I think you made a really important point (that I hadn't consciously considered before) that people without any understanding of the socio-cultural aspects of yaoi fail to realize that the "uke" is less a reflection of a bottoming gay man as it is of the mangaka's own (submissive, passive, EXPECTED to be reluctant) experience of her sexuality. If someone has issues with the portrayal, perhaps they should consider why that's how a Japanese woman thinks she's supposed to express her own sexuality.
This is going to sound arrogant, but yes, I made an important point. I don’t know if it’s really important, but that’s beside the point I’ve made, and that I’ll continue to try making.
The way sex, sexuality, gender and gender identity is presented in yaoi manga specifically is problematic. Wow. Yes, it is. - But, not exactly for the reasons anti-yaoi/anti-fujoshi individuals claim it is. Their understanding of what is actually a highly complex, multi-layered societal and cultural issue is so completely flawed that they miss the point entirely. Their rhetoric is so pervasive is because most people are inclined to take most things at face value. It’s puzzling to me how people who are often very young have already forgotten one of the most important questions: why?It’s very unfortunate that platforms such as Tumblr (or social media in general) prioritize collectivist assimilation over natural curiosity.
Speaking of collectivist assimilation: Japan has a collectivist society. That’s important to keep in mind. It is to some degree Utilitarian as well. As a whole, Japanese society rates individualism as low-priority, or even something that shouldn’t be desired - which is why subculture and counterculture are such hot topics. The notion that Japan is ‘quirky’ is one that is exported rather than inherent. In actuality, the average Japanese person is the opposite of ‘quirky’. (I could go on about this for a while, but I’d have to freshen up my knowledge beforehand, so this’ll have to suffice as background information.)
If a Japanese woman states that she has a lot of sex, she’s labelled a slut. If a Japanese man states that he has a lot of sex, he’s being told that the women he sleeps with are sluts. Sound familiar? Of course it does.
Purity and innocence are traits held in high regard in Japanese society as well. Women are expected to be demure, pure, submissive, diligent and passive. As part of society, and as a sexual partner. Certainly, these generalizations aren’t universally applicable, but it is absolutely a common trend.
I don’t have any personal experience with how Japanese women actually act during moments of sexual intimacy, and I rather doubt it’s a reflection of what’s commonly portrayed in Japanese pornography (the specific circumstances of which are already a headache), but Japanese pornography portrays a reflection of what’s expected of Japanese women. I’m guessing (!) most Japanese pornography is produced by men. I’m not hatin’ on the fellas, but being aware of certain dynamics is important. Why?
Disclaimer: This might be potentially triggering to some, especially survivors.
The way Japanese women act specifically in pornography shows what is (supposedly) desirable to men, or what is expected of those same women. It’s portrayed as if the woman in that very moment is losing her innocence (virginity) - in a way that is reflective of the struggle and pain such a loss seems to be connected with. [Note: This is uncomfortable to me on a personal level, because I find the concept of idolizing and worshiping innocence/purity to be unsettling, or even revolting.] She cries, pleads, resists and somehow eventually experiences an orgasm. Despite how the experience isn’t meant to be pleasurable, and she can’t admit to it being pleasurable (because that would be depraved), her orgasm is a tribute to the well-endowed man who - I guess - is just so proficient at love-making that she can’t not come. That’s the narrative that’s often present in Japanese pornography. (If that narrative seems familiar to you, I’m not surprised.)
Now why does the ‘uke’ act the way he does? Because to denote how pure and good the character is, the character has to resist temptation - which is something perhaps deeply ingrained in the perspective of the respective author - oftentimes a woman. The general narrative is often the same as described above. Furthermore, because women are expected to be pure, pornography isn’t something they’re expected to, or supposed to explore. They’re not supposed to explore their sexuality at all. The genre of yaoi manga then presents itself as a low-impact opportunity to explore their sexuality despite collective discouragement. They have an opportunity to project, while the vessel they project onto is still removed from their own physicality. It’s safe. It’s not representative of their own sexuality, and at the same time it is.
Here’s where judgemental assholes introduce themselves, hell-bent on robbing women of their escape. We haven’t reached Antis yet, but we’re getting there. The first instance of mind-numbing dickery comes from (mostly) Japanese men, who ridicule and discredit those women. They call them fujoshi - rotten women. They declare those women as spoiled, rotten, and lost - because their value as women is compromised by their impure, depraved interests. Those same women then take the vitriol spit at them and wear it as a badge.
Does any of this sound familiar to anyone? Like, on a historical level?
Moving on to the current state of things on Tumblr.
Even Western women find yaoi more accessible than straight porn. Of course they do. It doesn’t even matter if those women are heterosexual, bisexual, or homosexual. Straight porn is (more often than not) made by men, for men. Lesbian porn is also made by men, for men. Almost all porn is made by men, for men. Because women are eternally disregarded, dismissed, and even rejected as an audience when it comes to pornography. I mean … why would women ever want to explore their sexuality? What are you - a bunch of whores? Keep your fingers off the pleasure button and knit a sweater or something.
Women’s ‘lacking’ perspective on sex is so ingrained in most people that it shows even in our humor. Like, a woman watches some porn flick - bet she’s about to ask when they get married, or if they’re in love. Hurr hurr. Women.So, women shan’t enjoy sex, but they’re also actively mocked for it, if they do - and if their approach is more empathetic, and they want some mental stimulation with their physical stimulation, it’s also not okay. Somehow. (Speaking of which - is there any genre of pornography that comes in a less hectic format, say - a comic or something, which also provides extensive dialogue and a story? Hmmm.)
Anyway. I don’t know who the OG anti-fujoshi/anti-yaoi person was, but they saw content featuring gay men, saw that said content was lacking in terms of sense, sensuality and sensibility, identified the ‘target audience’ and those who most often create it, and went - huh. It seems that the target audience and those who create said content are super invested in content that displays what looks like the abuse of gay men. It’s also super heteronormative. HUH. … … That’s fucking gross. Those women are fucking gross. They’re spoiled, rotten, without value. They even embrace the terminology that describes how rotten they truly are.
Then we’ve got a bunch of geniuses going on about how it’s not inherently wrong when your approach isn’t ‘fetishistic’, and you don’t get off on it ‘just because it’s gay’.
How about it’s not inherently wrong. At all. Ever.How about you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about, this isn’t about what you think it’s about, and you back the fuck off next time you feel the urge to police a woman’s consumption of pornography, because even though you’re not wrong when you say that yaoi is problematic, it exists only because women’s consumption of pornography is strictly policed and because them exploring their sexuality is strictly policed and you’re doing the very thing that created a market for yaoi in the first place.
Or, I don’t know - fuck women, I guess. But not literally. That’s bad. PIV is oppressive. Or something. Let’s just agree women get nothing. Cool? Cool.
