Shoujo Manga too Sexually Explicit?

[Floating_Sakura]

Sex crimes has always been associated with sexual male oriented magazines, however, the society has also recognized that shoujo manga is a little too explicit in sexual expression.

On November 6th, from Asahi Shinbu, there's an article of overtly sexual explicit manga:

The problem was posed by a woman (45 year old) from Toyamashi. She expressed that she was shocked after reading some of her gr 5 daughter's (11-year-old) shoujo manga left on her desk.

With sex activities appearing in high school, ferris wheels etc, as well as forceful and aggressive sexual behaviors, it is completely profane to women.

"I think everyone, including those who create the manga, those who sell it and the adults who allow it all have problems."

What do the publishers think? We went and consulted a chief editor (age 47) of a major shoujo manga magazine after reading this lady's letter.

The chief editor explains that, "love is a big theme in shoujo manga. It is impossible to shut out sexual behaviors, as they are an extension of love." He also states that, "in the last couple of years, I've been looking into published manga, and identifying the possible "harmful" material and talking with the mangaka about them."

He admits that in the last 10 years, there has been a major increase in explicit sexual material in shoujo manga.

"Children have more opportunity to get information on sex. Parents have also stopped nagging them about it, so it seems that there is less resistant on the overtly explicit sexual material," he says.

The Ethnical Review Board of the Japanese Magazine Association also discussed the problem of sex and violence in adult-oriented manga magazine.

Ryoukichi Yama (Director of Shogakukan) says that "We can permit kissing and sex scenes to a certain degree, as they are a natural flow of love. However, we should avoid things that center amusement on sexual techniques and rape."

He adds, "in today's society, children understand that rape and perverts exist. Getting to know them from fictional works like manga will help them understand reality. There has yet to be any cases of crime committed because of manga. If parents feel that there is a problem, they should talk to their children about these manga."

The Ethnical Review board hopes to suppress extreme sexual expression, but they are limited to participating companies. Moreover, there has not been an organization that defines targeted age audience for Shoujo Manga.

Translated by Floating_Sakura
From: Yu yu Nikki