Abstract
In this article, we describe translated Japanese comics or “manga” with sexual content. Because in the West comics have been treated as junk culture, they lack canons for critical analysis. We have developed methods for analyzing manga that focus on objective assessment of content, on reader subjectivity, and on how the emotional tenor of the artwork is created. We briefly review some history of Japanese art and culture, in which sexuality has always been a legitimate subject for art and which forms the cultural underpinnings of manga. We summarize the erotic themes and visions of manga with sexual content, including heterosexual courtship and consummation, female and male homosexuality, sadomasochism, transvestitism, incest, and bestiality. Critics of manga argue that it glorifies rape, a view we could not confirm. We identified 87 stories with rape or sexual assault; 80 (92.0%) show the woman or others taking violent, often murderous, revenge on sexual attackers. We also analyze visual modalities for depicting men and women. In common with older Japanese aesthetic traditions, the manga we have seen depict women as beautiful, powerful, and erotic. Finally, we suggest that manga functions as an art form by mobilizing the reader’s involvement with the characters, especially female characters, in a complex narrative framework in which sexuality is a positive virtue for men and, especially, for women. We conclude that manage contains some of the finest erotic art being produced in the world today for sheer power, elegance, and drama.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abramson, P. R., & Hayashi, H. (1984). Pornography in Japan: Cross-cultural and theoretical considerations. In N. M. Malamuth & E. Donnerstein (Eds.), Pornography and sexual aggression (pp. 173–183). Orlando, FL: Academic Press.
Adams, K. A., & Hill, L. (1997). The phallic female in Japanese group-fantasy. Journal of Psychohistory, 25(1), 33–66.
Adams, K. A., & Hill, L. (1999). Castration anxiety in Japanese group-fantasies. Journal of Psychohistory, 26(4), 779–809.
Adler, S., & Wolf, S. (2000). Fodor’s Japan (15th ed.). New York: Random House.
Allison, A. (1996). Permitted and prohibited desires: Mothers, comics, and censorship in Japan. Boulder, CO: Westview/HarperCollins.
Arnheim, R. (1969). Visual thinking. London: Faber and Faber.
Asano, N. (1964). Introduction to the art of Japan. In B. Smith (Ed.), Japan: A history in art (pp. 14–16). New York: Gemini-Smith/Doubleday.
Aston, W. G. (Trans.), (1972). Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the earliest times to A.D. 697. Rutland, VT: Tuttle. (Original work published 1896)
Barron, M., & Kimmel, M. (2000). Sexual violence in three pornographic media: Toward a sociological explanation. Journal of Sex Research, 37, 161–168.
Bates, R. (1993). Sacred sex: Erotic writings from the religions of the world. London: Fount/HarperCollins.
Beasley, W. G. (1999). The Japanese experience: A short history of Japan. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Benedict, R. (1946). The chrysanthemum and the sword: Patterns of Japanese culture. New York: New American Library.
Bird, I. L. (1973). Unbeaten tracks in Japan: An account of travels in the interior including visits to the aborigines of Yezo and the shrine of Nikko. Rutland, VT: Tuttle. (Original work published 1880)
Boccaccio, G. (n.d.). The Decameron of Boccaccio. [no location given]: The Bibliophilist Society. (Original work 1348–1353)
Bornoff, N. (1991). Pink samurai: Love marriage & sex in contemporary Japan. New York: Pocket Books.
Brannen, C., & Wilen, T. (1993). Doing business with Japanese men: A women’s handbook. Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press.
Brimmicombe-Wood, L., & Tamamuro, M. (2000, July), Manga marvels. Manga Max, 1(18), 16–19.
Brophy, P. (1997). Ocular excess: A semiotic morphology of cartoon eyes. Art & Design Magazine, 26–33. (Profile #53: Art & Animation)
Cornog, M. (1986). Naming sexual body parts: Preliminary patterns and implications. Journal of Sex Research, 22, 393–398.
