Japanese Gender Bender: Boy-love comics are the rage in the Orient -- for women
| News Media Commentary | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Japanese Gender Bender: Boy-love comics are the rage in the Orient -- for women |
| Commentator: | John Storey |
| Date(s): | April 6, 1993 |
| Venue: | |
| Fandom: | |
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Japanese Gender Bender: Boy-love comics are the rage in the Orient -- for women is a 1993 article that was published in "The Advocate."
Excerpts
In Japan comic books are among the most popular literature for all ages. College students devour them; housewives follow their favorite stories much as their U.S. counterparts watch soap operas; and professors and high-powered execs pul them out of briefcases to while away long subway rides. Even so. the comics that make up what has become known as the "boy love" genre have made market-share inroads. Industry sources say that at least 47 publishing houses—including big ones such as Kodansha offer such publications. Image, for instance, sells 30,000 copies per month at a hefty $8 per copy.
Image is intended for female consumption," she says. "We publish stones and comics about taboos such as gay relationships and incest. Sometimes lesbian ism, but not very often. All sex and love. And we use writers who can provide readers with fantasies and dreams, and they are usually women."
But in these stories written by women for women, women are noticeably absent. Female characters are relegated to the periphery^ and usually end up discarded or otherwise unhappy. The reason is linked to why women buy the books, says Azusa Nakajima, who at 40 is the doyenne of boy-love writers. In a 1992 commentary on the genre, she wrote that women turn to the stories as an escape from "the sorting eyes of society that classify them as good and bad on the basis of various standards: cute, smart, clean, and slim." Tired of reality, "they have chosen to be in a world where they can win...where they can be free by abolishing their presence and that of rival fellow women. In their place they put beautiful boys."
The denizens of this comic world always are slimly androgynous, with big eyes, pointed noses, and high cheekbones. At first glance they appear to be women, but the text and explicit drawings establish them as male. Explains Nakajima: "In this world the negative aspects of the real world, such as obesity, poverty, dirtiness, aging, and problems of love relationships between members of the opposite sex, are avoided.
"Nobody has figured out why girls are into this world where only men exist and women are totally excluded," Kakinuma says. "Some people say those boys are actually girls with masks on, but I don't think so. Others say it's subconscious feminism, but I'm not sure I agree with that either. Women feel that they are oppressed by society, and the boys comics and novels are a form of revenge, but that alone doesn't explain the entire phenomenon. I have friends who are in still pursuing this stuff. That proves they need it.