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This week's guest blog comes from Randall, of ikimashou.net and the NSFW Onii-chan no Ecchi. Did I mention that site's NSFW? Some of the content of this post will also be NSFW, by virtue of being about porn-- though the images are PG at best. Still: you've been warned!

There's been a fair bit of buzz about Equality Now going after Rapelay (never mind that the game came out years ago and that, true to form, their outrage is more likely to boost sales than to diminish them), and I thought you guys could stand to hear outrage on the matter from someone other than myself. Randall takes the proactive approach: here's how to understand hentai, whether you're a fan or not. Hope you enjoy!

GUEST BLOG: Your Mom and La Blue Girl = BFF?

Why are people after my precious forms of Japanese pornography? Why do they so desperately want to do away with the things that I love?

Well, there's a number of reasons and I'm going to lay a number of them out for you now. Unless you stopped reading after I brought up my penis. But really, the porn brought up my penis. Awww yeah. Ok, that's enough of that shit.

Familiarity

While lots of women, and a few insanely religious men, are opposed to regular old double-penetration and barely-legal teen gangbangs, a damn sight more people are quick to judge anything that wanders into the two-dimensional realm.

Now, we're talking about Japanese 2D porn here. People think Kim Possible porn is weird because the show is for kids so people apply an amount of innocence to the characters that they didn't necessarily ask for. As for Japanese ero art, the problem is one of familiarity.

By and large, the Western world is fairly insular and, by nature of the Judaic religions, also carries a great deal of shame and denial as relates to sexual gratification. That is to say, women put their fingers inside their vaginas, but talking about it is taboo because there's a lot of shame attached (among other things, I'm working against the clock here).

Anyway, that combination of insularity and the inability to openly enjoy things that are sexually gratifying makes for a fairly potent reaction to something that is both borne of a foreign culture and sexually gratifying.

That might require a bit of explanation: I know there are some Europeans reading this and thinking "Hey! I'm pretty worldly," but the fact of the matter is that you likely know less about Japanese culture than you know about ancient Greece or Egypt. That's a pretty bold statement, I know. But it's backed up on a daily basis when well-known bloggers who shall remain nameless make blatantly incorrect statements about a country in which they live.

It's human nature, though. We strive for familiarity because it's the only way we can feel comfortable. People stay in rut jobs and shitty relationships because they're familiar. So take the fire of a completely foreign culture (no Judaic dogma, chopsticks, etc.) and throw fuel on it in the form of boobies, it sends simple minded people into a spiral of discomfort so twisting they can only start screaming for the government to make it all better for them. It's a sad case.

Subcultures

While the overarching theme here is that the Judaic (we're talking all spin offs here, not just Judaism) mindset has led to a lot of sexual shame, it doesn't so much describe societal reactions to 2D porn so much as it explains the underlying reason people act the way they do.

The other elephant in the room is mainstream society. While pornography in and of itself is fairly mainstream, 2D porn is seen as something for nerds, weirdos, rapists, and pedophiles. Why is that?

Well, in a way it ties back to the first point about familiarity. Subcultures are, by their very nature, unfamiliar territory for the mass populace. This is one place that those of us who love the stuff which makes us all juicy aren't doing ourselves any favors.

Yes, I am talking to you, socially inept, fat, odorous weirdo. Stop standing in the corner and breathing heavily. Will it change the stigma behind admitting that you look at 2D porn? No, not really. But it will go a long way towards making your local reactions a lot more favorable.

But that's not the whole thing. Subcultures always have the stereotypes that go along with them. If you're in a frat, people think you probably say bro a lot and think the shocker is the greatest sexual maneuver yet invented. If you're black, people think you steal things. If you're an anime nerd, you are obviously socially inept, fat, and probably scratch yourself more often than you should.

That's sort of the problem. When you tie that anime nerd stereotype together with the pornography aspect, the person you've just mentioned 2D pronography to will immediately picture you as a greasy fat guy pulling one off over weird porn of girls with pink hair and a school uniform.

Too many people present an image that lends itself to that. Or they're quick to get defensive when people think they're fucked up for what they choose to rosin up their bow with. This is the WRONG way to go about things, kids. Believe me.

So what do you do? Act insanely casual about it. The problem here is that YOU need to be comfortable with it to act casual about it. This requires introspection. You need to know better than any person why you like the things you do. You need to understand your own sexuality. They will likely want to know because, well, who wouldn't be curious about a guy who is so comfortable with something so insanely foreign to them? Maybe it's not as weird as it sounds, they'll think.

Getting Comfortable

I'd briefly considered making this about the perfect setup for masturbating, but I have to leave you guys wanting, so instead I'll give some suggestions of things you can consider, regardless of which side of the 2D porn divide you're on.

We'll start with the pro-hentai kids. As I said above, you need to know why you like the things you do. This sort of introspection can be applied to anything and it's really a generally good way to grow as a person. People might be bothered that I say that in relation to porn, but they're just shortsighted prudes anyway.

So how does one go about realizing what they like? Well, it'll sound a bit odd and complicated, but no one picks up a guitar and knows all the chords, so shut up. You have to learn to think objectively about yourself, pretty much. Again, I know it sounds odd, but it's helpful stuff. When you're watching your favorite porn, you'll notice the things that cause your brain to feel just a little bit warmer or more aroused or more relaxed or satisfied. This will likely be different things in different people, but you have to learn to recognize it for what it is if you ever hope to put words to the feelings you get from watching your eroanime. Was it the expression on the face of a girl? The detail put into the backs of a characters knees? The slight squeak that guy let out as the other guy rammed him? Realize those things and remember them.

A lot of you might jump to the conclusion that this is apt to make you enjoy the porn less, but I've found the reaction to be somewhat the opposite. When you see those things you love, you feel closer to the eroticism. More satisfied and comfortable. It's good times.

Now, for you haters out there. Well, maybe not haters. But skeptics. I'll point you back to the beginning of the post. Familiarity. How familiar are you with the subject matter? How many eroanime have you watched? How many eromanga have you read? It's something of a theme on my own site, but I'll say it here, the more you look at something erotic, the more apt your mind is to pick up on the erotic nature. It'll do it whether you want it to your not.

And that's my second point. A lot of the repulsion regarding pornography stems from a lack of willingness to fully allow oneself to take part in the experience. You might consider going in with an open mind, actively looking for things you might like rather than shutting your mind off and assuming you will hate everything you see. Be honest with yourself. And remember, just because the porn you're looking at doesn't have anything that turns you on, that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Eroanime and eromanga span all genres and fetishes. If there's something you think you'd like to see, it's out there, I can promise you that.

Now, boys and girls, go put something in yourself. It'll make you feel better.

Credits

Randall Fitzgerald is the owner of the occasionally-updated Ikimashou.net, of Dasaku.net, which hosts a variety of anime blogs and the img.dasaku.net board (which can be NSFW), and of course, the (definitely NSFW) Onii-chan no Ecchi blog and podcast. He's been a hopeless hentai addict for a long time and wouldn't dream of being otherwise.