The latest of the manga-style health and sex guides now popular in Japanese book-stores includes a guide to being an “otoko no ko,” with an emphasis on healthy sex. The recent “otoko no ko” boom appears to be in full swing, creating a demand for explanatory literature as well as pornography.

For those unaware of the background behind the practice, the 女装少年 / josou shonen (“crossdressing boy”) archetype has a long history both in manga/anime and in traditional Japanese culture. In the last 2 years this archetype has started to enjoy a boom in popularity, becoming known as 男の娘 / otoko no ko (a pun based on substituting the character for “girl” with the character for “child” in the word 男の子 / otoko no ko, “boy”). The phrase and practice is mostly bound up in the “moe boom” and the “shota” genre, with most examples being 2D works.

Being a hard to translate piece of Japanese wordplay referring to a comparatively obscure Japanese subculture, it is no surprise to learn that the term has virtually no traction in English – generally an “otoko no ko” would be referred to as a “trap” in English, although this translation probably differs somewhat in nuance.

As well as comics, there is also a significant subculture of (actual) effete young men interested in crossdressing and adopting a femininised masculinity – some evidently proving quite successful at passing themselves off as women. The practice is generally considered quite distinct from similar fetishes, sexual orientations or gender identities, and has no clear analogue (yet) overseas – practitioners (despite the broken English seen in the book) should not be considered transsexuals in the western sense, and there appears to be very little overlap between “otoko no ko” and Japan’s well established “new-half” subculture, and certainly no surgery.

   

The book featured here is 「もっと知りたい！オトコの娘の保健体育」 / “Motto Shiritai! Otoko no Ko no Hoken Taiiku” – “I want to know more! Health and physical education for otoko no ko.” Detailed guides to all manners of sex (mostly with men, such as giving good fellatio or receiving anal sex pleasurably) are included, and less intimate matters such as proper application of makeup are also featured.

The tome is on sale in Akiba bookshops, as well as on Amazon. There are also the guides to female onanism and male anal onanism for similarly essential reading. [Article by Sankaku Complex]

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