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NEWS... BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT

PhD student says he’s masturbating to ‘young boy’ comics for research

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Manchester University is investigating a PhD student after he wrote a paper documenting his experiences of masturbating while looking at ‘extreme’ comics featuring drawings of ‘young boys’.

Karl Andersson spent three months deriving sexual pleasure from a subgenre of underground Japanese comics and keeping a journal, eventually writing a 4,000-word study on the subject.

The books depict young males in a ‘cute or, most often, sexually explicit way’, according to the author himself.

In the paper, which was first published in April but has only just come to the university’s attention after it was seized on by social media users, Mr Andersson gives graphic accounts of his sexual habits.

He writes that he began the practice after he ‘hit a wall’ in his studies of comics, adding ‘I realised that my body was equipped with a research tool of its own that could give me, quite literally, a first-hand understanding’.

Mr Andersson, originally from Sweden, says he eschewed ‘regular’ porn and sex during a three-month ‘research’ period, claiming it ‘deepened my understanding’ of why people read the comics.

According to his own Twitter account, his studies are funded by the The School of Arts, Languages and Cultures at The University of Manchester and focus on ‘how fans of subcultural comics in Japan experience desire and think about sexual identities’.

His paper was published in the Journal of Qualitative Research under the title: ‘I am not alone – we are all alone: Using masturbation as an ethnographic method in research on shota subculture in Japan’.

In it, Mr Andersson writes: ‘I therefore started reading the comics in the same way as my research participants had told me that they did it: while masturbating.

‘In this research note, I will recount how I set up an experimental method of masturbating to shota comics, and how this participant observation of my own desire not only gave me a more embodied understanding of the topic for my research but also made me think about loneliness and ways to combat it as driving forces of the culture of self-published erotic comics.’

He records how ‘my desire did not only emanate from the content…but from the fact that other people too were excited by this often extreme content and masturbated to it’.

Mr Andersson said the ‘feeling was enhanced when I read a secondhand [comic], which I assumed had been used for masturbation by its previous owner, and thus been “charged”, like a magic charm that would continue to bring happiness to new owners’.

A University of Manchester spokesperson said: ‘The recent publication in Qualitative Research of the work of a student, now registered for a PhD, has raised significant concerns and complaints which we are taking very seriously.

‘We are currently undertaking a detailed investigation into all aspects of their work, the processes around it and other questions raised. 

‘It is very important that we look at the issues in-depth.

‘While that investigation is ongoing, it would not be appropriate for us to comment further at this time.’

Metro.co.uk has contacted Mr Andersson for comment. 

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected] .

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Methodologies don’t hurt people, bad people wielding methodologies do: Autoethnography and that paper from Qualitative Research

Adam Poole, Director of Research  at International Education Group, Beijing Foreign Studies University 24 Aug 2022

This blog is inspired by the recent controversy surrounding that paper published in Qualitative Research . The paper, titled ‘I am not alone – we are all alone: Using masturbation as an ethnographic method in research on shota  subculture in Japan’ (Andersson, 2022), focuses, frankly stated, on a man’s experiences masturbating to Japanese comics of underage boys. At the time of writing, it has been removed by the journal and is under investigation ‘due to ethical concerns … and the social harm being caused by the publication of this work’.

The ethical issues of the paper have been well covered in recent articles (see for example Cole, 2022). What I want to focus on in this article are perceived issues with the paper’s methodology, which, as far as I can tell, appears to be some twisted form of ethnography. Despite the fact that the paper claims to use ethnography, many on social media, such as Twitter, have used this incident to draw attention to the shortcomings of qualitative research in general and, for some reason, autoethnography specifically.

Here are a few examples to give you an idea of what I’m talking about (I have removed Twitter handles for anonymity).

‘I now see how qualitative methods are clearly “superior” and the reason why quantitative methods will be obsolete in a few years’

‘I don’t think self-research is very objective (N=1 sample 🙄?)’

