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This week on Did You Have To? we dive into hentai. Now, we’ve been talking about the possibility of this episode for a long time and now with the help of Aisha (MommaLovesManga), host of the The Yaoi Shelf and Yuircast we have an open discussion about the genre but also what it means to be open about it. While our discussion deals with some of the 101 history of hentai in the United States (I mean, we had to talk about Fakku), we end having a deeper discussion of what it means to means to be sex-positive as a woman from brown and Black communities.
Additionally, we also get into some of our favorite titles, why we choose to read hentai manga over watching it, and ultimately have a discussion on what separates hentai from other genres that has similar themes. And by themes, we mean explicit scenes. We talk about why we call yaoi and yuri by different names and how we’ve always seen hentai as something that was mostly heteronormative. We also break down the way some titles have been marketed as “hentai for women” because come on now, isn’t hentai for women already? Oh, and we also talk about eroge and how these visual novels are pretty much a gateway – at least for us. Because, to quote Stanley from The Office: It’s called hentai and it’s art.
It should go without saying that while this discussion isn’t explicit in nature – i.e. we don’t get into specifics – it’s probably best to listen with some headphones and away from the kiddos.
Like Aisha (MommaLovesManga)? Make sure to follow her on Twitter and check out her YouTube channel! You can also find her podcasts The Yaoi Shelf and The Yuricast by clicking on the links.
Just a blerdy girl trying to get through my ever-growing list of anime, TV shows, books, and movies.