Japan’s “Herbivorous Boys” & Asexuality
Academic, Boys' Love / Yaoi Comments (2)
Multiple recent surveys suggest that about 60 percent of young Japanese men — in their 20s and early 30s — identify themselves as herbivores. Their Sex and the City is a television show called Otomen, or Girly Guys. The lead character is a martial arts expert, the manliest guy in the whole school. But his secret passions include sewing, baking and crocheting clothes for his stuffed animals.
— NPR, In Japan, ‘Herbivore’ Boys Subvert Ideas Of Manhood
I thought this was an interesting article about some of the changes in gender performance in Japan, and not just because I regularly mull over the Otomen manga at Borders, wondering if I’d enjoy it if I bought it. I know it’s not boys’ love, but it always looks like it might be fun in a sort of Ouran High School Host Club way….
What interested me more about the article, however, was the “gee whiz” surprise it exhibits at the idea of men uninterested in sex, seen also in earlier articles by Slate, “The Herbivore’s Dilemma: Japan panics about the rise of ‘grass-eating men,’ who shun sex, don’t spend money, and like taking walks,” and Reuters, “Japan’s ‘herbivore’ men shun corporate life, sex.” All of the articles seem to find the subjects’ lack of interest in sex to be especially interesting or unusual. Is it because asexuality isn’t understood well, because they’re men, or because they’re Japanese men, I wonder?
When I surveyed 478 BL readers — none Japanese — I asked about sexual orientation and found that 7 percent, or 28, of the respondents self-reported being “not interested in sex.” All were women. The Italian-language version of the survey carried out by Castagno & Sabucco found 3 percent of its respondents reporting the same, although I don’t know the gender of these respondents (see “Reading Boys’ Love in the West“).
Learning that a fairly large number of my respondents reported having no interest in sex didn’t surprise me too much; I’d put the option into my survey because I knew several women who have declared themselves not interested in sex — a few use the term “asexual,” which has become the common descriptor for this inclination. What did surprise me was that the percentage was so high; both our surveys found more respondents reporting apparent asexuality than has been reported in larger-scale surveys — according to a 2004 study, only about 1 percent of the general population of the UK reported being asexual (see Asexual Explorations for a rundown of research on the subject). It’s a reasonable assumption that the population of the UK doesn’t differ too much in overall sexual drive and inclination from the population of similar highly developed, ethnically and religiously diverse nations. So why did our numbers differ so much? The fact that our two survey populations were drawn specifically from boys’ love fans may account for higher percentages, although why it would account for higher percentages is a matter for speculation and more research. (Hmm … but, wow, would I be venturing outside of the traditional boundaries of my academic discipline.)
On the other hand, if the article from NPR is correct — and I admit that it’s a big if — the number of male asexuals in Japan, about 60% within a certain age category, is monumentally higher than the overall 1 percent reported in the UK. Why? Is it a real trend, or just a lip-service fad? Is this just another name for metrosexuality, or maybe increased sexual politeness, or something different? And now that we’re seeing more media attention being paid to such a movement in Japan, might we expect to see asexuals in the U.S. and other countries coming to the surface as a more open social movement?
(Image of Asuka Masamune ripped off of Otomen by Aya Kanno)
drupagliassotti @ November 25, 2009
Ah, interesting! I have been very curious to know a guess at what percentage of BL fans are asexual. As someone who is (probably? maybe? sort of? ^_^;;) myself and also into yaoi, I’ve sort of suspected this was one of the factors contributing to my attraction to it. …Yet always been sort of afraid of broaching the subject in discussions as I’m not entirely sure I even understand all/any of the reasons why these would be connected even within myself, and I’m a little scared of people making assumptions about other asexuals if I open my mouth since likely many haven’t and won’t hear too much from other asexuals on the subject.
*nudges you selfishly in the direction of learning more* Keheheh.
The Slate article is titled “Japan panics,” when the only panic described is that of Japanese companies — as if herbivores with their “non-masculine” behaviors don’t care about the future of their nation.
From where I’m sitting, herbivores are not oblivious to the problems of their country/economy, but are adjusted to it, shaped by it and are shaping it. One gets the sense from the articles that these herbivores will all die bachelors glued to their manga and video games, a lost generation with maladjusted childhoods caused by women entering the workforce. To keep up the heteronormative guise and keep the economy afloat in the public sphere, Japanese women are said to be “becoming more like men.”
What happens, though, when Japanese women have completed this transformation and have actually become men? I ask this question to show how ridiculous it is to fully tie gender identity to economic/nationalist forces, yet we continue to do so metaphorically (without really questioning the metaphor). Yes, the traditional family is growing increasingly asunder (what this means exactly for the future is still up for debate), but we certainly need to think about how society might function differently (and I’m not talking a “welfare state”) rather than continue to point fingers at those who are already making different choices. The nostalgia that leads one to criticize reproductive choices (usually of women, but now of men) is of little use for the future.
~There will always be enough reproduction, trust me.~
I’ll be very curious to see how Japan’s herbivorous men and “masculine” women rethink the nation and its economy, if they’re indeed the future norm. My hope is that we (and by we, I mean Japan and America) don’t come out of this present slump with a reinvigorated heteronormativity, even one where the genders are switched.