Others have lamented that the offending paper had started an ‘autoethnography is not method’ subtheme commentary and felt that ‘irreparable damage had been done to the credibility of ethnography and autoethnography’. As a researcher who is an advocate and proponent of autoethnography, it pains me to see other researchers misrepresenting it. The purpose of this blog, therefore, is to address some of the misconceptions surrounding autoethnography so that this incident does not lead to further stigmatisation.

Misconception # 1: Autoethnography lacks rigor and is inherently biased

While autoethnography is premised on the study of subjectivity, this should not be interpreted as some kind of free-for-all unbridled stream of consciousness. In fact, autoethnography strives to be systematic by moving beyond merely retelling personal narratives by utilising carefully organised research design and systematically collected and analysed data. For autoethnographers, rigor is not derived from slavish adherence to ‘the scientific method’, but rather from a commitment to authenticity and verisimilitude. In terms of bias, it is indeed true that autoethnography is subjective and therefore biased, but this should be considered one of its strengths. Autoethnography unabashedly embraces bias, as one of its underlying tenets is a rejection of objectivity.

‘Autoethnography unabashedly embraces bias, as one of its underlying tenets is a rejection of objectivity.’

Misconception # 2: Autoethnography is just autoethnography

When critics blame autoethnography for its lack of ethical and methodological foundations they are assuming that autoethnography is a unified approach. In fact, autoethnography manifests in a number of forms and traditions. Some of the most well-known include evocative (verisimilitude and emotion), analytical (emotion as a vehicle for theory building) and braided (balance of emotion and theory). Therefore, when critiquing autoethnography it is necessary to state against which tradition you are positioning yourself and to take it on its own terms, rather than imposing your own pet ontology/methodology.

Misconception # 3: Autoethnography is unethical

This is perhaps the most troubling misconception. It is predicated upon a fallacy that positions autoethnography as akin to methodological anarchy, lacking any underlying ethical principles. While autoethnography has its ethical issues, I find it to be well thought out, well articulated and humane, as illustrated by relational ethics and an ethic of the self which emphasises acting from the heart and authentically (Ellis, 2007). While ethical approval is not usually required for researchers researching their own experiences, it is necessary to consider other characters in a researcher’s narrative and how they are represented/included (Stahlke Wall, 2016). To put it simply, ethics is at the very heart of autoethnography. The offending paper may technically be autoethnography, but it is not ‘good’ autoethnography (or good research for that matter) as it is ethically and methodologically vacuous.

When discussing that paper, I would like everyone to remember that methodologies don’t operate independently of actors. They are not anthropomorphic. Like the adage, ‘guns don’t kill, people do’, methodologies don’t harm people, bad people wielding methodologies do. Any critique of qualitative methods needs to avoid reification and remember that the researcher is the one doing something with the methodology. Autoethnography may have its shortcomings (such as being non-generalisable, biased, and so forth), but these are often exacerbated through its misappropriation, misinterpretation and misapplication. Every methodology has its place, including autoethnography.

Andersson, K. (2022). I am not alone – we are all alone: Using masturbation as an ethnographic method in research on shota subculture in Japan. Qualitative Research . Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/14687941221096600  

Cole, S. (2022, August 12). A researcher jerked off to underage Japanese cartoon boys and published his findings in an academic journal. Vice.com . https://www.vice.com/en/article/4ax34p/qualitative-research-paper-karl-andersson-shota

Ellis, C. (2007). Telling secrets, revealing lives: Relational ethics in research with intimate others. Qualitative Inquiry , 13 (1), 3–29. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800406294947  

Stahlke Wall, S. (2016). Toward a moderate autoethnography.  International Journal of Qualitative Methods , 15 (1). https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406916674966

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I am not alone – we are all alone: Using masturbation as an ethnographic method in research on shota subculture in Japan

• Japanese Studies

Research output : Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

• sensory ethnography
• visual anthropology
• Queer studies

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• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/360206602_I_am_not_alone_-_we_are_all_alone_Using_masturbation_as_an_ethnographic_method_in_research_on_shota_subculture_in_Japan Licence: CC BY

