Back when I worked at a clothing store in high school, this angry mother came in and yelled at me because her 15-year old daughter bought thong underwear from our store. The mother felt she was too young to wear them and that we shouldn’t have sold them to her. I coolly told her that we don’t ask for age verification to buy underwear, that it’s our obligation as a business to exchange money for goods, and a parent’s responsibility to oversee what their teens are buying. She acted like this had never occurred to her once in her life, seriously. The nerve of these evil corporations selling thongs to teenagers, we’re the real problem. Smh.
This is an old article, but it deserves to be remembered, not in the least because the cringe factor in this guy scanning sex scenes from a yaoi book and alerting the local news (seriously, that happened). Can you imagine scrolling through your newsfeed that morning? ‘North Korea launches another nuke, yawn. Some crooked politican is being crooked, yawn. What’s this, our local library has gay Japanese porn? Honey, do we still have a library card?’
Actually, I have a theory related to this. Get ready to have your mind blown, guys: A few weeks ago I bought a yaoi book off Amazon and it had one of those stock descriptions saying it could ‘possibly be an ex-library copy.’ I thought, surely this particular title wouldn’t be, it’s too obscure and niche. Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit, a week later a very well-loved copy of Wild Honey showed up on my doorstep that had belonged to the Seattle library system. Besides the fact that Seattlites are clearly citizens of taste, I thought that if a public library does by chance carry yaoi this would be an unusual title for them to have, as it’s quite obscure – you’d definitely expect something more like, I don’t know, Junjo Romantica or Crimson Spell or something. But Wild Honey? Only a real fujoshi would pick that title, so either you have one working there or enough knowledgeable patrons making specific title requests….because you know if they had this one, they’ve got a lot – this wouldn’t be like, one of the five they have. It’s almost like…fans knew their local libray carried yaoi. Almost like – that knowledge got broadcast somehow. Maybe in a local news story or something. Because guess where the libray in this news article is…a suburb of Seattle. So my theory is that once word got around to local fujoshi that their library had or was willing to get BL, they came like antelope to the watering hole. I know, I know, you all just got sat the fuck down with that knowledge bomb. I have no proof for this groundbreaking theory of course, but I do have an art degree, so thus am very qualified to pull imaginary bullshit out of my ass.
Anyway – the same issues concerning controversial material continue to plague the national library system thanks to people 1) being stupid as fuck, and 2) trying to blame bad parenting on anyone but them. My local library system doesn’t really have any M-rated manga at all and I live in a decent-sized city, and it’s probably because of people like this who drum up a big hoo-ha over the fact that everything in a library should be safe for children’s eyes because they are too lazy to be discerning parents.
Let’s pick this apart bit by bit. So:
1. Avid manga-reading 10-year old went to the library unsupervised, and checked out Hero Heel 2.
(- which she, by the way, specifically requested from another branch, and did not just happen upon while looking for Nancy Drew books.)
First of all – libraries are not day care centers, and it’s not their responsibility to supervise children and be the gatekeepers of what they can and can’t read. Publishers do their part by rating media based on content, and libraries do their do their part by shelving materials appropriately. Golly gee whiz, if only there was someone in children’s lives in charge of raising and taking care of them as they grow up and overseeing what they do. Can’t think of anyone.
Second of all – this dude is getting his panties in a knot over Hero Heel 2? Seriously? Don’t get me wrong, Makoto Tateno draws some damn hot gay sex, but jiminy christmas, we might be reading this guy’s obituary instead if his niece had brought home Level C.
2. “A few days later, de Nevers looked through the book after noticing the publisher’s parental advisory label on the cover. Unfamiliar with yaoi manga, he reported being shocked to find images of two men having sex.”
OH MY GOD, MEN CAN HAVE SEX?? HOLD THE FUCKING PHONE BILLY GRAHAM. THERE’S PICTURES OUT THERE OF MEN HAVING SEX?? THERE’S VIDEOS OUT THERE OF MEN HAVING SEX??!? THERE’S ENTIRE WEBSITES OUT THERE OF MEN HAVING SEX??!?
Let’s just hope his niece doesn’t have access to the internet, otherwise she might find all that out, considering she clearly doesn’t have anyone in her life who is taking an active interest in what she’s viewing. I bet she’s the best vore furry artist on deviantart by now. Let’s hope this guy never sees real “filth” in her browsing history – what’s he gonna do, write the same strongly worded letter to pornhub?
3. Nevers expresses surprise that “an anime comic book section is where people go to read porn.”
Oh you sweet innocent lamb. You’re right, adult material being being shelved in the Adult section wasn’t enough. People wanting to read “porn” (even by his definition, which seems to be “any book with sex in it”) is obviously the real problem here. I could see how maybe the library should not have let her check out something rated M, but still, I really don’t think it’s fair to blame them.
There is a great response to this article by the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, which basically points all of this out – as well as the fact that “comics, graphic novels, and manga often face challenges from those who think any book with lots of pictures must be for children.” Which is exactly why they have those pesky parental advisory stickers in the first place. Sigh.
My first job in high school was at Gamestop, where we had to ID people to buy Grand Theft Auto. I felt this was not really our responsibility, but I have a feeling it was due to mass media hysteria over violent video games putting pressure on corporate somewhere up the line. The ‘banned book’ frenzy and the like hasn’t quite reached that kind of fever pitch, so thankfully M-rated manga has largely avoided becoming a casualty in PTA sewing circles outside of obvious places like the school system. Let’s hope it stays that way.
Oh, and Travis, I hear Killing Stalking is a great story with nothing controversial, perhaps you would enjoy it as an introduction to the world of modern Asian comics.