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A Study on the Male Homosexuality Myth in Girls’ Comics
Introduction
Shojo manga, a popular form of art and entertainment made by and for women, is now seeing an increasing popularity in its boys’ love genre. The appearance and popularity of male homosexual material may, at first glance, seem weird but is justified once we come to realize the sexual mask behind which the true female identity of shounen ai heros are hidden. Shojo manga is not “going gay”, but “faking the male”. On the stage where the “Girl! Girl! Girl!” theme reigns, Boys’ Love genre occupies one corner in which girls disguise as their opposite sex for a taste of adventure SHE sex is hardly allowed to experience. The power of sexual mask origins in the power of male while the myth of it roots in sex inequality. To woman, a male identity means social freedom and authority. In shojo manga sexual mask sends out a dual message. On one hand, it conceives in its existence, female’s furious accusation of sex inequality and loud urge for equality. On the other hand, female's using male mask to pursue what they want implies that women want to be like men or that men are worth emulating. This is, in fact, to affirm that the male is the human being with general meaning and that all the values the male represents is the norm that is above what the female represents. I will prove, through analysis based on feminism theory, that sexual mask is actually a subjugation of women, a negation of female role, or an acceptance of the premise: “male strong and female weak”. It is self-evidently contradictory and will help to strengthen patrarchal values.
Chapter One Ridicule in Girls’ Comics’ ‘Going Gay’ Phenomenon
In this chapter, I will first take a look at the prevailing homosexual themes in today’s girls’ comics. Then through analysis of how male homosexuality contradicts the nature of shojo mang, I will expose the ridicule in the seemingly ‘going gay” phenomenon manga and by doing so...