T1 - I am not alone – we are all alone: Using masturbation as an ethnographic method in research on shota subculture in Japan

AU - Andersson, Karl

PY - 2022/4/26

Y1 - 2022/4/26

KW - sensory ethnography

KW - visual anthropology

KW - Queer studies

KW - erotica

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SN - 1468-7941

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PhD student in UK who masturbated to manga about young boys for research paper triggers investigation

The University of Manchester in England and peer-reviewed scientific journal Qualitative Research have launched an investigation into a research paper written by a Ph.D. student who described how he masturbated to Japanese comics depicting young boys for three months.

Karl Andersson, a visual anthropologist and Ph.D. student at the University of Manchester, drew controversy last week after his research paper, titled “I am not alone – we are all alone: Using masturbation as an ethnographic method in research on shota subculture in Japan,” began circulating on social media.

The paper was published in Qualitative Research on April 26.

In his paper, Andersson noted that he began masturbating after having "hit a wall" while researching shota, a Japanese illustrated genre that portrays young boys in sexualized ways.

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“ In this research note, I will recount how I set up an experimental method of masturbating to shota comics, and how this participant observation of my own desire not only gave me a more embodied understanding of the topic for my research but also made me think about loneliness and ways to combat it as driving forces of the culture of self-published erotic comics,” Andersson wrote in the nearly 4,000-word paper.

The Ph.D. student provided graphic details on his methodology over the span of three months. He wrote about his self-imposed ban on regular pornography, sex and other forms of “sexual relief.”

Andersson also noted he has been living alone and had recently become single following a long-term relationship. He speculated that “these factors probably contributed to my willingness and eagerness to explore this method.”

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“ For a period of three months, I would masturbate only to shota comics. For this purpose, I would use doujinshi and commercial volumes that I have bought or been given during fieldwork in Japan,” Andersson wrote.

“ After each masturbation session I would write down my thoughts and feelings – a kind of critical self-reflection – in a notebook, as well as details about which material I had used, where I had done it, at what time, and for how long,” he continued.

Outrage soon spread online after a netizen on Mumsnet , a popular London-based internet forum for parents, shared the paper and called it a "PhD. in wanking." Meanwhile, Twitter users called out Andersson and those responsible for publishing his paper.

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“ Why should hard-working taxpayers in my constituency have to pay for an academic to write about his experiences masturbating to Japanese porn?” Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Neil O’Brien tweeted.

Why should hard-working taxpayers in my constituency have to pay for an academic to write about his experiences masturbating to Japanese porn? The non-STEM side of higher education is just much too big, producing too much that is not socially useful. https://t.co/MPCGU4slLE pic.twitter.com/ctJQYyoa5p More from NextShark: Loyal Cat Visits Late Owner's Grave Every Day for 2 Years in Malaysia — Neil O'Brien MP (@NeilDotObrien) August 10, 2022

“ How was a description of the author masturbating to the images of young boys peer reviewed and published?” another netizen wrote .

How did this pass IRB? Or is this another example of “autoethnography” allowing white scholars to avoid more rigorous ethics review? How was a description of the author masturbating to the images of young boys peer reviewed and published? pic.twitter.com/jNnzHkwxum — M. Jane (@madjane_) August 10, 2022

Following the backlash, the University of Manchester announced that it had launched an investigation into Andersson’s research paper after it raised significant concerns and complaints.

“ The recent publication in Qualitative Research of the work of a student, now registered for a PhD, has raised significant concerns and complaints which we are taking very seriously,” a spokesperson said in a statement to The Guardian . “We are currently undertaking a detailed investigation into all aspects of their work, the processes around it and other questions raised. It is very important that we look at the issues in-depth.”

