Weekly Shonen Jump magazine is one of the most popular manga magazines out there. It’s read by literally thousands (if not millions) of people of all ages and gender identities regularly, despite the fact that there are a few racy or sexually titillating series that have run within its pages in the past. This being said, its primary demographic is still young men, and it’s these sexy series that is the focus of a Change.org petition that ran for a few days earlier this month, collecting over 4,000 signatures in the process.
Titled “We Boys Are Not Wolves. Shonen Jump Should Distinguish Between ‘Eroticism’ and ‘Sexual Violence'” and organized by a man named Manabu Sekiguchi, the petition protests the depictions of non-consensual sexual violence in Weekly Shonen Jump and requests the magazine to include content warnings or explanations when such scenes occur. The petition further demands that the magazine poll its readers on their level of sexual education so that the series within the magazine can create sexual or romantic plot depictions that can be more easily grasped by the target audience.
Now before you rush to judgment, Sekiguchi wrote out his reasons for launching the petition, which includes his own personal experiences as a reader of Weekly Shonen Jump as a child versus his feelings for the magazine as an adult. In the rather lengthy petition description, Sekiguchi begins by recounting his experiences as an elementary school student reading and loving series such as To Love Ru, which features many sexual situations and erotic depictions of female characters.
He states further that his feelings towards the manga didn’t change all the way until he was in college when he met another man who didn’t read To Love Ru. He says that looking back at that time, he can now understand how someone would find that content objectionable, and now, as an adult, he finds it hard to read Weekly Shonen Jump because of how it portrays women as “livestock”.
In another story from the petition description, Sekiguchi recalls being in elementary school and seeing a group of boys sexually harassing girls. Sekiguchi recalled not saying anything at the time because he thought it was normal behavior. One of those same boys, however, ended up getting expelled from his high school after being caught taking photos of girls while they were bathing.
Sekiguchi isn’t interested in seeing manga series written as though they are educational materials, but he does believe that the sexualized content within the magazine conditions young men to see women’s bodies as erotic. The petition ended with over 4,100 signatures and Sekiguchi has announced that he will send it to publisher Shueisha.
As you might imagine, the petition found some support from people who agreed with the petition’s premise and that the sexualization of underage female characters is inappropriate for younger audience members. There were also many who opposed the petition, however, arguing that if Weekly Shonen Jump puts warnings on sexual content, they must put warnings on any piece of objectionable content which would ruin the flow of the manga.
As an adult manga reader, I can see both sides of this argument. On one hand, I agree that the times are changing and manga needs to change with it. At one point, we all turned a blind eye to sexual humor within various manga series (I, myself, am guilty of this). However, with the world becoming more and more of a centralized global community, the plot device standards that were acceptable 20 years ago are now outdated and potentially harmful or offensive.
That said, putting warning labels on everything that might be offensive or harmful to youth is a slippery slope, as there will always be someone out there who finds something offensive.
Sadly, being that this is a Change.org petition that didn’t even receive 5,000 signatures, it is unlikely that any changes will be made which, again, could be seen as unfortunate. Weekly Shonen Jump has seen its fair share of hardships and scandals over the years, with multiple manga authors being arrested for indecent acts against minors, possession of child pornography, and other crimes.
Source: Anime News Network
