Why is hentai so negatively stigmatized?

Pretty simple question that i wanted to ask you guys. Why do you think people tend to label hentai as some how more "Deviant" than regular pornography? I have always wondered this. Some people might say the content but it isn't like theres not photographed porn that depicts the same sort of scenarios. Also we all know that there are a variety of other genres like Vanilla which makes up a large portion of the hentai market. I have a girlfriend and am in a committed relationship, and lead an otherwise rewarding and normal social life of a graduating college student. However it seems like whenever the topic of hentai is brought up it is met by disgust in most people. I never really speak up or say anything because i am too afraid of being judged and seen as a freak. Do you guys think it is just lack of exposure? Media bias? social conformity? What have you experienced in your own life when it comes to the stigmatization of hentai. I always enjoy hearing from these forums because i otherwise have nobody in real life who shares my interest in this art form.

A few reasons come to mind;



Some people may see hentai as more deviant then porn, but they can be on the same level. The only issue that makes it more deviant is the fact that you can draw anything you want without consequence (this depends on the country or region/state within countries). It's illegal for some more extreme forms of porn, but hentai can act them out through depictions. Some people look at it as an alternative to more deviant behaviors, but others take the stance that it shouldn't be wrong given it's fictitious.

There's also the notion that if you like something like lolicon or other extreme genre's that you have to be sick or wish to act these things out. I look at it as; sure there are probably people that like bestiality, but that doesn't mean everyone who reads it want's to fuck a dog. I get curious myself about things and read them out of said curiosity. For some it's more about the taboo nature of it all verses actually wanting to commit certain acts.

The only other issue I ever see is that some people think hentai puts women down and makes them inferior... I mean there is femdom if you want superiority for women, but some women like to be submissive in the bedroom. I'm a masochist myself and sure I get my femdom tendencies, but there's nothing wrong with having a woman be submissive. Only thing that would be an issue is if you're put down 24/7 or forced into something you don't want (and I mean seriously don't want lol).

It natural to want pictures and video of people fucking... why do you get your jollies off on [Fill your kink here]? Do you think i tell my parents i like boys in drag or guro? OR CRAVE THE BLOOD OF WOMEN. Public opinion weigh heavy on socialization.

I think the others have articulated it better than I ever could, so I'll just share a real life experience in regards to the topic.

I used to have a friend, lets call him John, who used to bully this kid at school because he found out that he liked hentai. He found this out by stealing his school laptop and looking through it in the middle of class. The poor boy was in tears because of this and im pretty sure he he even moved schools becaise of it.

I'm no longer close with John, not only because I can't stand bullies but also because I found out that after John had seen what that other kid was looking up, he got interested in it and started watching some hentai videos himself. All the while still teasing the other kid for being weird and sick.

Crazy, people are such bizarre animals it really blows my mind. Great answers though. Its always good to get other peoples opinions on the matter

A lot of people have the idea that hentai consists of tentacle porn and little else. A big reason for hentai stigmatization is likely because of the overexposure of some of the crazier genres of hentai-- mostly things that you can't really recreate in real life, like a true futa or sentient tentacles.

There's also the stigma that exists around anime and manga in general, with the whole, "Oh, it's cartoons" schtick. Understandably enough, some people can think that jerking it (or schlicking it) to cartoons is going to be a little weird.

I'm pretty open about my hentai consumption, and my friends don't care about it (just goes to show that they're good friends, eh?) I see nothing wrong with it; that's why I'm here, after all.

Not all hentai is like that... Just things like monster / tentacle / guro / overly extreme bdsm and other such kinks that you can get away with in animation and drawings but not really get away with, or even preform using real people.

For instance, how do you make a porn flick about a girl who wants to mastubate, and for some reason after touching herself anywhere with anything, she now creates holes in her body that feel exactly like a pussy and gives her more pleasure...

You can do so much more with animation and visual media...

First, I think we can agree, a lot of Hentai is fucking weird, no question, and I think that's what stands out for most people, not the simple vanilla, or adorible yuri, which may be why people look down on it. Also in America at least, anime will always be shackled to the word " cartoon," which is for children. You can probably do the rest of the math on that one.

Well, from my experience, looking at porn in general is somewhat stygmatized, if accepted as fact for the most part. On top of that, anime is further stygmatized among so-called normal people, moreso the older a person grows. So, anime pornography is naturally going to be pretty heavily looked down upon. Never understood why myself.

First of all a lot of hentai animation used to suck, it was really badly done although this is getting better, imo that gave very little credibility to the medium. Also in hentai weird things tend to happen like people have already mentioned.
I mean, if you mention to people that you watch porn they'll make fun of with you even though they watch it too, it's just something that most people don't like to admit for some reason. Hentai is cartoon porn which I guess,makes it worse than "mainstream" porn so expect to be thrashed if anyone finds out.

It's the stigma of foreign works (anime) multiplied with the stigma of porn (because only perverts look at porn apparently).

People who look at hentai at the surface level mainly recognize the whole tentacle hentai thing (I've seen enough hentai to know where this is going) even though it's a smaller subcategory to hentai (which is generally vanilla or fan works of existing series).

A lot of people forget that while hentai has some extreme things, there are pretty damn extreme things in regular porn too. In fact real porn usually disturbs me more than hentai with some of the ridiculous things they do. At least hentai is fiction.

I have a hard time finding animated hentai that I actually like, personally. I feel like manga is the better medium for it-- more of the artist's style carries over into the work.