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Thalia Harris HIST 468 April 10, 2012 Essay #3 Essay #3 The fetishization of the female body in manga and the prolonged infantilization of children used in Japanese sexual education leads to voyeuristic sexual commodification and dysfunction. According to Allison’s article titled, “A Male Gaze in Japanese Children’s Cartoons, or, Are Naked Female Bodies Always Sexual?” there is a constant integration of nude female images and shounen1 manga and anime, in various contexts. Most contexts consist of a female character being exposed in some way to a predominantly male crowd, and usually exhibits embarrassed emotions as a result. (Allison, 29) However, in this situation the female is usually never touched or groped—I assume the reason would be that the animators want to maintain the idea of actual genital copulation to be strictly refined to a marital, procreative context. This ideal is upheld by the current Japanese sexual education curriculum, as noted in Fruhstuck’s article “Debating Sex Education”. One main concept of Japanese sexual education—as voiced by founder and director of Japan’s first Medical School for Women, Washiyama Yayoi—was that “masturbation was ‘the most terrible ailment related to the sexual instinct’” and should be kept within the confines of procreative marriage in order to avoid “fatal consequences”. (Fruhstuck, 62) Yubara Motomichi, the head of the Tokyo School of Music wanted to discuss “sexual desire in a way that would ‘not embarrass’ young boys and girls”. (62) These methods of teachings did not teach children how to understand and work with their sexual desires. Instead, they positioned sexual desires as relentless forces to be suppressed and restrained. Therefore, when lack of instruction for self-sexual management is coupled with voyeuristic sexual commodification such as no pan kissa2 or mizu shobai3 and integrated images of nude women—a generation of youth whose sexuality is rooted in aggression (Allison, 34) is produced. The positioning of the body as inherently sexual not only places women in an internalized state of vulnerability. The lack of misinformation in sexual education for both males and females places males as self-affirmed sukebei4 and women as tools of sex without sexual consent. I pose the following questions: Would revision of shounen manga help with sexual frustration and confusion of teenage youth? Shounen- young boy, youth No pan kissa- no pantii kissaten, or no panties coffeeshop, in which all the femal workers wear no underwear 1 2 3 mizu shobai- subsidized dating 4 sukebei- lewd, lecherous, horny old men How far should authority take the fear-mongering method when teaching children about sex? Does the commodification of sex lead to sexual perversion and indecency? Why or why not? Does a voyeuristic sexual business provide a safe space for women, since they are not being touched?