Manga Normalizes pedophila?

[New Way]

I was talking to a person about manga/comics recently and he made is silly statement.

"Manga doesn't cause pedophila but it makes it seem normal."

I don't agree with what he said but some anime/manga does give me an uncomfortable when they protray underaged girls and boys as sex objects.

[David Bird]

As popular as it is getting, I am sure the Britney Spears of this world are far more responsible for "normalizing" underage sexuality than manga or anime.

[Allen Jaco]

As popular as it is getting, I am sure the Britney Spears of this world are far more responsible for "normalizing" underage sexuality than manga or anime.

Agreed. Britney Spears (and Aguilera, and all the other blonde girl soloists) are the ones who made it okay for teens to wear skimpy clothing, and present themselves as objects of desire.

I mean Britney made a career of "look how sexy I am" while still really young.

[EyesBL7]

I hate to over generalize here but....the types of teens who actually read manga usually arent the ones who would emulate the skimpy fashions.

[Nightfly]

Britney Spears is not responsible for making Japanese men fetishize school-girl uniforms.
Sorry to bust that myth. Japan, much like America, has a very 'interesting' 'relationship' to human sexuality and it's various perversities.

My sincere hope is that the manga fans that enjoy such imagery get their cathartic release via illustrations - similar to video gamers excorcizing their violent side - which can arguably serve as psycholigical outlets for the darker aspects of man's inherent nature, instead of engaging in the actual physical actions in reality.

[estee]

Manga doesn't normalize pedophilia...it normalizes the need to walk around in mech-armour and carry around enormous swords. :D

[David Bird]

Britney Spears is not responsible for making Japanese men fetishize school-girl uniforms.
Sorry to bust that myth. Japan, much like America, has a very 'interesting' 'relationship' to human sexuality and it's various perversities.

I was speaking from a North American context. The school girl fetish predates both manga and Spears, here and in Japan.

[toede]

in japan, it used to be quite normal for 35/40 yr old man to get married to a 14 yr old girl.

[David Bird]

A couple of hundred years ago, it wasn't uncommon in the West either.

[Ravager]

Manga doesn't normalize pedophilia...it normalizes the need to walk around in mech-armour and carry around enormous swords. :D

I do that anyway.

[toede]

A couple of hundred years ago, it wasn't uncommon in the West either.

actually, that was common I think 'til 1890's - 1900's.

[David Bird]

Statutory ages were introduced in the 19th century. Desparately poor families were selling their daughters off and reformers wanted to stop it. They first argued that it consituted a form of slavery, but that was a political hot potato, so they argued from the idea that children were innocent and should be protected as such. Appropriate ages got older and older. By the 1900s it was as high as the mid teens. Now most don't marry until they're in their 20s.

[toede]

in the poorer places in the country, yea it was happening. It does still happen today, but it seems to be in more backwoods country areas.

In Utah, I hear it still happens.

[crowblackday]

ive been saying manga and anime has been promoting pedophilia for a while now but noone listened .

[Juisarian]

If depicting teenages as attractive or desirable is normalizing paedophillia then Archie Comics does that too.

[Nightfly]

If depicting teenages as attractive or desirable is normalizing paedophillia then Archie Comics does that too.
Archie books offer panty shots? I honestly was not aware? Hmmm.

[Pete2525]

In short yes, some anime and manga do normalise pedophelia. Not that a fetish for underage girs is somehow restricted to Japan, but it foes seem to be more prevalent in Japan than in other countries. On the other hand, outside of straight port manga (which is not exactly mainstream), most of the stuff that is sold in bookstores is fairly harmless, and realistically most adult men find teenage girls attractive (at least older teenagers). Another thing to keep in mind, is that a lot of the manga (and just about all the anime) you see in stores is itself aimed at teenagers, not adults, and features love interest heroines the same age as the intended reader. The Japanese have different standards for what is and isn't appropriate for kids, and it's not unusual to see minor nudity (butts, breasts) and of course lots of panty flashing and cleavage in manga aimed at high-school boys. In my experience manga aimed at adults usually features adult female protagonists.