Similarly, the editors at Qualitative Research also published a statement online, writing: “On August 9th we began investigating the publication of the paper “I am not alone – we are all alone: Using masturbation as an ethnographic method in research on shota subculture in Japan,” published earlier this year. We are continuing with our investigations and will consider closely all guidance from the Committee of Publication Ethics and ensure that any actions taken comply with COPE standards.”

pic.twitter.com/b0u4oJhvZ8 — Qualitative Research (@QRJCardiff) August 10, 2022

A spokesperson for the British child protection charity National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) also raised concerns over the publication of the paper and agreed with the ongoing investigation.

“ That this research was published in a peer-reviewed journal is highly concerning, and it’s right that the universities and publishers involved are investigating," the spokesperson told The Guardian. "All research, and research publication, should be subject to proportionate but rigorous ethical review, including robust safeguarding checks."

In his University of Manchester profile , Andersson wrote that he is a “PhD student researching how fans of subcultural comics in Japan experience desire and think about sexual identities, especially in regard to fictional and actual realities.”

He also noted that his Ph.D. research is “funded by the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures.”

Andersson received his Master of Arts in Visual and Media Anthropology from the Free University of Berlin in 2020 and his Bachelor of Arts in Applied Linguistics from Stockholm University in Sweden in 2003. His film “ Unreal Boys ,” which tells the story of “three young men in Tokyo [who] explore the limits of fantasy through the comic genre shota,” premiered at the 17th biennual conference of the European Association of Social Anthropologists in Belfast on July 28.

Featured Image via Karl Andersson

The Masturbation Article Affair: Japanese Manga, Scholarly Publishing, and the Twenty-First Century Politics of Censorship

• Published: 14 September 2022
• Volume 39 , pages 132–146, ( 2023 )

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This article has been updated

In April 2022, a first-year PhD student published his first peer-reviewed article in the journal Qualitative Research . Less than four months later, amid viral public outrage, that article, Karl Andersson’s “I am not alone – we are all alone: Using masturbation as an ethnographic method in research on shota subculture in Japan,” was removed from publication and formally retracted by the Journal Editors. This paper explores the controversy surrounding the so-called “masturbation article” and its relevance to the field of publishing studies. I begin with a general overview of the shota manga genre and its legal context and provide a factual short history of the affair. I then demonstrate what a good-faith positive peer review of Andersson’s article may have included and critically assess Qualitative Research ’s Retraction Notice, alongside other published ethical complaints. I conclude by showing how both Andersson’s article and the Japanese manga he studies have been censored for the same reasons, with troubling implications for freedom of speech in the twenty-first century.

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Change history

16 june 2023.

The article was updated for legal reasons

For the purposes of this article, “shota” and “shotacon” are used interchangeably.

In these contexts, shotacon may be thought of as a subgenre of boys’ love (BL). For more on BL manga, see for example Levi et al. [ 6 ], McLelland et al. [ 43 ], and Welker [ 44 ].

As defined by Wikipedia, gender-critical feminism, also known as trans-exclusionary radical feminism, is an ideology “critical of concepts of gender identity and transgender rights, holding that biological sex characteristics are an immutable determination of gender or supersede the importance of gender identity: in other words that trans women are not meaningfully women, and trans men are not men” [ 45 ]. For more on gender-critical feminism as a contemporary social and political movement, see for example Pearce et al. [ 46 ], Alm and Engebretsen [ 47 ], Wuest [ 48 ], and Bassi and LeFleur [ 49 ].

I use the term “article” (uncapitalized) throughout this paper to refer to what is properly termed a Note. Further, although it is nowhere stated in the submission guidelines that Notes are peer-reviewed, both the Acknowledgements section of Andersson’s article and the subsequent Retraction Notice make it clear that this particular Note, at least, was fully peer-reviewed.

In their Retraction Notice, the Journal Editors state that the article’s two peer-reviewers did not flag any ethical considerations.

My understanding of “harm” here encompasses serious bodily injury/death and criminal activity only. For the purposes of this exercise, I am not interested in harms involving reputational damage or purely emotional distress.

Andersson K. I am not alone – we are all alone: using masturbation as an ethnographic method in research on Shota subculture in Japan. Qual Res. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1177/14687941221096600 ( retracted on August 22, 2022 ).

