CENSORSHIP IN BL (NSFW/+18)

WARNING: This article is NSFW and has explicit sexual images. Therefore it’s not recommended for underage people.

There’s a lot of misunderstandings related to the censorship in Boys Love comics and anime, especially of Asian origin. So, in today’s Yaoipedia we will try to clear these doubts.

Almost every BL comic published in Asia has restrictions regarding explicit sexual scenes. There’s already recurring jokes among BL fans about the totally censored penises, nicknamed ‘lightsabers’.

This censorship depends on the way that each country deals with content that is considered pornographic or obscene. This censorship can also change if its dealing with digital or physical material. So, we will talk about each country separately because of these particularities.

JAPAN

According to the Article 175 of the Japanese Penal Code, the person who sells or distributes obscene material can be punished with a fine or prison sentence. However, the law never specified whatever is classified as “obscene content” and the article was inserted in the original code back in 1907 and it has been left relatively unchanged since then.

Therefore, whatever is considered “obscene material” has been left in charge of the judge’s interpretation, according to a law from the beginning of the 20^th century. Because of this context that allows the government to intervene whenever they find convenient, the Japanese cultural industry applies something like an autocensorship so they can avoid any kind of problem.

Since there are few precedents about what can or not be targeted by the article 175, it has become a habit to censor genitalia (and for a long time pubic hair was also censored or even removed) in any kind of scene.

However, since there are no clear rules, this censorship is done in different ways according to the magazine or the publisher.

Here’s the list of the ways that dicks are censored in Japanese works:

The most common way is to paint white the whole dingus.

Other form of censorship is to cover the whole member, but with small dots that are actually made with screentone.

A standard method of censorship is to cover the cock with white lines.

There are cases in which the dick simply disappear and the only indication that its there it’s a slightly dark shadow or a movement line.

Other kind of censorship it’s when the meat is covered by little white balls.

And there are cases in which we ask if it can even be considered censorship, when they put small white/black stripes above the dick and everyone involved swears no one will notice it is a penis.

There are cases in which the censorship can be different for the same manga, depending if it’s the physical or digital copy. Digital publications usually censor the character’s dicks more, probably to follow the rules of the place where they are sold or to avoid the chance the material could be classified as pornographic.

Moreover, BL manga aren’t usually classified as pornographic material or even as adult content, because of the association with shoujo manga and the long history of manga unique visual language used by women to refer to sexual content. Because of that, since it’s sold as “women’s comics”, even if the BL manga has a clearly erotic cover, you don’t have to present any kind of document to prove that you are an adult when you go buy it.

In the case of BL mangas that have the seinen label (成年) ( which means adult, please don’t think it means the same as the Seinen(青年) demographic) or R-18…..still have censorship. There’s nowhere to run ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. However, with the increase of BL manga that use mainstream elements borrowed from hentai manga, some people argument that it is a question of “when” these manga will be target by some kind of regulation.

Some BL authors apply their own method of autocensorship, such as using strategic angles so the penis don’t show up or putting an onomatopoeia above the organs.

In case of game and anime, the most common censorship is the pixel mosaic on the genital organs. In anime, there’s always the chances that the sex scenes could end up totally cut off, even if it’s exhibited late at night or sold directly to DVD.

Some animes put a dark or black light above the character’s penises, such as Junjou Romantica or Yarichin Bitch Club.

In some cases the scene is put together in a way that the member simply doesn’t appear, as it was done in the Twittering Birds Never Fly (Saezuru tori wa Habatakanai) movie.

China and Taiwan

From all the countries listed here, China is the one with the harshest laws regarding pornographic content. Pornography was officially banned in the country in 2002.

Even if it’s not against the law, in Chinese media in general the censorship against LGBT content is common. Owners of television channels and studios forbid material that have “anormal relationships such as incest, homosexuals, sexual perversion, sexual harassment, sexual abuse and similar.”

