# Japanese. Tentacle. Porn. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 6, 2006, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-tentacle-porn/359665 "2006-06-06T20:13:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-tentacle-porn/359665/1 "2006-06-06T20:13:02Z")
Gleaned from [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=374545) thread. Especially the following quote: > [@DocCathode](#): > > I can’t believe I forgot that. Woodcuts, paintings, netsuke, etc. of woman and octopus, some by the great masters of Japanese art, these aren’t done as simple depictions of myth or folklore either. They’re porn by any definition. Google ‘dream of the fisherman’s wife’. OK, so those deeply disturbing anime flicks depicting tentacled aliens violating pretty waifs in and out of every orifice, spewing spunky protoplasm all the while, have a long and arguably distiguished history in Japanese art culture. Not wishing to be flippant, or to use gratuitous punnage, but what the _fuck_ is up with that? Seriously, I find the entire concept incredibly bizarre, even by the standards of bestiality and kinky satyr sex that pervades the ancient porn of other cultures. Maybe I just don’t know enough about world perversity to not single out the tentacle-as-phallus archetype as especially shudder-inducing, but presently it strikes me as something deeper and darker than most other walks on the wild side. It strikes me as a downright pathological aesthetic, and accounting for taste aside, I need either to learn I have woefully underestimated the depravity of other vintage porn, or I’ve got to get to the psychic bottom of the erotic sensibilities of the Tentacled Monster. Please, help me out. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-tentacle-porn/359665/2 "2006-06-06T20:16:45Z")
Personal interpretation: Essentially, it is just a rape desire. You, the viewer get to be a giant, unidentifiable mass that is entirely unstoppable, and can ravish and humiliate the girl in every way possible. What’s not to enjoy? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-tentacle-porn/359665/3 "2006-06-06T20:17:33Z")
… and apparently Yahoo! translates “Japanese Tentacle Porn” to mean “Where can I buy fine coffee?” ---
**Author:** ![TonyF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9de053/32.png) [@TonyF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonyF)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-tentacle-porn/359665/4 "2006-06-06T20:34:16Z")
One explanation I’ve heard (for recent times) is very practical: censorship. You can’t show genitals, so instead you show genital-like things. And why show one penis-like appendage when you can have 8 or more? More is better in porn, right? 😃 I’ve heard this explains the many other bizarre aspects of porn: bukkake, scat, etc. The general theme is that porno producers had to get creative in order to get around the censorship, and so you get these bizarre themes in Japanese porn. That doesn’t explain the old paintings, though… I think. There’s the other facet: the unwilling woman. This bugs me more than the strange monsters in hentai. My personal theory is that women must be available - it’s porn! - but due to the culture, they can’t be willing - it’s un-ladylike! That, or Japanese porn is all about rape. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-tentacle-porn/359665/5 "2006-06-06T20:45:38Z")
Octopi are much more prevalent in Japanese consciousness than they are here. Whereas many people (me) think of them in the same taxonomy (family slimae) as slugs, snails, and earthworms, they’re probably not so nightmarish to the socialized Japanese. Sure, getting raped by one is still a weird turn on, but I think it helps to think of it more as analogous to a bull attacking a woman in our culture. Very strange, but I’m not surprised someone’s turned on by it. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-tentacle-porn/359665/6 "2006-06-06T21:00:33Z")
OK, so either there’s a uniquely disturbing rape archetype involved, or it’s not uniquely disturbing because Japanese culture has historically viewed the Octopus as more cuddly than others have. Am I getting this right so far? ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-tentacle-porn/359665/7 "2006-06-06T21:13:59Z")
I’d just take this as an indication that, if humans see something, they think of having sex with it. Pasiphae deliberately got knocked up by a big ol’ bull, and that’s not the least of beastophilia in Greek myths. There’s plenty of folklore from other cultures that follows the “Beauty and the Beast” format, whether the rape is actual or implied. Surely it’s not too much of a reach to think that the Japanese culture might develop some fascination about something with _all those arms_ to be amorous with. And Japanese legends even provide equal-gender opportunities for invertibrate rape – google up “sazaeoni”. It’s a sea snail demoness known for seducing sailors and yanking off their naughty bits. Still think a few naughty tentacles is “deeper and darker than most other walks on the wild side”? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-tentacle-porn/359665/8 "2006-06-06T21:17:55Z")
Well, I do agree that most Japanese would view an octopus as something cute. You’ll see cute octopi figures and such in anime fairly often (considering) along with crabs. And indeed I would agree that frustration over sensors may have helped lead them to it. But, given a bunch of Americans and a government censorship, I’m doubting that we would make a leap to bull rape. At least not until we had a lot more pent up sexual frustration than we currently do. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-tentacle-porn/359665/9 "2006-06-06T21:28:37Z")
:rolleyes: Tentacles as big, giant, flexible fingers? What a shock. What, you don’t use your fingers in sex? How… ascetic. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-tentacle-porn/359665/10 "2006-06-06T21:30:34Z")
