Amazon has pulled the plug on the account of an erotica publisher, Digital Manga Publishing. DMP is an importer and translator of Japanese manga (whose launch on Kobo we covered last year), and apparently one of its yaoi (homosexual male romance genre) titles ran afoul of Amazon’s prohibition on “Pornography and hard-core material that depicts graphic sexual acts.” DMP writes on its news blog:
There is no definition of “pornography” versus “erotica” officially available from amazon. In the past, we considered our titles the latter, and strive to comply with Amazon’s guidelines. However, with such vague guidelines and a veritable library of erotica in written and drawn form already available on the Kindle, it is difficult to discern exactly what rules Amazon wanted us to comply with. We also find it disheartening that our titles depicting male homosexual romance have been banned while erotica depicting other forms of intercourse flourishes. What makes relationships between men more objectionable than erotic tristes between men and women? This is a question we imagine you’re all asking yourselves right now, and a question that we need Amazon to answer for us.
DMP notes that its content is still available on emanga.com, Nook, and iOS and Android apps. (No mention of the Kobo.)
While I can’t say yaoi is my cup of tea, it’s a very popular and well-established genre in Japan, and it’s disappointing to see Amazon decide it’s verboten when so much other stuff that’s just as obscene is still just fine.
(Found via The Digital Reader.)
Strange that the image being used here is for the first Vampire Hunter D novel. While it is published by DMP (I’m actually rereading it right now), it has no yaoi content. (Though it might have a character that’s homosexual – it’s been awhile and I can’t remember. And I’m pretty certain none of the illustrations include male nudity, much less male on male sexual images.)
It was the image associated with our prior story on DMP, and I was too lazy to find another. 🙂