds to do something stupid)
Politician: "I could get some big-time mileage out of [issue of the moment]! Who/what can I target that is a minority and/or powerless, relative to the people whose votes I want to win by exploiting [issue of the moment]?"
(politician proceeds to do something stupid)
"Issue of the moment" can be... anything. The War on Poverty, The War on Drugs, The War on Terrorism, The War on War (oops, that hasn't happened yet), "global warming", "global cooling", "greenhouse effect", "carbon footprint", "Internet addiction"....
Gee, it looks like many of these items are being invented and publicized by governments and corporations who wish to distract the populace from the true issues... ya think?
Sounds like you got the basics being a politician right there.
Of course this recent witchhunt is to divert attention from the catholic pedo-priests from what I think, afterall why stop at touching little boys right?
Also next up: War on Privacy
You'll wake the thought police.
Don't talk like that.
"Also next up: War on Privacy"
It's sad because it's true.
Hm, actually, people have been so extreme with tagging stuff as "harmful" lately. What's up with that?
"Lately"? Overbearing, moralistic assholes have been decrying depravity in all sorts of media for centuries, boyo.
Yea they've also been starting wars over it. Its got nothing to do with morals anyway. Nothing at all and they can't say it does and make me believe them. They're doing it because THEY don't like it and they have the power to try and stop it, that's the only reason. I bet at least one person or more in OSHA is in the closet gay or bi or something along that line.
I sometimes wonder if we're making some sort of a full circle, from religious zealots in centuries past to freedom of speech and expression movements in the last century right back to bible thumpers and moral faggotry.
Its pretty normal for societies to fluctuate back and forth like that. Strong liberal push comes, then a strong conservative push comes afterwards. Cycle repeats.
Do keep in mind that man always craves what he doesn't have.
I'm really looking forward to what will be the moral norm in 10 years, and where people like us will stand in society. Very interesting times we live in. Yes, things like this happened before, but since man doesn't have genetic memory history tends to repeat itself.
i don't like yaoi, but i dont think this is necessary. i suppose if you take a troubled city/state/country filled with blind people, they are going to point the finger at everything until their troubles(and freedoms) are gone. precision is the key. find out what causes problems and turn it around. manga does not cause problems.
-thebeast
You mean them pedo-priests in them churches?
I'm actually surprised they have the time to go on moral censorship crusades, since they are usually mostly busy with molesting shotas in their back-church black candy vans.
I think this is just some politician making a "statement" so that voters will think he's acting in their interests. Of course, they always aim for easy targets rather than attack a -real- issue.
where am i supposed to get my yaoi fix now? guess i'll go fap to my illegal yaoi bara doujinshi featuring my husbando.
The amount of yaoi faggots on these boards astound me.
It's not like the stuff will cease publication. You just have to be 18 to buy. However, that said, it's pathetic to ban a bunch of books that are pretty much harmless. So a bunch of young girls like swooning over the romance of two guys. Big deal.
How about stopping girls from selling themselves through cellphones instead of worrying about them reading about gay men?
Was boy's love really being bought by boys? Seems to me it was girls in their 20s at Comiket, not that big an effect here. Let's not freak out about everything, people.
"It's not like the stuff will cease publication. You just have to be 18 to buy."
That's a rather narrow view. All sales to girls under 18 will be lost leading to a decrease in revenue. It's also likely that many women over 18 will not want to be seen buying manga from the adults only section which will lead to a further decline in sales.
This lost revenue may mean that it is no longer economically viable to publish boys love manga so it is possible that many will cease publication. Those that continue to be sold will likely have to have the content adjusted to meet these new requirements.
While they're not banning boys love directly, they are still essentially banning it by taking revenue away from the publishers.
so you would probably go on a rampage if someone took your loli mangas.
but if it ONLY BL then its ok?
that seems pretty unfair to me...
Woahh! Keep it down.
If they actually could do shit about real problems they wouldn't bother thinking how else they can appeal to the ignorant masses.
bout damn time! seriously, why does it seem that yaoi get more social acceptance than straight up hentai? it just doesnt make sense to me.
The politicians will never ban yuri. It's because the majority of politicians are male, as such they wouldn't fuck themselves over by sticking their fap material in an adults only section. It would be too embarrassing for them. But on the BL issue, what a bunch of fucking assholes. Their ban is baseless and they're picking moral fights for the sake of it. However, the fujoushi aren't doing anything to stop them, I await the backlash.
Aretefact you already used the arguement at the bottom.
Trimming around the edges. Next yuri. One of the ways for social acceptance is to see it and understand it. While these publications are hardly promotional material getting them banned will further push homosexuality into the dark corners.
It's like banning gay comedy shows, without any exposure whatsoever to homosexuality people will put on a thicker glove when they meet one.
Another example would be would you say Ellen DeGeneres say she is a lesbian or she came out or she admitted she is one.
"What we need to do now is get the gay movement in on this shit so that they have political pressure going against this censorship bullshit."
