Abstract
The main focus of this chapter is on the magazine Men’s Egg, a representative of magazines targeting the gyaru-o youth culture. Promiscuity is one fundamental value of this youth culture, and addressing sex is a major emphasis of magazines catering to this audience. This chapter discusses the extent to which discourses on sex are an important aspect of creating a certain gender regime and conveying a particular idea of masculinity. It shows that there is a profound connection between the inclusion of features on sexual discourse and the incorporation of hegemonic masculinity. As a corollary, this chapter discusses how CHOKi CHOKi completely avoids this topic and at least partially creates a new masculinity by eliminating sex as a fundamental aspect that shapes male–female relationships.
All translations of quotations from Japanese sources that appear in this chapter are by the author.
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Notes
- 1.
Yasuda (1999–).
- 2.
Miura (2000–).
- 3.
See also Chapter 5.
- 4.
See Chapter 2.
- 5.
- 6.
See Fig. 7.1.
- 7.
See also Chapter 2.
- 8.
This is the abbreviation for enjokōsai shōjo. This term refers to so-called compensated dating, which means the practice of young girls, primarily schoolgirls, who would go on dates with older men. The dates were usually but not exclusively arranged via telephone clubs. It was not uncommon for the girls to prostitute themselves and be compensated with money or presents. For more information on this topic see, for example, Miyadai (1994).
- 9.
The title is a play on words. The verb itte shimata is written in katakana. In a sexual context, iku means reaching orgasm. Here, however, a Chinese character is written as furigana above the katakana i. This character means “to die”.
- 10.
Sundome means to stop the fist before it actually hits the opponent in a martial arts competition.
- 11.
Also see, for example, ME 2003/09, 75–79; 2007/09, 81 and ME 2010/04, 67–81.
- 12.
See Fig. 7.1.
- 13.
The term macho refers to a skinny yet slightly muscular man.
- 14.
This is obviously a reference to a vibrator as a sex toy.
- 15.
See “The hunter and the prey: man and woman as partners in sexual intercourse” presented later in this chapter.
- 16.
See also “The ‘EROMAN’ article series” discussed later in this chapter.
- 17.
- 18.
See, e.g., ME 2011/12, 67–79, ME 2010/04, 67–81 or ME 2006/02, 59–73.
- 19.
See Chapter 3 .
- 20.
It may be arguable that the underlying rationale could be that a man always enjoys the sexual act—yet, there is no proof of this within the text.
- 21.
Grotesque as a kind of humorous act is part of the gyaru and gyaru-o culture. Therefore, this is a further example of how the magazine reconstructs this youth culture.
- 22.
See Chapter 4.
- 23.
That is at least until they have had children. There is also a tendency for married couples to engage less in sex after their children are born. See Japan Family Planning Association (2015).
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Saladin, R. (2019). You’ve Got to Do What a Man’s Got to Do… or Not?—Sexual Intercourse. In: Young Men and Masculinities in Japanese Media. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9821-6_7
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