Cornog, M. (1991). Libraries, erotica, and pornography. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx.
Cornog, M., & Perper, T. (1996). For sex education, see librarian: A guide to resources and issues. Westport, CT: Greenwood.
Cott, N. F. (1978). Passionlessness: An interpretation of Victorian sexual ideology, 1790–1850. Signs, 4, 219–236.
Crawford, T. (2001). Freeze me. In 10th Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema, April 26–May 7, 2001 program guide (p. 97). Philadelphia: International House.
Delay, N. (1999). The art and culture of Japan. New York: Harry N. Abrams.
Diamond, M. (1999). The effects of pornography: An international perspective. In J. Elias, V. D. Elias, V. L. Bullough, G. Brewer, J. J. Douglas, & W. Jarvis (Eds.), Porn 101: Eroticism, pornography, and the First Amendment (pp. 223–260). Amherst, NY: Prometheus.
Diamond, M. (2000, April), Real-life world effects of pornography: Relation to sex crimes. Paper presented at the Western Regional Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, San Diego, CA.
Diamond, M., & Uchiyama, A. (1999). Pornography, rape and sex crimes in Japan. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 22, 1–22. (Available <www.afn.org/~sfcommed/Pornography.htm>)
Dixon, D., & Dixon, J. K. (1999). A serious look at the amazing phenomenon of erotic comic books. In J. Elias, V. D. Elias, V. L. Bullough, G. Brewer, J. J. Douglas, and W. Jarvis (Eds.), Porn 101; Eroticism, pornography, and the First Amendment (pp. 427–436). Amherst, NY: Prometheus.
Eisner, W. (1985). Comics & sequential art. Tamarac, FL: Poorhouse Press.
Elias, J., Elias, V. D., Bullough, V. L., Brewer, G., Douglas, J. J., & Jarvis, W. (Eds.). (1999). Pron 101; Eroticism, pornography, and the First Amendment. Amherst, NY: Prometheus.
Ellwood, R. S., & Pilgrim, R. (1992). Japanese religion: A cultural perspective. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Embree, J. F. (1995). Suye Mura: A Japanese village. Ann Arbor, MI: Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan. (Original work published 1939)
Equality Now. (1999, January). Japanese discrimination against women, AHRC Publications-Human Rights Solidarity, 9(1), available at <www.ahrchk.net/ solidarity/199901/v91_13.htm>. (Asian Human Rights Commission)
Estren, M. J. (1986). A history of underground comics. Berkeley, CA: Ronin Publishing.
Fagioli, M. (1998). Shunga: The erotic art of Japan. New York: Rizzoli/ Universe Publishing.
Faulkner, R. (1991). Masterpieces of Japanese prints: Ukiyo-e from the Victoria and Albert Museum. Tokyo: Kodansha.
Fish, S. E. (1980). Is there a text in this class? The authority of interpretive communities. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Funabashi, K. (1995). Pornographic culture and sexual violence. In K. Fujimura-Fanselow & A. Kameda (Eds.), Japanese women: New feminist perspectives on the past, present, and future (pp. 255–263). New York: The Feminist Press of The City University of New York.
Giardino, V. (1994). Little Ego. New York: Eurotica/NBM Publishing.
Gombrich, E. H. (2000). Art and illusion: A study in the psychology of pictorial representation (Millennium ed.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1961)
Gordon, B. S. (2000). Life outside academe [Interview]. The Key Reporter, 65(3), 6–8. (Phi Beta Kappa)
Gregersen, E. (1983). Sexual practices: The story of human sexuality. New York: Franklin Watts.
Gregersen, E. (1994). The world of human sexuality: Behaviors, customs and beliefs. New York: Irvington.
Grigsby, M. (1999). The social production of gender as reflected in two Japanese culture industry products: Sailormoon and Crayon Shin-Chan. In J. A. Lent (Ed.), Themes and issues in Asian cartooning: Cute, cheap, mad, and sexy (pp. 183–210). Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press.
