Now Japan does not embrace GL just because it doesn't mind the girl-as-sex-object. But we are talking about a culture which refuses to buy the "monkey see, monkey do" argument in regard to the morality of public entertainment. So their ability to compartmentalize fantasy from real actions is a great test-case for the harmlessness of fantasies.

Though one should remember there are no bisexuals in Japan; let alone homosexuals.

Emperor Taisho may've been queer as a three yen note; but officially he wasn't.

Many Homosexuals suffered needlessly during the early years of the AIDS crisis, but they weren't really there.

Just sayin'.

I'm not terribly surprised at a lover of "taboo" and "horror" having swallowed the moral panic without questioning it. Those who push the envelope validate the envelope. The truly transgressive go where they please nonchalantly. They aren't drawn towards taking a stand on an invisible line because they know that the line is a fiction. You can't be Antichrist without having a relationship with Christ ( even in the negative. )

And much of Western Horror is actually moral reinforcement.

"Friday the 13th" teaches us that teenagers who don't abstain will be hacked to death.

"Poltegeist" teaches us that ignorance of the law is no excuse when it comes to violating zoning codes.

The apparent chaos of occult evil almost always resolves into, "the wicked are punished, the moral survive."

Contrast that with Japanese Horror or with tales from Celtic folklore.

"They hate you because you're good," and "Once you come to the attention of the fair folk Authorities you're f**ked no matter what you do," are lessons more conducive to a challenge of moral panics than to their validation.

Dante