Why would the gay movement want to support something that exploits them and isn't even aimed at them? It's like getting blacks to petition the return of minstrel shows. I think they would rather put effort in more important things, like LGBT rights in Japan.
who is Ellen DeGeneres?
Osaka is now officially to Japan what the deep south is to America...
Because the rest of American is not trying to ban loli and shota, amirite?
It does? News to me. I thought yaoi was ranked the same as normal smut.
from loliban, now yoai ban, i foresee the end is coming.
What we need to do now is get the gay movement in on this shit so that they have political pressure going against this censorship bullshit.
This is fucked up!
What about yuri? Why is Osaka so homophobic?
oh me gee.
Good riddance to yaoi, YOU WON'T BE MISSED.
If yuri isn't banned, are you sure you can call it homophobic? Lesbians are homosexual too, after all.
The more I read the comments, the more I am convinced not a single person actually read past the headline.
thank God I was afraid i'd have to start voting democrat
FINALLY!! YAOI WILL BE DEFEATED!!!!
Now hopefully all the FYG's will turn into SkinnyYG's but im sure thats a pipe dream.
Oh and to that man/girl that says Yaoi isn't gay. *FACEPALM* YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG....
Fictional men have no rights? D:
saddle up boys, time to go moral-fag hunting...
I'm pretty sure my sister is raging right now
The standard "Moral Panic" argument.
They don't care 'bout nothin, till it affects them, then they want to destroy it. Of course, they only go after affects of symptoms, never examining the root causes of any problem (or absence thereof) and make things worse but never better. And these win too often because those that argue against the solution to the problem, who argue for the accused find themselves accused themselves like any classic "Witch Hunt." Might Google "The Satan Sellers" on Loompanics for a sick insight into the 80s "Moral Panic" in the USA.
Was an aspect of pornography that appealed to women doing any harm? And what will they do if denied/deterred in their choice of pornography?
I think with "Equality Now"'s Jihad, we've got lots of people vowing to become REAL "Sex Criminals" if they are going to be treated as such for 100% fiction and so have to risk penalties for REAL "Party Van" for having comic books with silly doodles. (Based on their site whining about the threats, etc.) If they can afford to and maintain the obsession long enough for one of these "Otaku Rooms" we like to gawk at here, they could rather easily rent a run-down shack/apartment on the outskirts of town (longer walk to work would cut the pounds anyways) with a basement they could turn into a "Cellar Dungeon" perhaps full of bright candy colored "Bondage Toys" a little smaller than norm for "RL Lolis"? It'd be "Chester the Molester"'s dream...
Now, I don't think the women will do this. But, they actually might take it out on the "Otaku". The "Hard core nerds" they usually ignored (hated and feared, but ignored) might be blamed for "Taking their Yaoi" because they drooled over far sicker, viler stuff. So instead of just ignoring them and only hassling/embarrassing them if they asked them on a date in front of friends, they'd go out of their way to make them miserable. This would lead to them getting even more withdrawn and crazy, and as I said in my last block of text...more prone to a type of "Revenge" on "The modern women who seek to destroy men" as the "Great one" warned us about. Along the way, they'd do things like sleep with a creep who'd beat up the "Otaku" for them and otherwise become women unsuitable for marriage, to manipulative and controlling for any man to ever trust.
Just IMO.
-----A little off topic below, please forgive....
Just curious, 'cause this really, REALLY ain't mah thang, but is there any "Shota" out there that has the older guy bein a CATHOLIC priest?
If I understand right, the "Yaoi" is more a "Gay" thing and generally appeals (in Japan) to women!? but the "Shota" is young boy that appeals (is bought by) to gay men and pedos, right?
Something to look up, cause Mike Diana's "Priests F-Ck little Boyz!" picture is getting a bit dated and is crude-deliberately. Need some new fodder for various 'passarounds' and don't want to do it in my art style:-)
For your TLDR request, Rule 34 states there IS porn of it, no exceptions, I'm sure there's plenty of drawings, stories, and RP'd videos with midgets playing the choir boys if you search Sentrillion-- err, Google long enough.
Shota does not necessarily appeal to gay men and pedos exclusively, assuming you mean male pedos. Loveless is a classic yaoi shota, you've got a virgin 12 year old built right into the story, but it is clearly meant for women. Many yaoi stories that appeal to women are shota, because they involve the "protect the younger purer generation" theme with a 30 year old and a middle school boy stories.
The main difference between male appeal and female appeal shota is how fast it spirals into sex scenes. Female shota can even be (almost) "pure", no sex scenes at all, just kissing and groping, while male oriented shota, and yaoi in general, often is just a wham-bam-thank-you-maam kind of affair.
i have nothing against yaoi but banning loli to yaoi is madness =X
I don't think Japanese women would want to rape little boys unless Equlity Now wants to banned Violence against little boys?
Equality now are feminazi's they would protect a womens right to rape the little boys.
Im actually quite surprised equality now isnt protecting womens rights to read yaoi.
Where is Equlity now?
USA Kenya UK
Oh well, looks like they miss their chance to help more women by going to the wrong locations.