Well, maybe, as it never occurred to me to get jiggy with a cuttlefish or somesuch, though maybe it’s just a cultural ick factor I’ve inherited. That said, have you _seen_ these items of hentai horror? Granted, I’ve only seen two, and can’t even remember their names, but _damn_! I mean, gawd-_damn_ that’s some mighty disturbing stuff, if you ask me. I see these gigantic tentacles getting rammed up some girlie’s nethers, spout in a fountain of white goo out of her mouth, and wave her all around like a rag doll, I don’t think erotic. I don’t know _what_ to think, I just recoil. Y’know that scene in _Alien_, where eponymous beast wraps his spikey tail around Lambert’s leg, and then we hear her muffled screams? I find this tentacle porn highly reminiscent of _that_, not a form of erotica. Maybe some people get an erotic charge out of Lambert’s demise (and, to be fair, Gieger is an blatantly sexual artist), but maybe Mr. Gieger is simply depraved. The whole idea of the tentacle porn _genre_ evokes a similar sense of depravity. I readily concede there may be mitigating factors, and I’m hoping to learn about that. Cephalopods+sex just doesn’t compute easy for me. Maybe for others it just does, perhaps like horses do for those who make up stories about Catherine the Great. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-tentacle-porn/359665/11 "2006-06-06T22:56:00Z")
All kink is based on power relations- and not always tilted towards being in power. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-tentacle-porn/359665/12 "2006-06-06T23:25:33Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Octopi are much more prevalent in Japanese consciousness than they are here. Whereas many people (me) think of them in the same taxonomy (family slimae) as slugs, snails, and earthworms, they’re probably not so nightmarish to the socialized Japanese. > > Sure, getting raped by one is still a weird turn on, but I think it helps to think of it more as analogous to a bull attacking a woman in our culture. Very strange, but I’m not surprised someone’s turned on by it. And try Googling for Classical Japanese Erotic Octopus Art. No lie. I found it when I was looking for classical Japanese art prints. No. Really. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-tentacle-porn/359665/13 "2006-06-06T23:31:43Z")
> [@Lightray](#): > > Surely it’s not too much of a reach to think that the Japanese culture might develop some fascination about something with _all those arms_ to be amorous with. [Of course, there is a downside.](http://www.asofterworld.com/soft_may19_2006.htm) ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-tentacle-porn/359665/14 "2006-06-07T00:03:45Z")
I’m confused as to why **Sage Rat** and a few others have equated the two. Besides the same stylized octopode eyes, and other conventions of Japanese art, many depictions of Dream Of The Fisherman’s wife have a specific hairstyle and hand position. Both are symbols of willing sexual submission. The presence of tentacles does not equate to rape. Yes, you can easily google images of anime girls being savagely raped by tentacled Pokemon. You can just as easily find images of anime girls ecstatically cavorting with tentacled Pokemon. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-tentacle-porn/359665/15 "2006-06-07T00:40:10Z")
I think you might find old Zeus was keen on raping women whilst in the form of a swan. So are the cultural values that more different? ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-tentacle-porn/359665/16 "2006-06-07T00:42:57Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#): > > I think you might find old Zeus was keen on raping women whilst in the form of a swan. Nope. He only did that once. Other forms included Bull (not the bull of Minos) eagle, shower of gold ---
**Author:** ![BluePitbull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@BluePitbull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BluePitbull)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-tentacle-porn/359665/17 "2006-06-07T01:27:57Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > shower of gold Zeus is R.Kelly? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-tentacle-porn/359665/18 "2006-06-07T03:36:16Z")
> [@TonyF](#): > > That doesn’t explain the old paintings, though… I think. You’re right, it doesn’t. Old erotic paintings and woodcuts include very graphic (and imaginative) depictions of the genitalia of both sexes. The prohibition on showing genitalia came around the early postwar/occupation era, about the same time that prostitution was officially outlawed. Personally, I think MacArthur had some insecurities. ---
**Author:** ![archmichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@archmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/archmichael)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-tentacle-porn/359665/19 "2006-06-07T05:04:32Z")
> [@Loopydude](#): > > Well, maybe, as it never occurred to me to get jiggy with a cuttlefish or somesuch, though maybe it’s just a cultural ick factor I’ve inherited. It is a cultural ick factor. It doesn’t occur to a lot of women to get jiggy with dead guys, but they find idea of vampires damn sexy. Vampires have gotten to the point, where women can mentally disconnect vampires from necrophilia. It’s unfair to say that women who like vampire movies is into necrophilia The same goes for male fantasies about mermaids, sexy robots and triple breasted mutants. Also if tentacle porn weirds you out, under no circumstances are you to google guro, loli, shota, futa or shibari. /I’m such a jerk. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-tentacle-porn/359665/20 "2006-06-07T05:41:56Z")
You utter bastard. 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-tentacle-porn/359665.md?page=2)