I have to say I find this one of the most interesting yaoi mangas currently in Mangago, no...

I have to say I find this one of the most interesting yaoi mangas currently in Mangago, not so much for its narrative, which I think it definitely is, but for the reactions it’s provoking in readers, especially those readers that are very judgmental and harshly critical of Karasuma’s promiscuity, viciously slut shaming him and so forth; and then, we have those that enjoyed the story trying to articulate the reasons why this is a solid narrative, and the contentious back-and-forth that ensues. My advice to fellow fujoshis that enjoyed the manga is to not bother trying to articulate the reasons why Karasuma is not a “dirty whore” or the reasons you enjoyed the manga to those that are vitriolic about it. You really have to wonder if those people bashing Karasuma even read the same thing at all, and that’s ok.

There are readers that will never be perceptive of underlying emotional or thematic nuances, that will never understand, even if you elaborate in a 200 page dissertation how the omegaverse’s hyper discrimination towards Omegas leaves them with limited to zero resources, how prone they are to rape victimization how little to zero control over their own lives because of their socio-economic handicap, nor how Karasuma’s promiscuity was not gratuitous but underlined by specific emotional l traumas – it is indeed a very grim universe- and the reason for that is that it all comes down to how empathetic , nonjudgmental and analytical an individual is, as simple as that. You’ll see a lot of people self-complacently declaring “sorry if my morals are superior for finding Karasuma a slut” (smdh…) which in itself makes for great social and psychological fodder, but ultimately, they have all the right to feel that way. Then you have others coming to the forum asking questions such as “Am I really wrong for thinking Karasuma is a dirty slut?” “or for thinking that whoring yourself is wrong?”, acting as if they are really interested in engaging in an honest exchange of ideas, when they have already made up their mind and just want to present themselves as morally superior because this is their opportunity to do so; especially because it’s self-evident that in real life context, promiscuity is a social transgression with negative implications for the woman engaging in it. Nobody with a working brain is going to ever consider promiscuity a “good thing” or as being strictly “ok” for the sake of promiscuity alone.

Again, if they didn’t get it when they first read the same piece of fiction, it is very unlikely they will get it from anyone’s exposition no matter how articulate and sound it may be. I mean, people (and even more sadly, women!) that preach so confidently about morality and indiscriminately use derogatory terms like “slut” and “disgusting whore” are the ones that don’t even know where that moralistic judgmental thought process derives from, and much the less understand how morality is nothing but a socio-cultural construct, or how the negative connotation of promiscuity is rooted in misogyny from the patriarchy for the primary purpose to protect the “male pride” and ensure the male’s progeny. It has nothing to do with the real intrinsic value of a human being. You will encounter comments such as “if I had been in his shoes, I would have rather starve than whore myself, or I would have rather collect garbage than whore myself” – this is especially interesting, because not only the social sciences negate this, but common sense as well, due that nobody can absolutely ascertain, ever, how they would or would not act in a specific manner if they have never experienced that specific situation, if their socialization was completely different, because you cannot know until you actually “know” what it feels like to be in somebody else’s shoes and what your actual reaction to specific adverse circumstances will be; so making such statements is truly baseless and worthless because it's founded on nothing but an uncertain presumption.

However, this type of understanding requires above all open-mindedness and human empathy complimented by academic knowledge or at the very least self-edification; also, some people have the ability of literary analysis, while others don’t. This is why you have two different individuals that read the same exact piece of fiction or literature, and one of them writes an elaborate 10 page analysis on it while the other one looks dumbfounded at his/her English professor and says “what’s the big deal? I don’t get it” This duality of “open-mindedness” vs. “prejudice” or “ethical myopia” is what animates most (if not all) of the human condition, and all I can say in defense of open-mindedness is that it indisputably makes life much more colorful.