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Brienza, C. The Masturbation Article Affair: Japanese Manga, Scholarly Publishing, and the Twenty-First Century Politics of Censorship. Pub Res Q 39 , 132–146 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12109-022-09916-y

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Special Feature – The “I Am Not Alone” Controversy

On April 26, the academic journal Qualitative Research published a “research note” by University of Manchester Japanese Studies PhD student Karl Andersson with the title “ I am not alone – we are all alone: Using masturbation as an ethnographic method in research on shota subculture in Japan “.

For the next several months, the paper sat there largely unnoticed. Until, August 8, when it began attracting the kind of attention on Twitter that rarely if ever attaches itself to an academic paper.

• University berated for allowing ‘PhD in masturbation’ ( The Telegraph , August 10)
• A Researcher Jerked Off to Underage Japanese Cartoon Boys and Published His Findings in an Academic Journal ( Vice.com , August 12)
• ‘Trash Fire’: Now-removed paper on masturbation sets social media ablaze and triggers inquiries, not necessarily because it’s shocking but because it raises ethical and quality concerns ( Inside Higher Ed , August 15)
• Police Launch Investigation into Manchester Student for ‘PhD in Masturbation’ Study (The Manc, August 24)

And this does not even go into editorials, quick write-ups in tabloids, and, inevitably, social media outrage .

For two weeks, starting August 9, Qualitative Research conducted an investigation into the circumstances that surrounded the publication of the article. On August 22, it issued an official Retraction Notice , and deleted the original article from the journal’s website. It is also not available via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine, and so, for all intents and purposes, has been removed from existence.

On reflection, due to the potential for significant harm caused by the publication of this work compounded by ethical issues surrounding the conception and design, the Journal Editors have made the decision to retract and remove the note.

Needless to say, the controversy surrounding “I am not alone…” raises a number of interesting and troubling questions. And for answers to these questions, Anime and Manga Studies would like to turn to Dr. Casey Brienza , a qualitative sociologist with a record of peer-reviewed academic monograph and journal article publications on both manga and scholarly publishing. Dr. Brienza is the editor of the essay collection Global Manga: “Japanese” Comics without Japan? (London, Routledge, 2015), and the author of Manga in America: Transnational Book Publishing and the Domestication of Japanese Comics (London, Bloomsbury, 2016), as well as journal articles such as Activism, Legitimation, or Record: Towards a New Tripartite Typology of Academic Journals (Journal of Scholarly Publishing, 2015), Sociological Perspectives on Japanese Manga in America ( Sociology Compass , 2014), and Opening the Wrong Gate? The Academic Spring and Scholarly Publishing ( Publishing Research Quarterly , 2012).

Ed. note: Regardless of the specifics of Dr. Andersson’s research, under U.S. law, receiving “a visual depiction of any kind, including a drawing, cartoon, sculpture, or painting” that “depicts a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct” and is obscene is illegal and may lead to prosecution. Recent cases where individuals were convicted for violating this provision include U.S. v. Whorley , 550 F. 3d 326 (2008) , U.S. v. Handley , 564 F.Supp. 2d 996 (2008) , and U.S. v. Eyechaner , 326 F.Supp.3d 76 (2018).

MK: How common are retractions?

Casey Brienza: They’re not common at all, for any reason! You sometimes hear about them in the biomedical field, where findings based upon flawed of falsified data could literally mean the difference between life or death, but the retraction of Andersson’s article is the first that I can ever recall having encountered in any of my areas of interest.

They’re not common at all, for any reason! You sometimes hear about them in the biomedical field, where findings based upon flawed of falsified data could literally mean the difference between life or death

MK: Did Qualitative Research follow common or typical procedure in making the decision to retract this article?

The Journal Editors stated that they were following COPE (Committee on Publishing Ethics) guidelines. The COPE guidelines for article retractions are publicly available to read ( https://publicationethics.org/retraction-guidelines ), and I would highly recommend anyone interested in this subject read them themselves. My personal conclusion, from my own reading of those guidelines, is that, no, Qualitative Research did not do a great job of following the procedure they claimed to be following.

