Nijikon

Nijikon (二次コン) or nijigen konpurekkusu (二次元コンプレックス), from the English "2D complex", is a sexual or affective attraction towards two-dimensional anime, manga, and light novel characters, as opposed to attraction towards real human beings. It has been interpreted by some observers as a genuine sexual orientation.[1][2][3][4][5] This attraction is primarily directed towards the non-realistic characteristics found in manga and anime styles. Initially discussed as male otaku sexuality in Japan, it has more recently been examined within the context of queer studies, extending beyond Japan, and referred to as a form of fictosexuality.[3][4][6]

A fan's room decorated with dakimakura and merchandise of an anime character, 2012.

Otaku sexuality

The 2D complex has been characterized by some scholars as "otaku sexuality".[7][8] The term appeared in the early 1980s in Japan. Initially, nijikon individuals were considered as failed men who struggled to communicate with real-life individuals of the opposite sex, but Patrick Galbraith, drawing on Jack Halberstam's theory, reevaluated them as queer men.[9]

The psychiatrist Saitō Tamaki writes that for otaku, "fiction itself can be a sexual object," with attraction manifesting in an "affinity for fictional contexts."[10] The affection directed at fictitious characters is sometimes termed fictophilia, which is often enhanced by supernormal stimuli.[6]

While nijikon has primarily been discussed as a sexuality associated with male otaku,[9] the characteristic of a distinction between imaginary sexual lives and everyday sexual lives is also present among women.[10] There are women who experience attraction toward two-dimensional female characters as "pseudo-females," perceiving them as distinct from real women.[11]

Queer studies
See also: Fictosexuality § Feminist_and_queer_research

Alternative sexual orientation

Some researchers suggest an affinity between nijikon and asexuality.[5][12] Elizabeth Miles argues that “as with current theorizations of asexuality, (…) desire for two-dimensional [nijigen] characters forces us to reconsider what sex is and how legal and social proscriptions deny sexual access and the rights of full sexual citizenship.”[5] Considering exclusive sexual attraction to manga/anime fictional characters as a "third sexual orientation" is sometimes observed.[5]

Queer theorists elucidate alternative sexual orientations through Saitō Tamaki's concept of "multiple orientations."[13] Criticisms have been directed at Saito's Lacanian theory due to its gender binary assumptions and its failure to acknowledge individuals who experience no attraction to flesh-and-blood human.[3] However, according to Keith Vincent, multiple orientations as a capability of "conducting a richly perverse fantasy life while maintaining an utterly "normal" and pedestrian sex life in their day-to-day lives" is consistent with the theories of Eve Sedgwick[lower-alpha 1] and Judith Butler.[lower-alpha 2][16] Building upon this, Yuu Matsuura applied the concept of multiple orientations to articulate the sexual orientation toward the sui generis entity of two-dimensional characters.[3][4]

Interpersonal sexuality centrism

The term used to depict the marginalization of nijikon sexuality is "interpersonal sexuality centrism" (対人性愛中心主義, taijin seiai chūshin shugi).[4] This term was coined by the fictosexual community in Japan[17] and describes a condition where sexual attraction towards real humans is assumed the be the norm. The concept of interpersonal sexuality centrism can be understood as a combination of the concept of amatonormativity and the idea of compulsory sexuality[lower-alpha 3] from asexual research and the notion of humanonormativity[lower-alpha 4] from objectum sexuality research.[20] Interpersonal sexuality centrism aligns with Judith Butler's concept of "literalizing fantasy" and is linked to heteronormativity and gender binarism.[3][4][21] Therefore, critique of interpersonal sexuality centrism is oriented towards solidarity with the feminist and LGBTQ movements.[4][21]

Interview surveys reveal that the practices of nijikon as fictosexual individuals offer certain avenues to challenge both compulsory sexuality and interpersonal sexuality centrism, presenting possibilities for alternative perspectives.[12][17][22]

Erasure of nijikon sexuality

On one hand, nijikon individuals may face disdain due to perceptions that they lack the capacity for "normal" sexual relationships with humans.[9] On the other hand, they may be invalidated and disregarded by the notion that the distinction between two-dimensional characters and three-dimensional (flesh-and-blood) humans is deemed inconsequential.[4][17]

Based on interview research, nijikon individuals who do not experience attraction towards flesh and blood encounter similar oppression within the framework of compulsory sexuality, comparable to asexual individuals.[12] In a interpersonal sexuality centric society, there is a lack of hermeneutical resources to effectively articulate the experiences of nijikon, leaving them hermeneutically marginalized.[12]

See also: Lolicon

Sexually explicit portrayals of two-dimensional child characters are occasionally classified as "child pornography" and have faced legal and ethical condemnation.[23][24][25] Likewise, sexual depictions of two-dimensional female characters have been criticized for promoting the sexualization of real women.

