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Forum - View topicSex Work, Kink, and Consent: Here's How the Anime Community Can be Better With Adult Content and Its
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Stampeed Valkyrie
 Posts: 861 Location: PA |
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In less then 4 lines the Author of this article demonstrated that they need to look up the definition of misogyny and their homework is to use the term CORRECTLY in a sentence.
What is not mentioned is that the simple majority of anime goers are minors, and because conventions are ALL ages or billed as such, they need to take steps to keep that content in its own box. Failure to do so will drive away vendors that do not want the heat, Legal issues for minors, and general anime fans who are not into that content. Nothing wrong with some Ecchi, honestly whatever floats your boat. But to write nonsense about no clear line between Sex work and None Sex work??? One involves Sex or items sexual in nature... one does not? Are we all regressing into stupid? The Author also failed to mention is that Historically Anime Conventions have been lacking on keeping some elements behind the 18+ wall and this has lead to issues. General Anime Conventions have gotten much better dealing with these issues. TLDR nothing wrong with "H" content so long as its kept out of sight of minors. And maybe if demand is high enough more Adult Conventions. |
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Lactobacillus yogurti
 Posts: 859 Location: Latin America |
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Even thought there have been great strides made in changing this notion, most people still believe that "cartoons ar for kids" and therefore accepting more adult themes in them is a pearl-clutching thing.
But all in all, what a lot of people won't admit to is that there's still a high level of overt female objectification and demonization to a point, because even if women are told off due to how risqué their outfits are, and later blamed if something happens to them (s***-shaming is still rampant, and women can be especially cruel towards other women), it's not a secret that a lot of men can and will fantasize over that. As long as boundaries aren't set and respected, well, it'll all be effed up. |
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Vaisaga
 Posts: 13242 |
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Yeah, I think the definition of sex work used here is too broad. I couldn't really picture what they were referring to. To me sex work at an anime con is someone paying to have sex with a cosplayer or on the lower end of things, posing for pictures with your breasts out. Both activities that should be done away from prying eyes.
If it's just wearing cosplay and posing for pictures I wouldn't call that sex work. Not even if they're offering to spit/step on you. Especially when the person offering is cosplaying a character who would totally do those things. Unless it violates the area's prostitution or indecent exposure laws. Consent only needs to be between the parties actively participating. Anyone walking by who gets weirded out by it should just avert their gaze and move on. You can't pander to every single person's sensibilities. Imagine not being able to cosplay Madoka and Sayaka with your girlfriend just because some Homura fans would get upset. More security is always a good thing, but devoting more to an 18+ area would be prudent since in that atmosphere people are more likely to believe they can get away with more. As for cosplayers being judged on appearences well, that just the nature of the thing. Fans value accuracy above all so if you don't look like the character you're cosplaying they're going to complain. Yes it's impossible to meet anime girl standards, but if it's a glaring discrepancy it's hard not to notice. Like a character has long blonde hair but you don't wear a wig and keep your hair short and brown. Be assured that if a fan artist drew a character with big inaccuracies they're get criticized too. As for sfw cons denying you entry, that's completely unjustified. I get that they think you might suddenly expose yourself or something but so long as you don't do that you're fine. |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 24225 |
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My biggest regret in reading this article is finding out that spitting in somebody's mouth for $5 is a thing. Eww.
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TarsTarkas
 Posts: 5958 Location: Virginia, United States |
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Think they are really expecting too much from anime conventions. The problem with lines in the sand for SFW and NSFW stuff, is that they are too vague in the non-anime world. One day your golden, the next day your trash. Expecting anime conventions to be the ultimate arbiter of that decision is not going to work.
As to increasing access and awareness of adult themed spaces at "all ages' anime conventions; well that is a minefield, that I think most anime conventions don't want to stand in. We all know kids and teenagers, and they will find a way to get in. Slip past a curtain, force your way through a wall panel, or have a friend run interference on the guard/staff personnel. The legal, criminal, and financial ramifications could be quite costly. Anime conventions are not massive money making endeavors. They already have massive staffing problems, so I doubt they could significantly increase real security personnel to a level that was requested. Adult only anime conventions are the only way to go, to get what the article's author wants. Ticket prices for the big conventions are already astronomic. Haven't been to Otakon in years now, and really the only big draw for me was the dealer's room and some panels. A lot of U.S based anime conventions have lost the 'spectacle' of company anime (booth) displays. Anime Japan in Tokyo blew me away with spectacle, and now I am spoiled brat, wishing to have the same here. Just waiting on my next work visit to the Kanto Plain, hopefully in the Spring. |
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Themaster20000
 Posts: 872 |
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People already missing the point here already. As pointed out, you'll have cosplayers,whose entire brand is based around doing sexy, revealing outfits, while accepted by the community.While if one who also happens to be a sex worker does the same thing, will get bombarded with a ton of misogynist insults, along with people thinking they don't have any issue with of people being more willing to break their consent of not touching them, because of this idea that sex workers fine with it, because of their background.