MK: What kinds of problems or issues can you point out in how the retraction was announced and implemented?

First off, speaking as someone who has worked on multiple edited collections, I thought the Journal Editors’ lightning-fast capitulation to viral outrage was shameful.

Casey Brienza: First off, speaking as someone who has worked on multiple edited collections, I thought the Journal Editors’ lightning-fast capitulation to viral outrage was shameful. They’re the ones who published this article and, by implication, believed it had merit. The author is just a first-year PhD student, and this article was his first ever peer-reviewed publication.

As an editor I always go out of my way to provide extra support to student writers. Yet the Journal Editors never mounted even a half-hearted public defense either of him or their journal’s overall editorial discretion.

But the biggest problem, in my view, is their decision to remove the article from publication. They did this about a week prior to their formal retraction, which is not in keeping with COPE guidelines, and they decided not to republish it after retraction either, a decision which should be reserved for “extraordinary” circumstances only. Under normal circumstances, the original text of a retracted article would remain freely available, for transparency’s sake. Removing the article from publication makes it more difficult to “check their work,” as it were. And by extension, the Journal Editors seem to be suggesting they believe the article is too dangerous to be read! In the absence of clear evidence of the article’s potential to cause harm, this strikes me as overkill.

Removing the article from publication makes it more difficult to “check their work,” as it were. And by extension, the Journal Editors seem to be suggesting they believe the article is too dangerous to be read!

MK: In your opinion, were there any issues with the methodology that the author used, with how they presented their work, or with the overall publication that would merit a retraction?

Casey Brienza: There are aspects of the article I thought were great and aspects I thought were less great. This is just par for the course; ask two different academics about one journal article, and you’re bound to get a minimum of three different opinions on it. There is nothing about Andersson’s article that I thought merited a formal retraction, never mind a removal from publication.

MK: Do you think the negative reactions to the original article (including both on Twitter and in media) influenced the Journal Editors?

Casey Brienza: Absolutely. Close inspection of the timeline makes it nigh impossible to believe otherwise.

MK: Do you think this particular situation can occur with other journals, such as those not based in the UK?

Casey Brienza: It does seem possible, yes.

MK: How will this retraction affect research on anime/manga (and qualitative research in general) going forward?

The implications for anime/manga studies are positively chilling. Obviously, shotacon is going to be effectively off-limits to many researchers going forward.

Casey Brienza: The implications for anime/manga studies are positively chilling. Obviously, shotacon is going to be effectively off-limits to many researchers going forward. But also, it’s important not to overlook the wider problem areas: People unfamiliar with the visual conventions of Japanese cartoons often have trouble correctly identifying the intended age, race/ethnicity, and/or gender of the characters- meaning that any sexually explicit anime/manga could be rendered criminally suspect.

In addition to the article retraction, as if that weren’t bad enough, Andersson is currently suspended from his university pending the outcome of an internal investigation, and he’s being investigated by UK law enforcement on top of that. Who would want that kind of professional and personal hassle?

1 Comment on Special Feature – The “I Am Not Alone” Controversy

As an anthropology graduate student who draws on my own experience of child sexual abuse to conduct autoethnographic research, specifically examining the epistemic politics of academically produced abuse apologia, I have to say that I am profoundly disturbed by Dr. Casey Brienza’s cavalier attitude towards simulated child sexual abuse material. I also have to wonder if Dr. Brienza is at all aware of Andersson’s history publishing “Destroyer Magazine”, a publication featuring highly sexualized photographs of pubescent boys, predominately from the Global South. This man should never have gotten as far in academia as he did with a project very obviously intended to de-stigmatize and normalize the sexualization of children.