Hall, J. W. (1991). Japan: From prehistory to modern times. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. (Original work published 1968)
Hatano, Y., & Shimazaki, T. (1997). Japan (Nippon). In R. T. Francoeur (Ed.), The International encyclopedia of sexuality (Vol. 2, pp 763–842). New York: Continuum.
Hawkins, J. R. (2000, Winter). Japan’s journey into homophobia. The Gay & Lesbian Review, pp. 36–38.
Hayashi, H. (1998). Techniques for drawing female manga characters. Tokyo: Graphic-Sha Publishing.
Hayashi, H. (1999). How to draw manga: Bishoujo around the world. Tokyo: Graphic-Sha Publishing.
Hirota, D. (1999). Reflections on the notion of the inward quest in Japanese Buddhist experience. In J. R. Carter (Ed.), The religious heritage of Japan: Foundations for cross-cultural understanding in a religiously plural world (pp. 169–195). Portland, OR: Book East.
Holland, N. N. (1975). Five readers reading. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Holub, R. C. (1984). Reception theory: A critical introduction. London: Methuen.
Horn, M. (1985). Sex in the comics. New York: Chelsea House.
Iwao, S. (1993). The Japanese woman: Traditional image and changing reality. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.
Jansen, M. B. (2000). The making of modern Japan. Cambridge, MA: Belknap/Harvard University Press.
Japan: Portrait of a nation (Rev. ed.). (1999). Tokyo: Kodansha.
Kaneko, S. (1995). Women’s place: Cultural and historical perspectives. In K. Fujimura-Fanselow & A. Kameda (Eds.), Japanese women: New feminist perspectives on the past, present, and future (pp. 1–14). New York: The Feminist Press of The City University of New York.
Kazuo Koike. (2000). In K. Koike & G. Kojima, Lone Wolf and Cub (Vol. 3, p. 315). Milwaukee, OR: Dark Horse Comics.
Kimura, Y., & Yamana, A. (1999). What Japanese women are really like. Tokyo: Katsuyuki Hasegawa.
Kinsella, S. (2000). Adult manga: Culture and power in contemporary Japanese society. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai’i Press.
Kobayashi, T. (1993). Utamaru: Portraits from the floating world. Tokyo: Kodansha.
Kronhausen, P., & Kronhausen, E. (1978). The complete book of erotic art: Erotic art, Volumes 1 and 2. New York: Bell.
Lane, R. (1999). Ukiyo-e: An introduction to the floating world. In R. Faulkner, Masterpieces of Japanese prints: Ukiyo-e from the Victoria and Albert Museum (pp. 11–23). Tokyo: Kodansha.
Lawrence, R. J. (1989). The poisoning of Eros: Sexual values in conflict. New York: Augustine Moore Press.
Legman, G. (1968). Rationale of the dirty joke: An analysis of sexual humor (First Series). New York: Grove Press.
Leupp, G. P. (1995). Male colors: The construction of homosexuality in Tokugawa Japan. Berkeley, CA: University of Calironia Press.
Levi, A. (1996). Samurai from outer space: Understanding Japanese animation. Chicago: Open Court Press.
Levy, H. S., & Ishihara, A. (1989). The Tao of sex: the essence of medical prescriptions (Ishimpo) (3rd ed.). Lower Lake, CA: Integral Publishing.
Lewis, R. W. B. (2001). Dante. New York: Lipper/Viking.
Linden, R. R., Pagano, D. R., Russell, D. E. H., & Star, S. L. (1982). Against sadomasochism: A radical feminist analysis. East Palo Alto, CA: Frog In The Well.
Liscutin, N. (2000). Mapping the sacred body: Shinto versus popular beliefs at Mt. Iwaki in Tsugaru. In J. Breen & M. Teeuwen (Eds.), Shinto in history: Ways of the kami (pp. 186–204). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai’i Press.
Maraini, F. (1959). Meeting with Japan. London: Hutchinson.