Chinese authors are tied down by the law since any kind of BL content that is slightly explicit can be blocked or removed from internet. Famous franchises between Chinese fujoshis such as Spirit Pact or Mo Dao Zu Shi escape the censorship since there’s almost no BL scenes (and because they are extremely profitable). A common joke between the Chinese fans is ‘nothing bellow the neck is allowed”.

The correct thing would be to say that BL content in China has some periods of greater freedom and other periods of harsher censorship and vigilance.

However, not everything is lost, since it’s possible to publish comics with erotic content in the physical format in Taiwan. Pornography and erotic material are allowed on the island – as long as its sold only to adults and in specific places.

Sadly we don’t have any 2D dick pics of Chinese comics to show here.

South Korea

Korea has a harsh past of censorship towards LGBT material and pornographic content. But how are things nowadays? According to our research, erotic comics aren’t forbbidden by the law, but minor’s access its strongly watched out for.

Sites that publish BL webcomics such as Lehzin, Toomics, BomToon, among others, require that the user inform a document number to prove they are not underage before accessing parts with erotic content available.

Besides that, South Korea has a law similar to Japan regarding “obscene” content, with also lacks a specific definition. Because of that, authors and publishers also apply the same kind of autocensorship on their works to avoid any kind of trouble with the law. Plataforms like Lehzin were almost banned for hosting “obscene” images of things like genitals and sex scenes.

The most common censorship of Korean dicks is to cover them whole with white paint. Since a lot of webcomics are colored, the “light saber” effect tends to be very stronger here.

However, there’s also the censorship in which the dick pratically doesn’t exists.

And in our side?

Even if Asia’s BL fans struggle with this censorship, there’s very little to stop the same content from being sold here on Brazil or in other Western countries without censorship. Regarding censorship, we don’t have the same restrictions, so it’s not uncommon for BL mangas to be sold in countries like USA and France without the censorship that they have on their own country.

And not only for comics. Anime and games licensed abroad can remove the censorship and be sold here with no problem. A popular case was the Sensitive Pornograph anime, which had its censorship removed when it was sold outside Japan.

In Brazil, there’s no legal obstacle that stops the publication of uncensored BL mangas. Mangas are published here with censorship for purely pratical reasons, such as the original publisher not having the uncensored manga or not allowing any kind of changes in international versions.

That’s the reason that NewPop Publisher will make history when they publish the On or Off manhwa uncensored in Brazil. This wouldn’t be possible in South Korea.

However, in the digital realm it’s possible that censorship continues, be it in Asia or here. English versions of Korean sites keep their censorship and sites like Tapas have strict rules regarding erotic material. Since these services have apps, they have to follow these rules so they can avoid being banned from Google Play or Apple Store.

Services such as Tapytoon and Toomics do not allow +18 comics to be accessed through their app, only through the web version.

Meanwhile, on the piracy side, a lot of scanlations end up drawing the dicks above the censorship when they translate the manga.

The results may vary, for good or for bad.

As you may see, something simple like wanting to see dicks on the sexy scenes of your favorite BL manga can be something harder than expected. It’s something that deals with whatever is considered erotic or pornographic and how it’s important to not attract attention of government sectors that don’t understand these stories’ successes.

That’s why it’s important to celebrate initiatives such as the Blue Lynx anime label which fought against the removal of the sex scenes in the Saezuru Tori wa Habatakanai adaptation, even if the movie would become a financial threat.

Sex is something natural, it’s part of many people’s lives and we wouldn’t be here without it. Sadly that is the reality that many BL authors have to go through when they portray something so mundane.

SOURCES:

Organization for Transformative Works – The censorship problems faced by anime and manga fans

Kristine Michelle L. Santos (2020): The bitches of Boys Lovecomics: the pornographic response of Japan’s rotten women, Porn Studies, DOI:10.1080/23268743.2020.1726204

Censuras de pênis de acordo com as editoras japonesas de BL.

Korean Times – Watchdog hit for excessive digital censorship