Topic: Sexuality in Hentai

From the available evidence, the overwhelming conclusion that can be drawn about the depiction of women in sexually explicit anime - hentai or etchi - is a negative one.  Women are objectified as sex objects, existing only in a world of male desire.  Their sole purpose is to serve masculine fantasy.  Magical Twilight's Chipple and Irene are almost constantly horny, Dee is the perfect submissive in Fencer of Minerva, Mai says "no" with her lips and "yes" with her body in Mai Mai Mai, and countless women in hentai features exist as objects of rape - such as Professor Pain's Yukika who is is raped by Mitsuya both for the audience watching the film and an audience in the story.

Even in lesbian scenes the male gaze and male desire is at the forefront.  When Fencer of Minerva's Diana is raped by the women in the camp, it is to train her as a slave for men, and when she has sex with other female slaves it is in front of her master Sho, and in large part for his pleasure in watching and to teach the other girl how to better please her master.  Ikuko must relinquish her lesbian sexual identity and lover in Rei Rei to join with male Tanaka.  In Kirei from the Cool Devices series, Rui has sex with the titular character on the order of the leader of the male tribe.  Tomoko seduces Rumi in Immoral Sisters while reminiscing about her earlier rape.  In every case the desire of a male character is at the forefront of the lesbian scene and the depiction of that scene places the women in the male gaze of the viewer. 

Equality is missing in all of these relationships - every one of them is about a power dynamic that places a male in the position of holding the power and the female in the position of submitting to the power.  Women give up their identities in one fashion or another to satisfy the male sexual appetite.  When women are granted sexual power, they are either drawn in a masculine style - thereby equating their sexual power with masculinity - such as Warden Heil in Guy: Double Target, or their power is something that must be taken by the male hero, such as in the case of the mother in Binding (from Cool Devices).  Over and over women are equated with submission and powerlessness, and these qualities are equated with their sexual desirability.  Often the viewer is encouraged to view the female character as most sexually desirable when she is powerless to prevent herself from being raped.

It is hard to find a healthy model of sexuality, such as that laid out by Gina Ogden, which she says, among other things, "is personally empowering" (Ogden, 1988)  The only part of Ogden's model is that of being transforming.  However, this transformation is not a healthy one.  Diana is transformed in Fencer of Minerva from a spirited girl who desires independence into Dee, a willing, submissive sex slave.  Fallen Angel Rina (from Cool Devices) transforms a normal young woman into a woman who loses her mind - literally driven mad from her sexual encounters.  The same happens to Yukika in Professor Pain. 

They are in opposition to Ogden's model - the women are not expanding their boundaries, they are limiting them.  They are not empowered, but disempowered.  There are no connections established between individuals, for connections cannot be established between two people when one of them gives up their identity for the other.  They are not responsible - they have either given over their responsibility to the men in their lives or had it taken from them. 

Rare exceptions to these generalizations do exist.  My Fair Masseuse's Yoko is in control of her sexuality and engages in nothing that is not consensual.  Kite's Sawa and Yellow Star's Ayaka both take back their power after they are raped.  Curious Fruit's Ai ends that episode of Cool Devices as a sexually powerful woman.  But exceptions such as these are exactly that - the exception - not the norm.

What this tells us is that sexually explicit material in Japan is little different from sexually explicit material in the US.  Hentai, like American porn, is produced for a male audience. It is not produced for an audience of both women and men. It is governed by a traditional view of male desire. It does not depict healthy sexuality and relationships of equality because these are not seen as traditionally desirable to men, and the producers do not consider women as an audience for sexually explicit material.  Therefore, the desires of women are not met or ever considered in the production of hentai. Women's experiences are not considered either.  Rape is most often depicted from the male standpoint rather than the female standpoint.  Many female characters are depicted as enjoying being raped while others do nothing to fight it.  This enjoyment of rape is a patent falsehood perpetuated by patriarchal institution, a preservation of man's right to a woman's body.  Again, Kite is an exception here, as the viewer is encouraged to view Sawa's rape from Sawa's perspective as one of violent assault on her body, and Sawa does take her revenge for that rape.  But again, this is the exception. 

It is no wonder that women have turned to producing their own sexually explicit material, material that does conform to a healthy model of sexuality - yaoi.