The rebuttal of having to shield kids and teenagers from potentially seeing 18+ content is completely asinine, given all the hentai booths and artists, that are freely accessible to everyone. |
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light turner
Posts: 192 |
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I'm going to be honest and say I genuinely do not understand the difference in the two types of cosplay if there is one. By sex work do we mean OnlyFans and selling pictures and videos or by sex-work do we explicitly mean people who have sex with other people for money. The article mentions some people do not consider doing nude photos and videos to be sex work. If we're talking strictly the people who have sex with other people for money, then I assume the fact prostitution is illegal everywhere in America expect certain places in Nevada is probably a big factor in the discussion that openly promoting and supporting said people opens up a lot of legal and social issues for conventions and other organizations. |
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Thulebox
Posts: 20 |
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I had slight hopes this article would invite good open discussion around a sensitive topic (emphasis on slight). But of course it's just gonna be used as an excuse to be demeaning, misogynistic etc. by commenters
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Themaster20000
Posts: 872 |
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Sex work is an umbrella term. Could be someone with an OnlyFans, shooting professionally, escorting,etc. The ones interviewed have an OnlyFans and have shot professionally stuff. . |
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k_ozdragon
Posts: 20 |
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Where's all the misogyny in this thread? I must have missed it. |
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Juno016
 Posts: 2436 |
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It's "kink at pride" all over again here...
I'm an ero-artist, meaning most of what I put up online is NSFW, but if I want to upload something more tame or unrelated for a wider audience, I use an entirely different account because I don't want to invite people to a NSFW account they weren't looking for. As such, I do think consent of people around you to demonstrate kink content is necessary, at least in the current social climate where discomfort around sex is prominent. I couldn't give you a proper boundary on what does or doesn't count as such, though. At the very least, I think sexy cosplay that isn't itself kink cosplay is acceptable if it is representing a character in a public work (ie. a character who wears a dominatrix-like dress, your average anime bunny girl, characters with cleavage, midriff, and/or some navel showing, etc.), but if the character or cosplay is overtly kink-themed (ie. a bondage suit with shibari rope or sex toys on it), it's probably not going to fly. I believe "sex work" is often self-defined to an extent, but for the purposes of public performance, I would simply count it as anything you see deligated to porn videos or adult streams, including softcore kink porn. I'm not privy enough to know what sex workers do at cons, but while I do understand convention organizers' concerns (even in the best case scenarios, sex work often comes with the potential for unintended abuse), I think it is fine as long as the boundaries created to denote an area as 18+ is well-defined (Japanese stores often have big curtains that have obvious red signs saying "18+ only" you have to pass through to access 18+ products, and these areas are able to exist in popular general stores like Donki). I do think it is ultimately the sex workers' responsibility to create reasonable boundaries between their bodies/performance and the audience, however, and I do not think the audience should have direct access to sex workers' bodies while at the convention. Anything beyond that should be deligated to private soliciting with safety measures to protect the sex workers. As for security, I do think more security would be ideal, but I'm not sure how viable it would be for convention organizers. In the end, I don't know any better way to prevent the vast majority of problems that frequently come with these spaces outside of creating better public education around the subject of consent and sex workーwhich is a question far beyond the scope of this thread. Sex work is a very risky business. I have the utmost respect for those women and men participating in it out of a passion for the work. It is my hope that society eventually learns to be more comfortable talking about sex without it being a big deal, and that sex education increases consciousness around the risks and needs of sex work. To those in the article or who resonate with it as artists, I wish you the best of luck. Prioritize your safety above all else in the meantime. <3 |
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uhuurt
Posts: 26 |
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When the very essence of you "job" is objectifying yourself, you can't be surprised if then people objectify you. When your body becomes a product, people will treat it as such, and they'll have expectations, complaints and opinions about it that will be voiced. It's the only logical conclusion.
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lossthief
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 1440 |
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Not really. What you've just described - and exemplified - isn't some natural part of the human condition, but a socialized behavior where people don't view sex work as legitimate labor, and thus not worthy of the same basic boundaries that other labor receives. If you know somebody works as a cook at a restaurant, you wouldn't demand that they make you a meal off the clock just because you like their food. You wouldn't dump your garbage in another person's lawn simply because they work in waste disposal. If I see an NFL player on the street, I would rightfully be arrested if I tried to tackle them. What somebody does when they're "on the clock" as it were doesn't mean they aren't entitled to the same respect as anybody else who works for a living. |
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uhuurt
Posts: 26 |
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No, but I have all the rights to leave a TripAdvisor review of their restaurant or tell other people about my experience there. In the same way, if you sell your body people will, inevitably, make all kinds of comments that will obviously feel much more personal than the same stuff applied to almost any other job. Your body stops being something entirely yours, and becames a good on the market, legitimizing behaviours which would otherwise be offensive. What is normally body-shaming becomes nothing more than negative criticism, just like with the restaurant example you made earlier. This is why this kind of job will always be murky and controversial. |
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Gem-Bug
 Posts: 1332 |
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Nah, you're honestly just wrong here. |
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