Comments on: More on Manga Reference Censorship

By: Johanna

Johanna — Sat, 29 Apr 2006 16:43:25 +0000

Sounds like you haven't been reading The Outsiders, David, which has included not only on-panel sex but orgies. But what do superhero comics have to do with this story of manga-related censorship?

By: David Oakes

David Oakes — Sat, 29 Apr 2006 16:28:40 +0000

Almost no superhero comics – and certainly not those “mainstream” enough to be in a library – contain actual sex. Or even nudity. Animals defloweing virgins may be an extreme (even for manga), but I am sure we would have gotten nearly the same level of response from a whited-out blow job or even a single nipple.

Violence, sexual situations, even itsy-bitsy-teeny-weeny bikinis are all permissible. But not the actual female form. (And god forbid you have male nudity, or we would have to sue the library for corruption of a minor…)

By: Johanna

Johanna — Sat, 29 Apr 2006 12:44:27 +0000

Perhaps out of interest instead of content? The two don’t always match. I can think of all-ages-appropriate books that wouldn’t interest anyone under 21. On the flip side, many superhero books have content levels aimed at teens but with levels of sex and violence older than that. I’m still surprised no one’s yet made much hay out of that discrepancy.

By: Ray Cornwall

Ray Cornwall — Sat, 29 Apr 2006 12:19:24 +0000

Interesting.

On the one hand, I’m glad someone took what I wrote and di some legwork. On the other hand, why did Riverside catalog it as YA? There’s no good reason the book should have been classified as such.