quote:Though the prohibitions on penis and pubic hair have begun to loosen, today's young man grew up with the tentacle, and it's become a fetish and one of many in Japan, which has a lot more visibility for strange fetishes than America does. Partly because Japan likes to market to everyone.
Weird. Makes sense, though.
So if we keep going down the Ashcroft road of repression/censorship, eventually we'll have tentacle-fetishists of our own?
I would shudder to see an ad campaign targeted at young tentacle-fetishists.
They market to everyone, but they don't do it on the television necessarily. Just because there are a lot of anime fans doesn't mean that they advertise anime on CNN.
Edit: I'm sad, though, that my post got eaten up by the last page.
quote: Centerfolds almost always begin clothed, generally in a "normal" situation like playing sports or shopping or something fom their every day life because this emphasizes the girl-next-door feel that Playboy favors for their centerfolds.
Huh. I thought the centerfolds were more likely to be nude, often celebrities.
Ryuko--thanks for the background info. I have enjoyed learning about Japanese culture myself. I think that understanding it really enhances one's enjoyment of anime.
So tentacles were born out of repression? I thought there was some mystical significance aside from sexuality. I have seen those tentacles everywhere in anime, used as weapons, used to show magic powers, etc. Think of the "tentacle" weapon in Escaflowne, or the "tentacle-worm-demon-rot" in Mononoke Hime. That sort of thing. Does all that really share roots in repressed sexuality?
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Well, shoot. I completely forgot to talk about squid. That's where tentacles in particular came from, and from a famous print of a woman being, er... violated by a squid.
I don't know if non-sexual tentacles came from the tentacle fetish or directly from squid, which like many other animals, have a place in Japanese folklore, legend, and religion.
Posts: 4816 | Registered: Apr 2003
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They couldn't show penises. The tentacle sort of replaced the penis. So, yeah.
Like this...
Uninfluenced/repressed Japanese art = openly sexual
Add in American influence, which was quickly adopted into systematic repression.
The sexual stuff found its way through the repression only in a very exaggerated and nearly unrecognizable form.
Hmmm.
Actually, that isn't a stretch.
Ron and I once rented an anime based on an acquaintance's reccommendation, only to be shocked and horrified by tentacles and giant raping machinery. We never rented anything based on what that guy liked ever again.
quote: I think that understanding it really enhances one's enjoyment of anime.
Definitely. That's why I got into Japanese culture in the first place. Then I began to enjoy it on its own merits.
quote: Ron and I once rented an anime based on an acquaintance's reccommendation, only to be shocked and horrified by tentacles and giant raping machinery. We never rented anything based on what that guy liked ever again.
Yeah, when I was about fifteen, I was just starting to be into anime and babysitting at my cousin's house. They had cable channels I didn't and I was watching anime on Cartoon Network. When they came home, a friend of theirs found out I liked anime and told me about a hentai she'd watched in college where the guy had three penises. I was scarred.
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If you guys can figure out how to order the July 1996 Water polo cover for Life, let me know, because I want it. I've kicked myself ever since for not buying that magazine. I flipped through it at a newsstand at an airport. I've been checking archives and I don't know if it is findable.
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Thanks... I had actually found that one, but it's not what's in my head. *shrug* Maybe I'm thinking of something else.
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We know you want a catsuit, ElJay . . . come to think of it, I want you to have a catsuit . . .
*ahem*
Actually, in this case I'm referring to the google ads that pop up when you search for 'back issues "life magazine"'.
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I have a catsuit. More than one, actually. However, unlike the ones on that site, none of mine are vinyl. Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
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On the subject of tentacles in anime, I refer you to a classic Megatokyo guest strip by Poe of the defunct strip Exploitation Now. (worksafe, nothing bad but a few moaning sounds coming from a tv set)
On the subject of catsuits, pretty much any vinyl-wear you find is going to be lined. I'd even venture that you'd probably have to order from a rubber-fetishist site to get vinyl clothes that WEREN'T lined, as this caters more to people who actually want to feel the rubber that they're wearing. Bear in mind also that the lining may keep it from chafing, but it will not keep you from sweating. The vinyl still does not breathe at all, so the more skin area you cover, the more you will sweat.
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On an aside - I never thought of the weapons systems in Escaflowne as sexual metaphors.
They resembled tentacles, yes - but let's face it, Freud would also claim all swords are extensions of phallic fascination instead of being perfectly viable and usually effective weapons.
quote: We never rented anything based on what that guy liked ever again.
This reminds me of the client who told my husband that "Don't tell mom, the babysitter's dead" would be entertaining. I sat it out, but he watched the whole thing thinking "Something has to make this worthwhile by the end." PUNKED!
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Trevor, I never would have thought of them as sexual either. But I've gotten used to people somewhere out there thinking just about anything is sexual.
I do see now that there is a history behind the "tentacle thing" with the Japanese. I am assuming that extends into multiple things, even things not really sexual at all. So maybe in these cases the cigar really is just a cigar--and it has become prevailant in their culture by default.
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I really enjoyed Exploitation Now, and was sad when it ended... though I was pretty impressed by the ending. Those last few strips were very good.
I read Megatokyo semi-regularly (it's in the rotation with Penny Arcade and the 8-bit Theater strip at nuklearpower).
AJ, I know the pictures are work-safe, but nonetheless I will be returning to this thread after work. Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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Behold the resurrection of the porn thread. You may be wondering why I brought this up again, but I assure you it's not really for anything that deep, and won't take too long.
Partly it's because, after reading the original post of the thread, I want to be one of the Porn People too! Where do I sign up for that? Though I should mention that when looking at the original trio of pics linked to, I'm reminded of nothing so much as a line from Milk Money, where the kids are trying to watch an adult movie on a scrambled channel: "Whoa! What's that?" "I think it's an elbow." "Why would he be doing THAT to her elbow?"
Mainly, though, it's because I recently came across a picture I'm rather intrigued by, which seems to fit into the same vein as those discussed earlier. I think there actually is an elbow in it, though. What do you think? Disclaimer: This picture does not have any naughty bits, mainly two hands, some arm, possibly the side of a torso. It does cross one line that I don't think any of the other pics linked to have though: there are definitely two people here. So if you think this is a bit too explicit... well, you probably shouldn't have clicked on any links in a thread with "porn" in the title, but sorry about that anyway.
--Enigmatic ^ ^ is not a porn star.
Posts: 2715 | Registered: Apr 2005
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I question the "prim" as well, though for entirely other reasons. (I've known her longer than any of you (except dkw, I suppose (this is just to nest another parenthesis)))
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