Liberation of sexual expression clearly helped to reduce the number of rape victims in Japan.

Snuh? Is she serious?

Well, it doesn't matter. Outrageous comments can put you on NHK and can then lead to even more interviews and then some money, maybe, down the pike. I learned that from John Honey, an old English teacher 15 years ago, who got on the BBC saying that English should only be taught by people with the right accent, and that conversational English in Japan was destroying Japanese culture as Japanese are not used to frank and open discussions.Amazing, huh? So, don't shy away from making crazy opinions to the press or to JT. You might get famous.

rubbish

I think she's bonkers.

I think this kind of comment is difficult to prove.

I agree with the general idea though. I have travelled quite a bit and I can say that people in Asia - generally - are less sexually frustrated than their counterparts in the West. There are couple of reasons for it but I am not sure whether mangas are one of them.

She's not quite bonkers.

I'm about as staunch an opponent of much of what passes for porn in Japan as you can find, particularly the bizarre fixation with rape fantasies that seems to dominate Japanese porn, but a legitimate study has found that there is an apparent correlation between increased availability of porn and a decrease in occurances of rape.

Don't ask me how. I'm just sayin'.

Kronos - Self-hating Japanophiles are always good for a laugh. Can you back up your completely insane comment with any evidence, please?

She refers to an unnamed American study in this Japan Times article and says that Japanese research also supports her claim:

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20100612f1.html

I'd be interested in knowing what studies she's referring to. As any competent researcher knows, correlation doesn't equal causation . . . though I'm not sure I'd expect a "Professor of Manga" to understand this. I'd wager we're a reading a gross misinterpretation of an abstract here.

The study she is citing may have been the one I mentioned. Sorry if the link in my post above doesn't work. You can find the report on the study here:

http://www.hawaii.edu/PCSS/biblio/articles/1961to1999/1999-pornography-rape-sex-crimes-japan.html

@hoserfella

No evidence. Unless you were hanging out with me for the past 20 years or so. Feel free to disagree.

Thanks for the link LFRAgain.

It just makes sense to me if something - and I am not talking about printed matter, also the real deal itself - is readily available, people would covet it less. It is human nature. You can get it any time you want, so why go crazy over it, right?

@hoserfella: there is no evidence for this as well, mate.

Kronos - Im still eagerly awaiting your expalanation of how us silly, unlightened foreigners are more sexually frustrated than our superior Asian counterparts. I won't even ask for evidence (which you've already disavowed). Just one scenario, please. Thanks in advance.

associate professor of girls manga and gender

Ｔｈｉｓ　ｉｓ　ｗｈｅｒｅ　Ｉ　ｓｔｏｐｐｅｄ　ｒｅａｄｉｎｇ．

Kronos- I thought as much..

LFRAgain,

Thanks for the link (the first one worked--I just overlooked it before I posted).

If this is the American study she's referring to, it reinforces my original hunch.

This study points to an inverse correlation between the prevalence of porn and sexual assaults. However, the Professor of Manga's conclusion that sexual images of minors shouldn't be restricted in manga doesn't follow the premise that there was an inverse correlation between sexual assaults and prevalence of porn (even if minors were depicted in some of it).