Marcus, S. (1974). The other Victorians: A study of sexuality and pornography in mid-nineteenth-century England. New York: New American Library.
McCarthy, H. (1999). Hayao Miyazaki, Master of Japanese animation: Films, themes, artistry. Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press.
McCarthy, H., & Clements, J. (1999). The erotic anime movie guide. Woodstock, NY: The Overlook Press.
McCloud, S. (1993). Understanding comics. New York: Paradox Press/DC Comics.
Melville, R. (1973). Erotic art of the West; With a short history of Western erotic art by Simon Wilson. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons.
Mirzoeff, N. (1999). An introduction to visual culture. New York: Routledge.
Morris, I. (1994). The world of the shining prince: Court life in ancient Japan. Tokyo: Kodansha. (Original work published 1964)
Mosher, D. (1994). Pornography. In V. L. Bullough & B. Bullough (Eds.), Human sexuality: An encyclopedia (pp. 470–477). New York: Garland.
Mosse, G. L. (1985). Middle-class morality and sexual norms in modern Europe. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
Napier, S. J. (2001). Anime From Akira to Princess Mononoke: Experiencing contemporary Japanese animation. New York: Palgrave/St. Martin’s.
Neff, R. (1995). Japan’s hidden hot springs. Rutland, VT: Tuttle.
Ogasawara, Y. (1998). Office ladies and salaried men: Power, gender, and work in Japanese companies. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Okano, H. (1995). Women’s image and place in Japanese Buddhism. In K. Fujimura-Fanselow & A. Kameda (Eds.), Japanese women: New feminist perspectives on the past, present, and future (pp. 15–28). New York: The Feminist Press at The City University of New York.
Ono, S. (1962). Shinto: The kami way. Rutland, VT: Tuttle.
Paine, R. (1999). Too late for the festival: An American salary-woman in Japan. Chicago: Academy Chicago Publishers.
Paine, R. T., & Soper, A. (1981). The art and architecture of Japan (3rd ed.). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Palys, T. S. (1986). Testing the common wisdom: The social content of video pornography. Canadian Psychology, 27, 22–35.
Perper, T. (1985). Sex signals: The biology of love. Philadelphia: ISI Press.
Perper, T., & Cornog, M. (1999). Sex in the interstices: The meltdown of idealized selves and partners. Sexuality & Culture, 3, 101–115.
Pipher, M. (1994). Reviving Ophelia: Saving the selves of adolescent girls. New York: Ballantine.
Poitras, G. (1999). The anime companion: What’s Japanese in Japanese animation? Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press.
Queen, C., & Schimel, L. (Eds.). (1997). PoMoSexuals: Challenging assumptions about gender and sexuality. San Francisco: Cleis.
Rancour-Laferriere, D. (1979). Some semiotic aspects of the human penis. Versus: Quaderni di Studi Semiotici, 24, 37–82.
Reischauer, E. O., & Jansen, M. B. (1995). The Japanese today: Change and continuity (Enlarged ed.). Cambridge, MA: Belknap/Harvard University Press.
Robertson, J. (1998). Takarazuka: Sexual politics and popular culture in modern Japan. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Rutenberg, J. (2001, January 28). Violence finds a niche in children’s cartoons. New York Times, pp. 1, 19.
Sadamoto, Y. (2001). Der Mond: Yoshiyuki Sadamoto’s art collection. San Francisco: Viz Communications.
SAMOIS. (1982). Coming to power: Writings and graphics on lesbian S-M (Rev. ed.). Boston: Alyson.
Schodt, F. L. (1986). Manga! Manga! The world of Japanese comics. Tokyo: Kodansha.
Schodt, F. L. (1996). Dreamland Japan: Writings on modern manga. Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press.
Scott, J. E., & Cuvelier, S. J. (1987a). Violence in Playboy magazine: A longitudinal analysis. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 16, 279–288.
Scott, J. E., & Cuvelier, S. J. (1987b). Sexual violence in Playboy magazine: A longitudinal analysis. Journal of Sex Research, 23, 534–539.
