Forum - View topicAnswerman - Are We At Risk for Censorship of LGBTQ+/Adult Material Because of U.S. 2025 Federal Poli
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ANN Forum Mod / Admin
Posts: 5 Location: This account can not receive PMs |
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MODERATION NOTICE: This is a preemptive reminder to all users to follow the forum rules. Especially those on being respectful to your fellow users, and staying on-topic. --F
Last edited by ANN Forum Mod / Admin on Mon Feb 03, 2025 5:38 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Dr. Wily
Posts: 393 |
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I'm glad this is out there because despite how much a lot of us say we "don't want to talk about politics", it's important to recognize that unfortunately it does in fact impact pretty much every facet of our lives, whether we like it or not, and to know what the far-reaching consequences of those impacts can entail.
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Jackson Hill
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Well, censorship of adult or controversial content is already happening.Whether it's Japan doing this to itself or due to social changes around the world.
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YagamiBlackstone255
Posts: 235 |
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This is absolutely drop dead terrifying.
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marshmallowpie
 Posts: 313 Location: Nova Scotia, Canada |
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So, what percentage of English manga publishers' sales is to American K-12 school libraries? I know you were also talking about the tarrifs, but then you said "Combine this with potentially more states banning more manga, and it isn't out of the question that some books may be discontinued and others not printed at all." Banning a book from school libraries isn't even remotely close to banning it from an entire state. I'm looking at the shelf across from me, and, well, it's not my entire collection, but I don't see a single manga that belongs in a school library.
I don't want to be all "uphill both ways, in the snow", but no, I don't think any of my school libraries had manga. The Sasaki and Miyano situation sucks, since the homophobia in that case is extremely clear, and it doesn't seem like the series has anything adult in it, but not having Parasyte in a school? That I can understand. I don't think Hunter x Hunter would get banned because of the existence of Alluka, who doesn't appear until volume 30, I think it would be for the gruesome violence you can find even in the first arc. Back to the tarrifs, I think the only printed in China manga that I've owned were oversized hardcovers. Otherwise, I just see even amounts of US and Canada. I feel like tariffs from manga printed in Canada would be offset by our ever declining dollar... but I hope this doesn't harm manga companies too much — Seven Seas seems to print almost everything in Canada and I know I've seen names I recognize in their staff credits. |
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LuScr
Posts: 144 |
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This is my big question. The constant conflation of school libraries with public libraries does a disservice to anyone seeking clarity on this matter, because many things that would be appropriate for the latter have no place whatsoever in the former. |
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Essedess
Posts: 128 |
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Awesome. 2025 is off to a great start. Can someone wake me from this nightmare? I seem to be stuck in it and can't wake up, cause this sure as hell can't actually be happening, right?
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AQuin1904
Posts: 275 |
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The focus on library bans seems geared toward the all-ages LGBTQ+ side of the question, but don't forget that the same forces are pushing for blanket criminalization of pornography. There are already multiple states that companies releasing adult manga/anime won't ship to.
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funkfoot
Posts: 93 |
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I know it's a theory among some English fans that Alluka is transgender but let's remember that's not actually canon or confirmed anywhere despite what some ardent fans might insist. There's dozens of explanations for the ambiguous nature of Alluka/Nanika. Also Hisoka is right there. An adult man getting his rocks off to little boys is personally what I think would be the bigger issue if we're talking potential offensive stuff. Otherwise, I would agree not a lot of manga probably belongs in a school library to begin with, nor do I think the topic of "censorship" should revolve entirely around school libraries or children. There's much bigger fish to fry like credit card companies killing entire Japanese storefronts and platforms. Mod note: don't conflate pedophilia with LGBT. This is your only warning. |
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WoodDude
 Posts: 80 |
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Unfortunately some people only care about censorship if it involves "LGBTQ+" stuff. Or worse they only think it counts as censorship if it's about "LGBTQ+" issues. So that tends to dominate these discussions here. |
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mdo7
 Posts: 6756 Location: Katy, Texas, USA |
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Yes, I'm worried about anime/manga including one with LGBTQ being targeted by the Trump/MAGA crowd beside the usual homophobic/transphobic crowd in the US. I'm also worried about the wider Asian-American/AAPI communities also being targeted by the same people that may go after anime/manga. We're already seeing/seen book bans at school libraries in GOP-controlled states also being targeted at manga too. I wrote this back in 2023 on another Answerman thread, this is now more relevant today:
It's not only LGBTQ manga I worried about, I also am concerned because of the Trump's anti-DEI thing, it could lead to anime conventions could face closure or anime convention events being cancelled. A few days ago, a Michigan State University had to cancelled their Lunar New Year event because of the executive order on the DEI thing. Now I worried that something like this could happened to anime conventions because of the anti-DEI thing as in anime convention getting cancelled or the venue refused to host anime convention citing Trump's executive order on DEI. Also, I mentioned that if the book ban goes beyond anime/manga, is that going to escalate to targeting Asian-American/AAPI communities. I asked because a few days ago, I read an article from KQED (a local PBS in San Francisco) about the local Japanese-American communities are going to protect undocumented immigrants and come to the defense of the larger immigrants communities due to their experience of the Japanese internment during WWII. So that is my biggest worries as a anime/manga fan, if Japanese-Americans are building a big resistance toward Trump's treatment to the immigrant communities and the wider AAPI communities, is this going to lead to Trump and MAGA attacking not only the Japanese-American communities, will the MAGA/Trumper dare go after anime/manga and the fandom as an act of retaliation, is that going to lead to more manga ban in the school and public libraries? Is that going to lead to the FCC going after companies like Crunchyroll, Netflix, and other streaming companies that stream and license anime, what about manga publishers like Viz Media, Kodansha USA, etc... That is not only my biggest worries for the anime/manga fandom. I also want to add webtoons/manhwa, and K-pop into this conversation given that ANN has also been diving deep into webtoons and Korean pop culture thanks to K-pop and K-dramas. As a K-pop fan for 10+ years, I do have fears about the return of the anti-Asian/AAPI hate that was seen in 2020 due to COVID-19, but now we have another new problem beside anime/manga fandom and the anime/manga media titles being targeted, I'm afraid K-pop could be targeted because do you all remember the 2020 Trump rally in Tulsa? Yes, we K-pop fans sabotaged Trump rally in Tulsa, and I was a witness to it!!! K-pop fans are one fandom that you don't want to mess around with. Now, I worried that K-pop fandom in the US could be targeted and face retaliation from Trump/MAGA and the white supremacist folks because the fandom was involved with taking down white supremacy on Twitter and social media. K-pop fans including ARMYs (BTS' fandom) have also supported Black Lives Matter, so that puts the whole K-pop fandom, and the wider Asian-American/AAPI communities in greater danger of facing more racism, and bigotry because of our social activism. So that's what I really worried about, as not only an anime/manga fan, and a K-pop fan, but also as an Asian-American myself. Yes, I'm scared for both anime/manga fandom, and also for the K-pop/Hallyu fandom. Last edited by mdo7 on Mon Feb 03, 2025 8:11 pm; edited 3 times in total |
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Kadmos1
 Posts: 13637 Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP |
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I am not for censorship. When it comes to titles that have Teen ratings and titles that have Mature ratings, put them in their respective sections of a book store or library. That seems simple in theory. When it comes to titles that are porno, some specific section that is part of the Mature section is where they should put it. How practical these ideas are to implement is another story.
If we are to ban the Bible in a library, be consistent and ban the other holy books of Judaism, Islam, Shintoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and how many other faiths/beliefs. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11688 |
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If you think the target is only school libraries, you're mistaken. There have been many attempts (and some successes) to defund public libraries at both the state and local level, and not only in red states, while simultaneously enacting laws targeting librarians with jail time if there are books deemed inappropriate for minors on the shelf. Of course, "inappropriate" is always defined vaguely enough to cover whatever they want it to. The article in the above link is from 2023, but they're not slowing down, and manga is hardly all they're after. This is a real threat they're now making good on, and the slope is getting very slippery. I'm getting pretty tired of saying "I told you so," to people who keep saying we're over-reacting. Last edited by Gina Szanboti on Mon Feb 03, 2025 8:25 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Dr. Wily
Posts: 393 |
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You're right in that banning stuff from school libraries is different from banning from all libraries, but it's important to note that a lot of the groups that are pushing for book bans are just looking at school libraries as a starting point and are definitely going to push for state/nationwide bans on "objectionable" stuff, if they haven't already. Additionally, school libraries are frequently the only ones a lot of children will get to for a number of reasons (chief among them being parents refusing to take them or America's terrible lack of quality public transportation, but those are far from the only ones). And I do agree that there are honestly a lot of manga that kids shouldn't be reading, but when they talk about banning stuff from school libraries (at least in the US), they're talking about across the whole public school system, not just like, little kids. So that's like all the way up to 17-18 year olds, at which point yeah, whatever, if a kid's old/mature enough to see a slasher movie, let em read what they want, I say. |
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Smongo
Posts: 90 |
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The US right now is absolutely scary time especially as of now reports from the media and subreddits like r/fednews and r/datahoarders show that the Trump Admin and Elon are scrubbing datasets from their sites, links to the Constitution and past president achievements being down, leaked email memos removing words like “Gender” in scientific papers, and Elon and his teenaged goons having access to the security access to US Treasury payment system and private data of all US citizens, contractors, etc.
Let’s not also forget that MAGA will try use the zombie law known as the Comstock Act of 1873 to not only to ban mailing abortion pills but also mailing of “obscene and crime-inciting materials” which they can interpret of as LGTBQ materials of any kind and finally, these same Republicans want to get rid of the Department of Education: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/899 The only thing really saving us from censorship and the other crazy things that these Christo-fascists want to do are the judges and courts blocking the orders and lawsuits being made and present right now which will only increase as time goes on at this pace and will be an astronomical amount. I do have hope and see people everywhere around the world paying more attention to what’s happening and realize we’re going down a dangerous path/looking past the culture war BS whether it’s calling your representatives to demand them to vote no, protesting, and much more. Call your representatives and tell to vote no to book bans, spread the word and educate people, get involved in your community, and help protect what we love. |
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