Opinion

Gender and manga

By Matthew A. Thorn

Non-Japanese fans of Japanese manga are often confused by the distinction between boys' and girls' manga. Japanese readers take such distinctions for granted, because they grew up with them, but have you ever wondered why manga are divided by gender?

What we call "story manga" today were first developed in children's magazines, such as Shonen Club and Shojo Club , in the 1930s. Children's magazines first appeared in Japan in the 1880s, but at that time, there were far fewer girls than boys who could read, and the content of such magazines reflected that difference. By the end of the 19th century, though, the government had established a school system for girls, and in the first years of the 20th century, girls' magazines began to appear.

In prewar Japan, girls and boys were educated in different schools, and in many ways lived in different worlds, so it is not surprising that magazines for children would be divided clearly by gender. Manga in boys' magazines were usually humorous adventure stories, while manga in girls' magazines were mostly humorous domestic strips. All of these manga, though, were geared at younger elementary-school children.

After the war, Osamu Tezuka and his followers introduced more mature themes and styles, and the age of readers rose. Girls' manga began to include teenaged heroines and romantic themes, and boys' manga became gradually more violent and complex . Manga became so popular that the other material in children's magazines ― such as serialized novels and articles ― disappeared. "Children's magazines" metamorphosed into "manga magazines," but the division between girls and boys persisted.

For decades, male artists had drawn both boys' and girls' manga, but in the late 1960s and 1970s, young women artists, such as Moto Hagio, Keiko Takemiya, and Yumiko Oshima, transformed girls' manga into a sophisticated artistic genre. Manga for girls thrived.

In recent years, though, girls' manga magazine circulations have steadily declined. The fact is, many girls today find girls' manga to be uninteresting, and prefer to read boys' manga instead. At the same time, the editors of boys' manga magazines have quietly changed the content to make them more appealing to girls. Although the artists who make girls' manga today are almost all women, the editors who decide what to put in the magazines are almost all men. A sexist corporate culture persists, and it is rare for a woman to be made editor-in-chief of any magazine, even if the readership of that magazine is female. Male editors, relying on outdated stereotypes of what girls like, are losing readers everyday. It could be that dividing manga by gender doesn't make much sense anymore. But whether it does or not, it seems clear that if publishers want to hang onto female readers, they should try letting women make the magazines.

Shukan ST: Sept, 2, 2005

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