|
|||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Shotacon |
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (September 2008) |
 |
This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (September 2008) |
Shotacon (ショタコン?), sometimes shortened to shota (ショタ shota?), is a Japanese term for a sexual complex where a person is sexually attracted towards a young and/or underage boy. In the Western world, it refers specifically to artwork or manga depicting pre-pubescent or pubescent boys in sexual situations. Shotacon art is often explicit in nature; some common themes include yaoi (homosexual relationships), cross-dressing, and in some cases incest with an older sibling or other family member. The female equivalent to shotacon is lolicon.
Shotacon typically features relationships between young boys and adult women, this related but less common genre is referred to as straight shota. Yaoi shotacon features young boys, but includes men or other young boys. In anime, yaoi shotacon themes are far less common than heterosexual ones. Many prominent series include straight shotacon, notably FLCL and Negima!, these series include scenes where older women press themselves on boys.
Contents |
Like lolicon, shotacon often depicts children in sexual situations with adults or other children. While the shotacon community argues that drawn art is protected under freedom of speech, critics claim shotacon is a direct offshoot of child pornography and may lead to child sexual abuse,).citation needed Supporters argue shotacon is comprised of fictional drawings and therefore not child pornography (a view supported by Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition) because no child has been harmed in its creation, and that no study has ever linked shotacon to child sexual abuse.
Shotacon has dubious legality in many parts of the world. The sale, but not possession, of shotacon is outlawed and punishable by imprisonment in some regions of Japan, but is legal in others.citation needed The United States PROTECT act of 2003 prohibited "pandering" obscene or sexual drawings of children, and while it would seem the Supreme Court in Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition ruled that such legislation is unconstitutional, a later decision in United States v. Williams upheld the bulk of the PROTECT Act, making "pandering" of virtual child pornography illegal so long as either the offerer or the seeker was under the belief that actual children were involved in the work's creation -- regardless as to whether that was the truth. Shotacon is illegal in Australia, Canada, Sweden, Norway, and South Africa, but prosecutors do not typically press charges unless other crimes are present. Since most shotacon is trafficked internationally (such as through the Internet), national legal prohibitions are difficult to enforce.
The term "shotacon" is a Japanese portmanteau of Shōtarō complex (正太郎コンプレックス Shōtarō konpurekkusu?), a reference to the young male character Shōtarō (正太郎) from Tetsujin 28-go.1
In the anime and manga series, Shōtarō is a bold, self-assertive young detective who frequently outwits adult adversaries and helps to solve cases. Throughout the series, Shōtarō develops close adult friends, and acts within the adult world despite being a young boy. His bishounen cuteness embodied and formed the term "shotacon", putting a name to an old sexual subculture.
Where the shotacon concept developed is hard to pinpoint, but some of its earliest roots are in readers responses to detective series written by Edogawa Rampo. In his works, a character named Yoshio Kobayashi of "Shōnentanteidan" (Junior Detective Group, similar to the Baker Street Irregulars of Sherlock Holmes) forms a deep dependency with adult protagonist Kogoro Akechi. Kobayashi, a beautiful teenager, constantly concerns himself with Kogoro's cases and well-being, and for a time moves in with the unmarried man. The adult-boy relationship in part inspired the evolution of the shotacon community.
Tamaki Saitō describes the modern shotacon doujinshi community as having largely formed in the early 1980s and having a roughly even split between males and females.1
Shotacon stories are commonly released in semi-monthly anthologies. Sometimes, however, mangaka will publish individual manga volumes.
Many series make use of shotacon themes or evoke the fetish through stalker-like characters.
In Japan a few works critical of shotacon exist as well. Most of them are not very popular or are not translated for release outside of Japan. One of the few comics in the western world that deals critically with the subjects of shotacon and abuse is the German manga-style comic Losing Neverland.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |