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Or,
Several of the non-Japanese fandoms in which I participate have recently discovered the existence of yaoi and doujinshi. Many of these fandoms are now operating under the misconception that it's perfectly acceptable for Japanese women to openly enjoy boy/boy porn. As I'm sure many have before me, I am here to set this straight.
It is not socially and culturally acceptable for Japanese women to openly enjoy boy/boy porn. Again, it is not socially and culturally acceptable for Japanese women to openly enjoy boy/boy porn.
And in case you missed it above, it is not socially acceptable for Japanese women to openly enjoy boy/boy porn.
It is tolerated, but it is not acceptable.
And now for the elaboration:
Yes, boy/boy porn (hereafter 'yaoi') exists in Japan. There is a niche market for yaoi, and it is catered to because that is how capitalism works. But the presence of yaoi is not an indication that Japanese society allows its women a liberated sexual playground, or that it's all right for Japanese women to openly admit to liking yaoi. Existence is not the same as across-the-board acceptance.
If it were culturally and socially acceptable to like yaoi, then one would expect that yaoi fans need not conceal their interest. They do. Japanese men read sexually explicit manga in public. I have yet to see a single Japanese woman reading any sexually explicit manga, let alone yaoi manga, in public. This fact alone argues against the idea that the Japanese think it's okay for women to enjoy reading about sex let alone yaoi sex.
The manga business is intensley competitive. New talent is constantly emerging, and scores of weekly and monthly manga anthologies compete for customers. If a mangaka's work is unpopular, her career is history. If a mangaka wants to remain employed, maintaining name recognition is critical. Given this situation, it's telling that mangaka who pen both gen manga and yaoi manga usually do so under two different pen names. Name recognition is key, but gen mangaka do not want to be associated with yaoi even if they write both, which certainly suggests that there is a stigma attatched to writing yaoi manga. Again, this indicates that yaoi manga is not accepted by Japanese society.
The strongest evidence against the "Japanese women can openly like yaoi!" misconception comes from the attitudes of Japanese themselves concerning yaoi. Yaoi is marketed toward middle and high school-aged girls, not women. Middle and high school-aged girls who like yaoi are perceived as a little strange to begin with, and they are certainly expected to outgrow their interest in yaoi by the end of high school. Yaoi is seen as a phase girls outgrow when they mature enough to have real relationships with men. Would those attitudes be present if it were culturally okay for women to enjoy yaoi?
Adult women do not read yaoi. (Or at least that's the polite fiction at work. I'm certain many adult women do read yaoi, but they conceal this fact very well. I've never seen anyone over the age of about 17 in the yaoi sections of bookstores.) An adult woman who read yaoi in Japan would be considered immature, and afraid (and perhaps incapable) of having normal relationships with men. This is not a very flattering characterisation, and certainly would not exist if it were culturally acceptable to be a yaoi fan in Japan.
A recent conversation I had with a Japanese friend follows. It should be noted that a) she brought the subject up with no prompting from my end, and b) you can learn a lot by pretending you don't know anything.
Friend: See those manga?
Me: Yeah, sure.
F: They are about boys.
M: You mean the characters?
F: Yes. In love with boys.
M: Really? Books for gay people are harder to find in America. That's kind of cool.
F: No. Not gay person, girls.
M: Really?
F: Yes.
M: Is that normal?
F: No. The girls who like these sorts of magazines are very young.
M: Do most girls read them?
F: No. To be honest, the girls who do are, I dunno, kind of weird.
M: Really?
F: Yeah. But they usually don't read them after high school.
M: Did you ever read them?
F: No.
And there you have it from the horse's mouth. So, yaoi exists in Japan, but again, it's existence does not signal that it's culturally okay for Japanese girls to get turned on by the idea of two men together. Yaoi exists, I believe, because people are willing to pay for it, but the people who do consume it are anything but allowed to make their status as yaoi fangirls public.
Several of the non-Japanese fandoms in which I participate have recently discovered the existence of yaoi and doujinshi. Many of these fandoms are now operating under the misconception that it's perfectly acceptable for Japanese women to openly enjoy boy/boy porn. As I'm sure many have before me, I am here to set this straight.
It is not socially and culturally acceptable for Japanese women to openly enjoy boy/boy porn. Again, it is not socially and culturally acceptable for Japanese women to openly enjoy boy/boy porn.
And in case you missed it above, it is not socially acceptable for Japanese women to openly enjoy boy/boy porn.
It is tolerated, but it is not acceptable.
And now for the elaboration:
Yes, boy/boy porn (hereafter 'yaoi') exists in Japan. There is a niche market for yaoi, and it is catered to because that is how capitalism works. But the presence of yaoi is not an indication that Japanese society allows its women a liberated sexual playground, or that it's all right for Japanese women to openly admit to liking yaoi. Existence is not the same as across-the-board acceptance.
If it were culturally and socially acceptable to like yaoi, then one would expect that yaoi fans need not conceal their interest. They do. Japanese men read sexually explicit manga in public. I have yet to see a single Japanese woman reading any sexually explicit manga, let alone yaoi manga, in public. This fact alone argues against the idea that the Japanese think it's okay for women to enjoy reading about sex let alone yaoi sex.
The manga business is intensley competitive. New talent is constantly emerging, and scores of weekly and monthly manga anthologies compete for customers. If a mangaka's work is unpopular, her career is history. If a mangaka wants to remain employed, maintaining name recognition is critical. Given this situation, it's telling that mangaka who pen both gen manga and yaoi manga usually do so under two different pen names. Name recognition is key, but gen mangaka do not want to be associated with yaoi even if they write both, which certainly suggests that there is a stigma attatched to writing yaoi manga. Again, this indicates that yaoi manga is not accepted by Japanese society.
The strongest evidence against the "Japanese women can openly like yaoi!" misconception comes from the attitudes of Japanese themselves concerning yaoi. Yaoi is marketed toward middle and high school-aged girls, not women. Middle and high school-aged girls who like yaoi are perceived as a little strange to begin with, and they are certainly expected to outgrow their interest in yaoi by the end of high school. Yaoi is seen as a phase girls outgrow when they mature enough to have real relationships with men. Would those attitudes be present if it were culturally okay for women to enjoy yaoi?
Adult women do not read yaoi. (Or at least that's the polite fiction at work. I'm certain many adult women do read yaoi, but they conceal this fact very well. I've never seen anyone over the age of about 17 in the yaoi sections of bookstores.) An adult woman who read yaoi in Japan would be considered immature, and afraid (and perhaps incapable) of having normal relationships with men. This is not a very flattering characterisation, and certainly would not exist if it were culturally acceptable to be a yaoi fan in Japan.
A recent conversation I had with a Japanese friend follows. It should be noted that a) she brought the subject up with no prompting from my end, and b) you can learn a lot by pretending you don't know anything.
Friend: See those manga?
Me: Yeah, sure.
F: They are about boys.
M: You mean the characters?
F: Yes. In love with boys.
M: Really? Books for gay people are harder to find in America. That's kind of cool.
F: No. Not gay person, girls.
M: Really?
F: Yes.
M: Is that normal?
F: No. The girls who like these sorts of magazines are very young.
M: Do most girls read them?
F: No. To be honest, the girls who do are, I dunno, kind of weird.
M: Really?
F: Yeah. But they usually don't read them after high school.
M: Did you ever read them?
F: No.
And there you have it from the horse's mouth. So, yaoi exists in Japan, but again, it's existence does not signal that it's culturally okay for Japanese girls to get turned on by the idea of two men together. Yaoi exists, I believe, because people are willing to pay for it, but the people who do consume it are anything but allowed to make their status as yaoi fangirls public.