[David Bird]

In my experience manga aimed at adults usually features adult female protagonists.

Good point.

[JMarsh642]

Suddenly some terrifying images from Evangelion which I had been repressing have come back to me. Thanks :mad:

[JMarsh642]

*double post*

[lime]

If a 30 year old person finds a 16 year old person attractive, I really don't care.. I don't see what the huge deal is, as long as the younger person is never forced into anything. 14 may be pretty young, but at any age it depends on the individual person. There's a lot of 18 year olds I know who I do NOT think are mature enough to be screwing around. I don't buy into this age line that anything over 18 is fine and anything under 18 is sick and crazy. There's a lot of hysteria attached to this subject.

[gypsynuke]

Agreed. Britney Spears (and Aguilera, and all the other blonde girl soloists) are the ones who made it okay for teens to wear skimpy clothing, and present themselves as objects of desire.

I mean Britney made a career of "look how sexy I am" while still really young.

She was 17 or 18 when she first started. How is that "really young'? Teen girls are going to be hot no matter what they wear, it's just a matter of keeping your hands to yourself because they're not adults.

[Nightfly]

When I was young folks blamed young ladies fashoins on disco, Charlie's Angels & Three's Company.
Then in the 80's it was Daisy Dukes & Madonna. I remember rumblings about the bikini back in the 60's.

Humans are sexual creatures, if you don't like it, blame the designer.
My first show you mine, show me yours experience was when I was about 5 or 6 (somewhere around pre-school or kindergarden) with a girl my same age.

Art, of all things, has legitimate claim to study the issue, if only as a reflection of the human-experience (much less love or 'the soul').
When I first saw Jennifer Connelly in Once Upon A Time in America, or Brooke Shields in Pretty Baby, I wasn't confused into thinking I was beholding any kind of pedophilia - the same applies to Natalie Portman in The Professional (aka Leon).
What I do find questionable are the Jonbenet Ramsey's of the world; cultures that seemingly auction their children off in competition for arranged marriages 'n such.

Yes, Britney & Christina were illegal (under 18) when they first strutted their stuff on MTV... but let's not forget the institution that trained 'em, Disney.
Up to date fashion, nor the devils music is to blame for the (ever increasing) sexuality of young people, if I had to diagnose it I'd say it's simple curiosity [in an age of instant everything].

In closing, the wrong IMO is to seek to de-sexualize children to the point that they think their bodies are shameful, or even worse that their unsure of their natural gender-assignment.
If a society wants their young to stay innocent longer, the best thing would be to reduce the amount of steroids & hormones you allow into your meat, milk, etc. which are a big cause for girls bodies developing earlier & earlier (especially in this sh*t soup of unclean air & water we're all forced to exist in).

[Regulator]

Agreed. Britney Spears (and Aguilera, and all the other blonde girl soloists) are the ones who made it okay for teens to wear skimpy clothing, and present themselves as objects of desire.

I mean Britney made a career of "look how sexy I am" while still really young.

Actually, I'd argue that they are the products of a trend and not the cause of it. I've been noticing for some time (and well before these girls became popular) that little kids were dressing much better and had far more expensive or fashionable clothing than I ever remember my parents buying me or any of my friends wearing and I'm only 28. What I think happened is that the 80s created such an emphasis on expensive designer clothing that the people who were becoming adults in that era passed on their clothing predilections to the children they had not long after.

[Electric Glove]

Archie books offer panty shots? I honestly was not aware? Hmmm.