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However, certain researchers and activists contend that the focus should be on challenging interpersonal sexuality centrism, as real pedophilia and the sexual objectification of real women are matters of a culture that desires humans sexually.[3][4][17] Their criticism of interpersonal sexuality centrism rebuts the assumption that ACG pornography sexualizes real women and promotes pedophilia,[3][17][25] while simultaneously denouncing rape culture.[17] They argue that misrepresenting the desire for two-dimensional characters as a desire for a human is an example of interpersonal sexuality centric prejudice.[3][4][25] For nijikon individuals, the regulation of two-dimensional sexual depictions is not solely a matter of freedom of expression but rather revolves around issues of sexual access and sexual rights.[5][25]

See also

Explanatory notes
  1. Vincent quoted Sedgwick's sentence that "Many people have their richest mental/emotional involvement with sexual acts that they don't do, or even don't want to do."[14]
  2. Vincent quoted Butler's sentence that "the belief that it is parts of the body, the 'literal' penis, the ‘literal vagina, which cause pleasure and desire--is precisely the kind of literalizing fantasy characteristic of the syndrome of melancholic heterosexuality."[15]
  3. Compulsory sexuality is "the social expectation that sexuality is a universal norm, that everyone should be sexual and desire sex, and that to not be sexual or desire sex is inherently wrong and in need of fixing".[18]
  4. Humanonormativity is "the belief that people normally and naturally engage in sexual practices and romantic relationships with other human beings. This is not a norm that constructs such sexualities as superior to just engaging in sexual acts with animals (zoophilia)."[19]