Scott, J. E., & Cuvelier, S. J. (1993). Violence and sexual violence in pornography: Is it really increasing? Archives of Sexual Behavior, 22, 357–370.
Scott, R. W. (1990). Comics librarianship: A handbook. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.
Sha, K. (1964). A happier sex life: Study in modern Japanese sexual habits (R. Y. Tatsuoka & S. Kozuka, Trans.). Tokyo: Ikeda Shoten.
Shigematsu, S. (1999). Dimensions of desire: Sex, fantasy, and fetish in Japanese comics. In J. A. Lent (Ed.), Themes and issues in Asian cartooning: Cute, cheap, mad, and sexy (pp. 127–163). Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press.
Shiokawa, K. (1999). Cute but deadly: Women and violence in Japanese comics. In J. A. Lent, (Ed.), Themes and issues in Asian cartooning: Cute, cheap, mad, and sexy (pp. 93–125). Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press.
Simpson, C. (1966). Picture of Japan (Rev. & enlarged ed.). [no city given], Great Britain: Hodder and Stoughton.
Smith, T. (1991). Miso horny: Sex in Japanese comics. The Comics Journal, No. 143, 111–115.
Smith, T. C. (1959). The agrarian origins of modern Japan. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Sodei, T. (1995). Care of the elderly: A women’s issue. In K. Fujimura-Fanselow & A. Kameda (Eds.). Japanese women: New feminist perspectives on the past, present, and future (pp. 213–228). New York: The Feminist Press at The City University of New York.
Sorayama, H. (1992). The gynoids. Tokyo: Taro Kaneda/Treville.
Spahn, M., & Hadamitzky, W. (1998). The learner’s kanji dictionary. North Clarendon, VT: Tuttle.
Stanley-Baker, J. (1984). Japanese Art. New York: Thames and Hudson.
Swallow, J. (2000, July). Swordplay & slapstick. Manga Max, 1(18), 34–36.
Thorn, M. (1989, March). Adolescent liminality in the manga of HAGIO Moto. Paper presented at the Seventh Annual Association of Teachers of Japanese Seminar, Washington, DC. (Available at 〈www.ky.xaxon.ne.jp/∼matt/liminality.html〉)
Thorn, M. (1999). Girls and women getting out of hand: The pleasures and politics of Japan’s amateur comics community. In A. Roman (Ed.), Japan edge: The insider’s guide to Japanese pop subculture (pp. 139–141). San Francisco: Cadence Books/Viz Communications.
Ueda, K. (1999). The concept of kami. In J. R. Carter (Ed.), The religious heritage of Japan: Foundations for cross-cultural understanding in a religiously plural world (pp. 65–72), Portland, OR: Book East.
Weston, M. (1999). Giants of Japan: The lives of Japan’s greatest men and women. New York: Kodansha.
Yamashiro, J. (1999). In the realm of the sciences: The Kinsey Institute’s 31 Photographs. In J. Elias, V. D. Elias, V. L. Bullough, G. Brewer, J. J. Douglas, & W. Jarvis (Eds.), Porn 101: Eroticism, pornography, and the First Amendment (pp. 32–52). Amherst, NY: Prometheus.
Yoshizumi, K. (1995). Marriage and family: Past and present. In K. Fujimura-Fanselow & A. Kameda (Eds.), Japanese women: New feminist perspectives on the past, present, and future (pp. 183–197). New York: The Feminist Press at The City University of New York.
Yukino, Y. (2001–2002). Girl games come of age. In The Right Stuf 2001–2002 Catalog (pp. 226–229). Des Moines, IA: The Right Stuf International.
Zito, A. (2001). Queering filiality, raising the dead. Journal of the History of Sexuality, 10, 195–201.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Perper, T., Cornog, M. Eroticism for the masses: Japanese manga comiss and their assimilation into the U.S.. Sex Cult 6, 3–126 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-002-1000-4
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-002-1000-4