Archie books are full of innocent fan-service, if one really wanted to see them that way. Its not uncommon for the girls to be strutting around in bathing suits. Since Archie comics are drawn by people, there's a lot of sex thrown in by the artists. One of my personal favs in a beach scene where the background is an old man staring at a girl bending over in front of him. Then there's things like Dilton's invention that sends atingling sensation througha girls body when you kiss them. Hell, the kid has a girl robot in his lab he uses for making out practice! Archie may not be in your face about it, but you can find a lot of questionable teen girl dealings in the book if you read enough of them. Artist and writers seem to live for throwing in that kind of stuff at times.

[avengingtitan]

Archie books are full of innocent fan-service, if one really wanted to see them that way. Its not uncommon for the girls to be strutting around in bathing suits. Since Archie comics are drawn by people, there's a lot of sex thrown in by the artists. One of my personal favs in a beach scene where the background is an old man staring at a girl bending over in front of him. Then there's things like Dilton's invention that sends atingling sensation througha girls body when you kiss them. Hell, the kid has a girl robot in his lab he uses for making out practice! Archie may not be in your face about it, but you can find a lot of questionable teen girl dealings in the book if you read enough of them. Artist and writers seem to live for throwing in that kind of stuff at times.
Hell Disney movies used to do that all the time. Anyone remember the Wedding Scene in Little Mermaid. That Preist had a boner the whole time.

[Nightfly]

Anyone remember the Wedding Scene in Little Mermaid. That Preist had a boner the whole time.
Who didn't!? (jk) :D

[EmeraldGuy32]

Battle Royale would be a great comic if it weren't for all the pedophelic undertones and sub-plots. It's just gross. It's too bad too, cuz I probably would've bought the entire series, but there's only so much I can take.

[lime]

Battle Royale would be a great comic if it weren't for all the pedophelic undertones and sub-plots. It's just gross. It's too bad too, cuz I probably would've bought the entire series, but there's only so much I can take.

The mind-numbing violence and gore=OK.. Teenaged characters being portrayed as interested in sex=beneath your moral standards..?:rolleyes:

[Randy A]

You know, lime has put up some great arguments in this thread for it not being as bad as some think. I think i tend to agree with those arguments (though granted i have not read a lot of manga.)

[Shawn Fumo]

There's no easy answers because in a sense everyone is right, with lots of different factors at work. It is true that much of the fanservice out there is aimed at kids themselves, depicting girls of a similar age. The sexualization also has a huge range from very innocent stuff to less so. There's also the issue of big emotional eyes giving a character a younger look than they may actually portray.

Personally, I find some fanservice less offensive than some of the western equivilants. An example would be Beck, where the main character is a teen boy that sometimes gets distracted by ladies around him, which also draws the reader's eye. IMO, that seems much more "normal" than the kind of sexualization that puts a superhero or fantasy fighting character into a skimpy outfit. Then again, some series put much more fanservice than is appropriate and it can be offputting in an otherwise innocent-seeming story..

But there's plenty of darkside in Japan as well, and one could slide about as far in any sort of direction as they want to in terms of age and graphic nature. I would argue that overall even in the western fandom, people are less judgemental about "lolicon" (lolita complex) leanings than in the general public. Take of that what you will..

One might argue that a bigger problem than sexualizing of the "young body aesthetic" is how innocence itself can sometimes be put on a pedestal and/or combined with sexuality. There's the "moe" phenomenon which is usually described as a more non-sexual "big brother complex" sort of thing where innocent girls are idolized, but some people can bring sex into that as well to make things even more weird. Not to mention the whole aspect of overlaying sex onto childhood characters which is also known in the West (like people drawing naked pics of the Little Mermaid or something).

So, it all just depends. I think most manga that you'd find in a store and such is usually harmless, and depending on what it contains and who it is aimed for, it may even be healthier than other forms of fanservice (though there's also plenty of the more western fanservice in other manga). But if you're worried, just be careful to take note of your own reactions to things and steer yourself accordingly.

BTW, I haven't read the Battle Royale manga, but you probably should check out the novel on which it is based. It sounds like the sexual aspects were played up much more in the manga (not much in the novel). There's also a lot of time for characterization and political themes.

Shawn