Abstract
This study aimed to investigate how sexual consent is depicted in sex comics published in Japan. Twenty best-selling comics from 2010 and 2020 were set as objects of analysis and separated into 277 scenes. A codebook developed after five rounds of trials was utilized by four coders to code the materials. First, the results showed that explicit communication was not rare: among all materials, 39.9–57.3% of scenes were initiated by an explicit approach, while only 5.2–19.4% of scenes were coded as depicting non-explicit initiation. Further, as for the act of gatekeeper, 21.6–35.5% and 6.5–9.7% of scenes depicted explicit consent and refusal, while 20.3–28.2% of scenes were coded as expressing non-explicit consent/refusal. Second, in the comparison between 2010 and 2020, there were fewer scenes in which more than three characters were involved and sexual acts were initiated by non-explicit forms in 2020. Contrastingly, there were more scenes in which sexual acts were initiated by assault or intimidation. Based on these findings, social implications and future research orientations are discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Sample stories were extracted from free stories offered by FANZA (i.e., they were not included in the main analysis).
Under Japanese law, sexual intercourse with those younger than 18 would be punishable by municipal by-laws. Sexual intercourse with those younger than 13 would be punishable as “forcible sexual intercourse,” even if consent is present, by the Penal Code (Art. 177).
References
Aubrey, J. S., & Smith, S. E. (2016). The impact of exposure to sexually oriented media on the endorsement of hookup culture: A panel study of first-year college students. Mass Communication and Society, 19, 74–101. https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2015.1070875
Beres, M. (2010). Sexual miscommunication? Untangling assumptions about sexual communication between casual sex partners. Culture, Health and Sexuality, 12, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691050903075226
Brem, M. J., Garner, A. R., Grigorian, H., Florimbio, A. R., Wolford-Clevenger, C., Shorey, R. C., & Stuart, G. L. (2021). Problematic pornography use and physical and sexual intimate partner violence perpetration among men in batterer intervention programs. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260518812806
Brown, J. D., & L’Engle, K. L. (2009). X-rated: Sexual attitudes and behaviors associated with U.S. early adolescents’ exposure to sexually explicit media. Communication Research, 36, 129–151. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650208326465
Burkett, M., & Hamilton, K. (2012). Postfeminist sexual agency: Young women’s negotiations of sexual consent. Sexualities, 15, 815–833. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363460712454076
Cohen, J. (1960). A coefficient of agreement for nominal scales. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 20, 37–46. https://doi.org/10.1177/001316446002000104
Curtis, J. N., & Burnett, S. (2017). Affirmative consent: What do college student leaders think about “yes means yes” as the standard for sexual behavior? American Journal of Sexuality Education, 12, 201–214. https://doi.org/10.1080/15546128.2017.1328322
Dawson, K., Tafro, A., & Štulhofer, A. (2019). Adolescent sexual aggressiveness and pornography use: A longitudinal assessment. Aggressive Behavior, 45, 587–597. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.21854
Dworkin, A. (1987). Intercourse. Free Press.
Dworkin, S. L., & O’Sullivan, L. (2005). Actual versus desired initiation patterns among a sample of college men: Tapping disjunctures within traditional male sexual scripts. Journal of Sex Research, 42, 150–158. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224490509552268
Fantasia, H. C. (2011). Really not even a decision any more: Late adolescent narratives of implied sexual consent. Journal of Forensic Nursing, 7, 120–129. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1939-3938.2011.01108.x
FANZA (2018). FANZA report 2018: Doujinshi. Retrieved from https://special.dmm.co.jp/fanza/feed/news/fanza-report-2018-doujin. (In Japanese)
Ferguson, C. J., & Hartley, R. D. (2022). Pornography and sexual aggression: Can meta-analysis find a link? Trauma, Violence, and Abuse, 23, 278–287. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838020942754
Gagnon, J. H., & Simon, W. (1973). Sexual conduct: The social sources of human sexuality. Aldine.
