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The Insensitive Man
: A Philosophical Essay on Male Sexuality
(2005)

Masahiro Morioka

A fascinating book on male sexuality, especially men's sexual insensitivity, their self-denial of their bodies, and their desire of little girls and school uniforms. This book has provoked a variety of emotional reactions from the readers, scholars, and mass media. One of the most important books in Japanese men's studies.

In this book I talked a lot about my own personal sexuality because it is almost useless to talk about men's sexuality in a "general" way. As a "professor" it was tough work to write my own sexuality, but anyway I did it, and I presented some very unique analyses of why such sexuality has been constructed in me. This is a book of confession and a deep philosophical analysis.

I don't want to write the detailed contents of this book here. I presume you will imagine them from the table of contents below. The main topics are (1) the analysis of men's sexual insensitivity caused by "male frigidity," and (2) the analysis of why many men have a (sub-consciouss) desire toward little girls around the age 12 or so, especially those girls who wear school uniforms (in Japan we call it "rorikon (lolicon) " or "seifuku fetishism". Remember Japanese animes).

Readers should note that the term "male frigidity" in this book is completely different from that in sex therapy. In this book, "male frigidity" means a mental, existential state after ejaculation, which may deeply influence men's sexuality and their relationship with women. As for rorikon, Japanese feminists have insisted that those men who cannot have sexual relationship with adult women sometimes seek to sexually exploit little girls because those girls are weaker than men and usually cannot say no to adult men. I think this theory explains one aspect of lolicon, but it doesn't explain its all aspects. I presented a unique and provocative hypothesis, the hypothesis of "desire for the rebirth of oneself" in Chapter 3 and 4.

In the last chapter, I pointed out that there exists the idea "my body is dirty" inside many men's minds, and this idea might be another cause of men's insensitivity in the field of sexuality. And I considered the way how to escape from this miserable state.

A gay man, reading this book, told me that it was very rare that a heterosexual man talked about his own sexuality in such an open manner, and he went on to say this might be a revolutionary book. I was happy to hear that. And a woman said that she was shocked to know the hidden reality of male sexuality.

After the publication, this book provoked a variety of emotinal reactions from the readers, particularly against my interpretations of men's frigidity after ejaculation, and of the psychological roots of men's lolita complex & uniform fetishism. The most shocking part of this book was the description of the latter, which we have not translated yet. Japanese feminists have slowly begun to refer to this work in their writings. This book is now considered to be one of the classics of Japanese men's studies. Japan is notorious for its mass production of child pornography. This book need to acquire a wider audience in this sense.

I am not quite sure whether the title "The Insensitive Man" is a correct English translation. Another possible translation would be "The Unfeeling Man." The topic I am talking about is men's "sexual" insensitivity or unfeelingness. Which one do you think is suitable as the title?


Preface
You can read the entire text

Chapter 1 
If Only They Wear Mini-skirts We don't Need Flesh-and-Blood Women Any More!?

You can read the entire text

Chapter 2 
Men Who Turn Their Eyes Away from "Male Frigidity"

Translation is in Progress

  1. What is "Male Frigidity"?
  2. The Analysis of the Feeling of "Accumulation"
  3. What is Pornography for Men?

Chapter 3 
Why am I Attracted to School Uniforms?

  1. The Structure of the Minds of Men Who are Attracted to School Uniforms
  2. Seeing "School" through the Girls Wearing Uniforms
  3. Exploring the Mistery of School Uniforms

Chapter 4 
Investigating the Psychology of Lolicon Men (Men Who Love Little girls)

  1. Japan as a Lolicon Wonderland
  2. The Sophisticated Packaging of "Girls" as Commodities
  3. Why lolicon Men Desire Girls?

Chapter 5 
How to Escape from the State of being an "Insensitive Man"?

  1. The Experience of "Ejaculation" and a Sense of Self-denial
  2. How I Became an "Insensitive Man"
  3. First, Let us Accept "Male Frigidity"

Postscript


Book Reviews

Chizuko Ueno, University of Tokyo - "So far we have rarely witnessed that a man confessed his hidden sexuality publicly. And finally, a book that answers my question has been published." (Shukan Gendai Magazine, April 2, 2005)

Toshiki Sato, University of Tokyo - "The first-narrative of the author is more logical and sincere than those theories which hasten to explain sexuality in terms of biological desire or social power. This book is worth reading even only in this respect." (Yomiuri Shimbun Newspaper, March 20, 2005)

Book reviews also appeared in Asahi Simbun Newspaper, Tokyo Shimbun Newspaper, Sankei Shimbun Newspaper, Kyodo Tsushin, Shukan Asahi Magazine, etc.

Publication Data

Chikuma Shobo Publications, Chikuma-Shinsho series No.521, Tokyo, Feb.9,2005, 181 pages, 680 yen, written in Japanese.

Japanese website of this book

Translation to Other Languages

Korean translation was published in October 1, 2005, from Random House JongAng, Korea.

Book cover is coming soon