Copyright 2017, InterAmerica, Inc.
The May 11, 2017 issue of The New York Review of Books had
the (full page) photo (above) along with a “review” of an exhibition at the
Japan Society (in New York City) called A Third Gender: Beautiful Youths in
Japanese Edo-Period Prints and Paintings (1600-1868).
(The photo, of the beach boy,, has no connection to the Edo-Period
prints, but I’ll provide a connection.)
Ian Buruma, Professor at Bard, hosts the “review” of the
Edo-Print exhibition, and makes a clear point that the adoration of young men
in the era under consideration, while having a sexual patina [shudo], is
more to do with the aesthetic appreciation of the temporary beauty of boys
before they mature (move to puberty).
The Japanese youth [wakashu] pictured and “worshipped”
as the exhibited prints show are not depicted in pornographic poses but,
rather, are shown to be immersed in activity that mimicked that of geisha.
The boy-love depicted by the Japanese prints illustrates the
taboo topic of boy-love in the West, where seduction of youth is criminal. The
Edo prints, in exhibition, had no illustrations of shunga, homosexual
acts offering, rather, young boys being seduced by older women, generally.
The Japanese shudo is very like that of pederasty in
ancient Greece: samurai warriors adopting boy-love much as Greek warriors –
Achilles being an example – “adopted” young boys as sexual partners and aides.
As for the photo above – surrounded by a review of
Caravaggio paintings, Caravaggio, himself, a homosexual renegade of the Baroque
era – is not to be viewed lasciviously but as a paean to youthful beauty.
That the NYRB chose to include this handsome
photograph, in context with reviews about homosexual art and artists, is,
perhaps, troublesome, although I doubt that many practicing pedophiles
subscribe to the Review.
Nonetheless, I feel that the boy photographed is not to be
viewed as a sexual object but as an icon of innocent youth, something not to be
marred by leering homosexual men (or cougarish women).
(The sources of the Edo prints pictured here appear in the image's JPG title.)
RR