Gagnon, J. H. (1990). The explicit and implicit use of the scripting perspective in sex research. Annual Review of Sex Research, 1, 1–43. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1939-3938.2011.01108.x
Humphreys, T., & Herold, E. (2003). Should universities and colleges mandate sexual behavior. Journal of Psychology and Human Sexuality, 15, 35–51. https://doi.org/10.1300/j056v15n01_04
Humphreys, T., & Herold, E. (2007). Sexual consent in heterosexual relationships: Development of a new measure. Sex Roles, 57, 305–315. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-007-9264-7
Hust, S. J. T., Rodgers, K. B., & Bayly, B. (2017). Scripting sexual consent: Internalized traditional sexual scripts and sexual consent expectancies among college students. Family Relations, 66, 197–210. https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12230
Hynie, M., Lydon, J. E., Côté, S., & Wiener, S. (1998). Relational sexual scripts and women’s condom use: The importance of internalized norms. Journal of Sex Research, 35, 370–380. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499809551955
Ishikawa, S. (2020). Japan’s flower demos: A report from the scene. Retrieved from https://unseenjapan.com/japans-flower-demos-report-from-scene.
Itoh, K. (2019). Why is it not guilty!? Japan’s judiciary disregards sexual victimization [Naze sorega muzai nanoka!? Seihigai wo keishi suru nihon no shihou]. Discover Twenty-One. (In Japanese)
Johnson, A. M., & Hoover, S. M. (2015). The potential of sexual consent interventions on college campuses: A literature review on the barriers to establishing affirmative sexual consent. PURE Insights, 4. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.wou.edu/pure/vol4/iss1/5
Jozkowski, K. (2016). Barriers to affirmative consent policies and the need for affirmative sexuality. The University of the Pacific Law Review, 47, 741–772.
Jozkowski, K. N., Canan, S. N., Rhoads, K., & Hunt, M. (2016). Methodological considerations for content analysis of sexual consent communication in mainstream films. Sexualization, Media, and Society, 2, 237462381667918. https://doi.org/10.1177/2374623816679184
Jozkowski, K. N., & Humphreys, T. P. (2014). Sexual consent on college campuses: Implications for sexual assault prevention education. Health Education Monograph Series, 31, 30–35.
Jozkowski, K. N., Marcantonio, T. L., & Hunt, M. E. (2017). College student communication and perceptions of sexual double standards: A qualitative investigation. Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 49(237), 244. https://doi.org/10.1363/psrh.12041
Jozkowski, K. N., Marcantonio, T. L., Rhoads, K. E., Canan, S., Hunt, M. E., & Willis, M. (2019). A Content analysis of sexual consent and refusal communication in mainstream films. Journal of Sex Research, 56, 754–765. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2019.1595503
Jozkowski, K. N., & Peterson, Z. D. (2013). College students and sexual consent: Unique insights. Journal of Sex Research, 50, 517–523. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2012.700739
Kamon, Y. (2019). Toward a reformation of sexual crime regulations: Concerns regarding about introduction of crime of sex without consent [Seihanzai kitei no minaoshi ni mukete: Hudoui seikoutouzai no dounyu ni taisuru gimon]. Ritsumeikan Hogaku, 387(388), 5272. (In Japanese).
Kim, J. L., Sorsoli, C. L., Collins, K., Zylbergold, B. A., Schooler, D., & Tolman, D. L. (2007). From sex to sexuality: Exposing the heterosexual script on primetime network television. Journal of Sex Research, 44, 145–157. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224490701263660
Kimi, R. (2021). The history of hentai manga: An expressionist examination of eromanga. Fakku.
