Ask John: Where’s the Beef?

Question:
Ever notice how even though anime is supposedly more lax in nudity then American animation, both refuse to expose the male genitalia unless for a specific adult audience? Unless it’s a small child, the penis is always covered and it’s kind of odd considering how brazen anime is with the female body. Is it because the anime audience is primarily made up of men?

Answer:
To first address the broadest aspect of the question, while it’s true that both American and Japanese animation typically avoid depicting male genitalia, American animation largely avoids graphically depicting female nudity as well. I don’t think that Japanese animation is “supposedly more lax” about censoring nudity than American animation. I believe that there’s no doubt or debate that Japanese animation is more disposed to depicting female nudity than American animation is. The “shower scene” that seemed omnipresent in the anime of the 1980s and early 90s has evolved into the bath scene, which may be different in setting, but isn’t significantly different in effect. However, while it’s undeniably true that anime is more willing to depict female nudity than American animation is, it’s also undeniably true that anime is more eager to illustrate graphic female nudity than graphic male nudity. Audience demographics may have some influence over this circumstance. But audience alone isn’t the only cause for the lack of the male member in anime.

Japanese censorship is convoluted and confusing, in part, because it’s affected as much by tradition as law. Graphic depiction of genitalia has traditionally been prohibited from exposure in Japanese art for the protection of public morals and decency. However, the Japanese definition of “genitalia” is a bit vague. The anus and female breasts are not considered “genitalia” because they’re directly related to human reproduction, thus they’re not mandatorily censored. The penis is associated with sexual reproduction, therefore is genitalia requiring censorship. Anime girls – particularly transforming magical heroines – are frequently depicted completely nude. It’s possible to depict female characters totally nude because, like a children’s fashion doll, the human female figure can be depicted lacking anatomical accuracy without affecting the natural, realistic body shape. The same is not possible with a male body. A female body silhouette is the same regardless of whether it’s anatomically correct. A male body silhouette is missing one detail when drawn anatomically censored. That physical difference, in effect, allows animators to draw females nude from the waist down while retaining a high degree of physical accuracy. The same cannot be done with male characters.

A degree of sexism may apply to anime production. Many animators are male and may not feel entirely comfortably illustrating male genitalia. Many anime viewers are male and may not want to see accurately rendered male genitalia in mainstream anime. In fairness, these same viewers don’t seem to be especially insistent upon seeing accurately rendered waist-down female genitalia in mainstream anime either. However, aesthetics also plays a role. Even mainstream anime starring handsome male characters targeted at women don’t make an effort to depict graphic male genitalia. Seemingly even Japanese women believe that attractive bishounen are most handsome from the waist up. Regardless of both tradition and strict legality, I think that Japanese anime could get away with depicting graphic and anatomically correct male nudity if it wanted to. However, legality and traditional social mores do prevent anime from being more bold. Furthermore, and even more importantly, not only do Japanese male otaku seem to have little interest in seeing graphic penis, even Japanese female otaku seem disinclined to see graphic male nudity depicted in mainstream anime. Traditional expectations may have some influence on this otaku tendency. I think that simple visual aesthetic taste also motivates Japanese otaku to want to not see graphic male nudity presented in mainstream anime.