I'm sorry you're getting harassed- its unfortunately very common on the english-speaking internet. A Japanese artist wrote a post about antishippers/ proshippers that was translated to english & i think they summed it up very well, if you havent seen it. ( https://note.com/maromi_ika/n/na976638a7a35 - https://note.com/orangiah/n/n437e262ce2ce )
For what its worth, i dont think the problem is american fandom being overly sexual. The thing is, the US is very Puritanical and terrified of sex, so people band together to harass people to prove their own purity. In the 1980s it was the Satanic Panic, in the 2010s it was pizzagate and q-anon, now its the antishipper thing. Historically, these groups have been homophobic and transphobic- that's out of fashion now so they call everyone pedophiles. The irony is the antis who hate sexual art are also obsessed on finding sexual subtext in all the art they see. Meanwhile, people like me who make & enjoy erotic art would never think your art was sexual.
Thank you so much for linking!
Living in Japan, I rarely get to learn about cultural backgrounds, so thank you!
Do the people complaining ever write anything themselves? When I feel something really infuriating, I end up thinking about why it's infuriating, analyzing it, and then pondering what I should do now… I just end up thinking about useless things. It does help with my manga, though. haha
Changing the subject a bit, in Japanese homosexual manga, publishers very often demand that authors include sexual depictions. Nowadays, some artists prefer to create manga that carefully depict emotions rather than sexual depictions, and some authors want to depict spiritual connections rather than sexual ones. There are also several platonic works. Even in Japan, where boys' love is popular, there are still few places where authors can publish what they really want to draw or queer manga. Japan has many challenges, but everyone is working hard to convey their important thoughts. I hope that someday they will reach the world!
I used to write literary BL, but I was told that my drawings were too cute and readers didn't like them. I tried drawing erotic pictures to improve my technique, but my drawings were too pure and it didn't work out very well… I'm still searching for the best style.
Earlier this year, I was brainstorming a new manga scenario. I intended this manga to be BL, but… it's more like a story about bonds. There's no sexual connection, but I'd be thrilled if you enjoyed it even a little!
By the way, something I didn't know shocked me last year. Romantic feelings are about wanting to possess someone, while everything else is affection. I had no idea what I thought was romantic love was actually affection! Reading shoujo manga made me think that butterflies in my stomach and the world shining brightly meant everything was romantic love. But it wasn't. An aromantic friend taught me that even without romance, there are tons of things in this world that can make your heart race! And you can love them too.
I hope even those anti-shippers get to experience it someday. I only learned this after turning thirty. It takes a long time to figure things out. But love is a good thing.
This ended up being a long story. Thanks for reading.
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