Klaassen, M. J. E., & Peter, J. (2015). Gender (in)equality in Internet pornography: A content analysis of popular pornographic Internet videos. Journal of Sex Research, 52, 721–735. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2014.976781
Kopacz, M. S., & Bajka-Kopacz, A. (2012). Adolescent sexual initiation through the lens of letters to the editor published in Polish teenage magazines. Sex Education, 12, 165–176. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681811.2011.609044
Krahé, B., & Berger, A. (2021). Pathways from college students’ cognitive scripts for consensual sex to sexual victimization: A three-wave longitudinal study. Journal of Sex Research, 58, 1130–1139. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2021.1972922
MacKinnon, C. A. (1987). Feminism unmodified: Discourses on life and law. Harvard University Press.
Malamuth, N. M., Addison, T., & Koss, M. (2000). Pornography and sexual aggression: Are there reliable effects and can we understand them? Annual Review of Sex Research, 11, 26–91. https://doi.org/10.1080/10532528.2000.10559784
Masters, N. T., Casey, E., Wells, E. A., & Morrison, D. M. (2013). Sexual scripts among young heterosexually active men and women: Continuity and change. Journal of Sex Research, 50, 409–420. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2012.661102
McHugh, M. L. (2012). Interrater reliability: The kappa statistic. Biochemica Medica, 22, 276–282. https://doi.org/10.11613/BM.2012.031
Nagayama, K. (2014). Eromanga studies: An introduction to manga as the “pleasing machine.” [Eromanga Sutadiisu: “Kairaku Souti” Toshiteno Manga Nyumon]. Chikuma. (In Japanese)
O’Sullivan, L. F., & Byers, E. S. (1992). College students’ incorporation of initiator and restrictor roles in sexual dating interactions. Journal of Sex Research, 29, 435–446. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499209551658
Piemonte, J. L., Gusakova, S., Nichols, M., & Conley, T. D. (2020). Is consent sexy? Comparing evaluations of written erotica based on verbal sexual consent on verbal sexual consent. Psychology and Sexuality, 11, 270–292. https://doi.org/10.1080/19419899.2020.1769161
Seabrook, R. C., Ward, L. M., Cortina, L. M., Giaccardi, S., & Lippman, J. R. (2017). Girl power or powerless girl? Television, sexual scripts, and sexual agency in sexually active young women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 41, 240–253. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684316677028
Shirata, H. (2017). Cultural history of sexual expression regulation [Seihyougen Kisei no Bunkashi]. Aki Shobou. (In Japanese)
Shumlich, E. J., & Fisher, W. A. (2018). Affirmative sexual consent? Direct and unambiguous consent is rarely included in discussions of recent sexual interactions. Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 27, 248–260. https://doi.org/10.3138/cjhs.2017-0040
Syed, M., & Nelson, S. C. (2015). Guidelines for establishing reliability when coding narrative data. Emerging Adulthood, 3, 375–387. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167696815587648
Ward, L. M. (2003). Understanding the role of entertainment media in the sexual socialization of American youth: A review of empirical research. Developmental Review, 23, 347–388. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0273-2297(03)00013-3
Willis, M., Canan, S. N., Jozkowski, K. N., & Bridges, A. J. (2019). Sexual consent communication in best-selling pornography films: A content analysis. Journal of Sex Research, 57, 52–63. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2019.1655522
Willis, M., & Jozkowski, K. N. (2018). Barriers to the success of affirmative consent initiatives: An application of the social ecological model. American Journal of Sexuality Education, 12, 324–336. https://doi.org/10.1080/15546128.2018.1443300
Yukawa, S., & Tomari, S. (1999). Effects of the exposure to sexual information on possibility of committing sexual crime: Sexual crime myths as the mediators. Japanese Journal of Criminal Psychology, 37, 15–28. https://doi.org/10.20754/jjcp.37.2_15 (in Japanese with English abstract).
Funding
This research received no specific grant.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Ethical Approval
This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Mukai, T., Yuyama, Y., Kamiya, J. et al. How Sexual Consent is Portrayed in Sex Comics (Eromanga): A Content Analysis in Japan. Sexuality & Culture 27, 1246–1263 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-022-09999-x
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-022-09999-x