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Gender Alchemy: the transformative power of manga.

Article Excerpt
Manga. The word might feel foreign on most Americans' tongues, but these Japanese comics--collected in small paperback editions and meant to be read from back to front and right to left--are becoming increasingly popular. With manga now accounting for two-thirds of all graphic-novel sales in U.S. bookstores, publishers can barely keep up with demand. Like the English word comics, the term manga encompasses everything from action-adventure to romance to supernatural fantasy, but unlike Western comic publishers, manga publishers have for a long time printed a broad spectrum of titles that appeal to girls.

A genre called "boys' love" has its own particular following among female readers. Boys' love is exactly what it sounds like: manga that focuses on romantic relationships between two boys. Boys' love is a blanket term that includes yaoi (boy/boy stories for adults) and its tamer cousin, shonen-ai. The distinction is important since, according to the manga ratings system, yaoi is usually stamped M for mature and is not sold to anyone under eighteen. There is, however, plenty of shonen-ai for the lower age brackets. Though sometimes sensational in their plots, these stories raise thought-provoking questions of what it means to be a boy or girl, how each gender is supposed to feel or act, and how exactly sexual attraction operates. A good deal of manga also incorporates forms of gender-bending, such as cross-dressing, which delve into some of the same territory. All of this begs the question: why is boys' love so popular with girls?

I've heard female readers say that the experience of reading a gay romance feels "safe" to them because they--girls--aren't in the story. A male/male story allows a female reader to enter dangerous territory with a measure of impunity. In a story about two boys, a female reader is less likely to think, "That could be me." Her imagination is allowed to run wild without consequence to her body or her psyche.

Fake, for instance, is about two New York cops who are partnered despite their vastly different personalities. The openly gay Dee constantly hits on and sometimes even kisses Ryo, who is purportedly straight. In a male/ female partnership, the situation might make a reader feel uncomfortable or even threatened--in real life, that would certainly be the case--but because the two characters are male, something different happens. We always have the sense that Ryo could defend himself or counter Dee's advances. Ryo never feels threatened, most likely because he is Dee's physical equal. Therefore, what would be unequivocal sexual harassment is rendered harmless. When Dee kisses him one...