References
  1. Steven Poole (2007). Trigger Happy: Videogames and the Entertainment Revolution. Skyhorse Publishing Inc. ISBN 978-1611454550.
  2. Lucy Bennett, Paul Booth (2016). Seeing Fans: Representations of Fandom in Media and Popular Culture. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 9781501318450.
  3. Matsuura, Yuu (2022). "Multiple Orientations as Animating Misdelivery: Theoretical Considerations on Sexuality Attracted to Nijigen (Two-Dimensional) Objects" [アニメーション的な誤配としての多重見当識――非対人性愛的な「二次元」へのセクシュアリティに関する理論的考察]. Gender Studies (ジェンダー研究) (25): 139–157. doi:10.24567/0002000551.
  4. Liao, SH. "Fictosexual Manifesto: Their Position, Political Possibility, and Critical Resistance". 《Rhizome｜球根》. NTU-OtaStudy (臺大宅研).
  5. Miles, Elizabeth (2020). "Porn as Practice, Porn as Access: Pornography Consumption and a ʻThird Sexual Orientationʼ in Japan". Porn Studies. 7 (3): 269–278. doi:10.1080/23268743.2020.1726205. S2CID 219906087.
  6. Karhulahti, Veli-Matti; Välisalo, Tanja (January 12, 2021). "Fictosexuality, Fictoromance, and Fictophilia: A Qualitative Study of Love and Desire for Fictional Characters". Frontiers in Psychology. 11: 575427. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.575427. ISSN 1664-1078. PMC 7835123. PMID 33510665.
  7. Novitskaya, Alexandra (2019). "Otaku Sexualities in Japan". In Chiang, Howard; Arondekar, Anjali R. (eds.). Global encyclopedia of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) history. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale. pp. 1177–1181. ISBN 978-0-684-32554-5. OCLC 1080321952.
  8. Galbraith, Patrick W. (2014). "Otaku Sexuality in Japan". In McLelland, Mark J.; Mackie, Vera (eds.). Routledge handbook of sexuality studies in East Asia. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-63948-4. OCLC 854611275.
  9. Galbraith, Patrick W. (2019). Otaku and the Struggle for Imagination in Japan. Duke University Press.
  10. Saitō, Tamaki (2007). "Otaku Sexuality". In Bolton, Christopher; Csicsery-Ronay, Istvan; Tatsumi, Takayuki (eds.). Robot Ghosts and Wired Dreams: Japanese Science Fiction from Origins to Anime. Translated by Bolton, Christopher. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. p. 227. ISBN 978-0-8166-4973-0.
  11. Mori, Naoko (2010). 女はポルノを読む: 女性の性欲とフェミニズム [Women Read Porn: Women's Sexual Desire and Feminism] (in Japanese). Seikyusha. ISBN 978-4-7872-3310-3.
  12. Matsuura, Yuu (2021). 二次元の性的表現による「現実性愛」の相対化の可能性――現実の他者へ性的に惹かれない「オタク」「腐女子」の語りを事例として [The Possibility of Relativization of Compulsory Sexuality by Nonrealistic Sexual Fantasy: Based on the Narration of "Otaku" and "Fujoshi" Who Do Not Experience Sexual or Romantic Attraction to Real People]. Japan Sociologist (in Japanese) (5): 116–136. ISBN 9784788517073.
  13. Tamaki, Saito (2011). Beautiful Fighting Girl. University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-0816654505.
  14. Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky (1990). Epistemology of the Closet. University of California Press.
  15. Butler, Judith (1990). Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Routledge.
  16. Vincent, Keith (2011). "Translatorʼs Introduction, Making It Real: Fiction, Desire, and the Queerness of the Beautiful Fighting Girl". In Saito, Tamaki (ed.). Beautiful fighting girl. University of Minnesota Press.
  17. Matsuura, Yuu (2021). 日常生活の自明性によるクレイム申し立ての「予めの排除／抹消」――「性的指向」概念に適合しないセクシュアリティの語られ方に注目して ["Foreclosure/Erasure" of Claims-Making by the Everyday Life as Taken for Granted: Discourse Analysis about "Fictosexual" as Sexuality that does not Conform to "Sexual Orientation"]. Journal of Social Problems (in Japanese). 36: 67–83. doi:10.50885/shabyo.36.0_67.
  18. Pryzybylo, Era (2022). "Unthinking compulsory sexuality: Introducing asexuality". In Fischer, Nancy L.; Westbrook, Laurel; Seidman, Steven (eds.). Introducing the New Sexuality Studies (4th ed.). Routledge.
  19. Motschenbacher, Heiko (2018). "Language and Sexual Normativity". In Hall, Kira; Barrett, Rusty (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Language and Sexuality. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190212926.013.14. ISBN 978-0-19-021292-6.
  20. Matsuura, Yuu (2023). 対人性愛中心主義批判の射程に関する検討――フェミニズム・クィアスタディーズにおける対物性愛研究を踏まえて [Humanonormativity and Interpersonal Sexuality Centrism: A Discussion Based on Objectum Sexuality Studies from a Feminist and Queer Perspective]. Human Science Sociology and Anthropology (in Japanese). Faculty of Human-Environment Studies, Kyushu University (13).
  21. Matsuura, Yuu (2022). 対人性愛中心主義とシスジェンダー中心主義の共通点：「萌え絵広告問題」と「トランスジェンダーのトイレ使用問題」から [The Common Point between Interpersonal Sexuality Centrism and Cisgender-Centrism] (in Japanese). Retrieved May 9, 2023.
  22. 廖, 希文 (2023). 紙性戀處境及其悖論: 情動、想像與賦生關係 [On Fictosexual Position and its Paradox: Affacts, Imaginary, and Animating Relationships]. 動漫遊台灣2023：台灣 ACG 的過去、現在與未來 (研討會論文) (in Chinese).
  23. Galbraith, Patrick W. "Lolicon: The Reality of 'Virtual Child Pornography' in Japan". Image & Narrative. Archived from the original on May 6, 2022. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  24. Alt, Matt (October 15, 2014). "Pharrell Williams's Lolicon Video | The New Yorker". www.newyorker.com. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  25. Matsuura, Yuu (2023). "グローバルなリスク社会における倫理的普遍化による抹消――二次元の創作物を「児童ポルノ」とみなす非難における対人性愛中心主義を事例に" [Erasure by Ethical Universalizations in Global Risk Society: Interpersonally Oriented Sexuality Centrism in Regulation of Fictional “Child Pornography”]. Scial Analysis. Japan Sociological Association for Social Analysis (50).
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