Why Does Hentai Exist

Why Does Hentai Exist

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Passive Aggression

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Shyness

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We all harbor secrets. Some are big and bad; some are small and trivial. Researchers have parsed which truths to tell and which not to.

Posted July 20, 2020

|

Reviewed by Abigail Fagan

Hentai is a Japanese word that translated into English means "perverse" sexual desire. It's porn that comes in cartoons, anime, or Manga format, and it's one of the most popular kinds of porn for Millenials, young adults, and children. According to one porn site's analytics detailing the most popular search terms on its site, ‘Japanese’ shot up 4 positions to become the most searched term of 2019. ‘Hentai‘ (NSFW) remained the second most popular term.
Needless to say, this is a trend that is likely to stick as Hentai porn attracts both young and old. Old in the sense that long-time porn users often need more stimulating material and different types of porn for arousal and intensity as they have hit a certain level of tolerance.
In a Cosmopolitan Magazine Interview with Dr. Leon Seltzer, a psychologist and fellow Psychology Today blogger who has watched this emerging trend, believes the rise in popularity is due to unlimited sexual fantasies available through this format. "The erotic illusions possible are freed from all the normal constraints of reality. [It] can heighten the illusion that our libido has now landed in the most idyllic place possible."
Hentai also portrays female characters as child-like waifs secretly desiring to be sexually assaulted. In addition, fetishes that wouldn't be possible in reality can come to life in the anime world as hentai can involve things like women abruptly sprouting penises, bestiality, rape, incest, and other sex acts that depict underage participants. The animated porn often depicts highly exaggerated sex acts featuring characters with exaggerated breasts, penises, and other body parts.
It is common for monsters, demons, animals, giant insects, and plants to rape cartoon women. The age of the girls is often ambiguous but what is common is Hentai porn showcases the characters as sexually innocent. And because the imagery is in cartoon animation, these illustrations of fictional characters do not constitute child pornography .
Some people gravitate to this form of porn believing it's less harmful since they believe "no real human" is being exploited. But critics would argue Hentai porn is linked with regular porn since Hentai porn duplicates what can be found in regular porn as well. For children and young adults who are a growing segment of the viewership, their understanding of healthy sexuality can be distorted as imagery of sexual violence , abuse, and degradation are merged with entertainment.
As a psychotherapist who specializes in sexuality, one trend I've seen over the years is how prolonged viewing of sexualized cartoon images like Hentai can eventually impact one's arousal template. In other words, what they used to find arousing may no longer be enough and the more deviant forms of sexualization become the new norm of arousal.
What can be problematic is these types of cartoon depictions of willing, child-like sexual encounters normalize children as appropriate sexual partners. When a child is sexualized, the old social norms that protect children as off-limits are chipped away and blurred. Thus, any kind of objectification of children as sex-objects can either legitimize child sexual abuse or minimize its impact.
Young children who are accidentally exposed to Hentai are extremely vulnerable because their brains are not able to discern the boundary violations that are occurring when seeing these images, as Hentai sexualizes everything from incest to rape to bestiality.
Pornographers also use characters from popular shows such as Pokemon, Dragon Ball Z, and Cartoon Network characters in extreme porn. One client described it this way, "A lot of the kids I knew got their 'sex education ' from watching anime or reading 'mangas' (Japanese comic books)."
Some who struggle with compulsive Hentai use say that it is worse than regular porn because of the hardcore nature of the themes involved such as male characters having extremely large phalluses and the female bodies are hypersexualized.
In the end, what parents need to know is that porn is porn, regardless of what form it’s in.
Sam Louie is a therapist in Seattle who specializes in multicultural issues and sexual compulsivity.

Get the help you need from a therapist near you–a FREE service from Psychology Today.

Psychology Today © 2022 Sussex Publishers, LLC

We all harbor secrets. Some are big and bad; some are small and trivial. Researchers have parsed which truths to tell and which not to.

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