The sad reality is that certain corners of the humanities and social sciences have a long and troubling history of pederasty apologia. From Foucault to anthropologists like Gayle Rubin and Gilbert Herdt, “adult-child sex” has routinely been framed as potentially positive, the trauma of such abuse blamed on the “overreaction” of the survivor’s community, and the effort to abolish CSAM as a “kiddy porn panic”. Until academics are willing to face this shameful history, rather than crying “moral panic” whenever confronted with legitimate criticism, these scandals will continue to happen and they will continue to tarnish these disciplines.

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Manchester investigates PhD student's masturbation paper

The University of Manchester is investigating how one of its PhD students was allowed to publish a journal paper describing how he masturbated to sexualised images of young boys.

The Sage journal  Qualitative Research , which published the paper subtitled ‘Using masturbation as an ethnographic method in research on  shota  subculture’ published by the Swedish doctoral candidate Karl Andersson, will also review how the article on a manga comic genre depicting sexual encounters involving young boys was vetted, amid calls for its editors to resign.

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University of Manchester investigating after being criticised for allowing ‘PhD in masturbation’

A spokesperson for institution said "it is very important that we look at the issues in-depth."

The University of Manchester (UoM) has confirmed it has launched an investigation following criticism that it allowed a student to publish a “PhD in masturbation”.

For an article recently-published in the Journal of Qualitative Research, PhD student Karl Andersson was conducting research into the “shota” genre of Japanese comic books – which are known for centring around prepubescent or pubescent male characters depicted in a “suggestive or erotic” manner.

In his 4,000-word article – which is titled ‘I am not alone – we are all alone: Using masturbation as an ethnographic method in research on shota subculture in Japan’ – Mr Andersson said he wanted to “understand how [individuals] experience sexual pleasure when reading shota”, and so to do this, he decided to undertake his own research.

He claims that he embarked on a three-month stint of masturbating to the comic books himself, and making notes on each session, the Telegraph reports .

Andersson added that he had recently come out of a long-term relationship when he began his research – which he said contributed to his “willingness and eagerness”.

Outlining the methodology for his research, Andersson explained: “For a period of three months, I would masturbate only to shota comics. For this purpose, I would use dōjinshi and commercial volumes that I have bought or been given during fieldwork in Japan.

“In short: I would masturbate in the same way that my research participants did it. After each masturbation session I would write down my thoughts and feelings – a kind of critical self-reflection – in a notebook, as well as details about which material I had used, where I had done it, at what time, and for how long.”

But shortly after the article was published, Mr Andersson and the University of Manchester came under fire and were berated by both members of the public on social media and politicians – who branded the piece “a PhD on masturbation”.

Conservative MP Neil O’Brien was someone who took particular offence to the publication of the article, taking to Twitter to question: “Why should hard-working taxpayers in my constituency have to pay for an academic to write about his experiences masturbating to Japanese porn?

“The non-STEM side of higher education is just much too big, producing too much that is not socially useful.”

The University of Manchester has since confirmed it has launched an investigation into the publication of the article, with a spokesperson saying in a statement: “The recent publication in Qualitative Research of the work of a student, now registered for a PhD, has raised significant concerns and complaints which we are taking very seriously.

Read more: Manchester graduates named the ‘most targeted’ by the UK’s top employers

“We are currently undertaking a detailed investigation into all aspects of their work, the processes around it and other questions raised.

“It is very important that we look at the issues in-depth.”

SAGE Journals – which is responsible for the publishing of the Journal of Qualitative Research – has also addressed the criticism it received for allowing the article on its platform, saying it is “aware of concerns”.

We are aware of concerns about a paper published earlier this year in our journal, Qualitative Research. The article is under investigation, and we will ensure that any actions taken comply with the standards of the Committee of Publication Ethics. — SAGE Journals (@SAGEJournals) August 10, 2022

Taking to Twitter, SAGE Journals said: “We are aware of concerns about a paper published earlier this year in our journal, Qualitative Research. The article is under investigation, and we will ensure that any actions taken comply with the standards of the Committee of Publication Ethics.”

Featured Image – University of Manchester

Food charity Eat Well Manchester, which helps support the region’s most vulnerable all year round, is teaming up with local hospitality venues for a crucial fundraising festival this autumn.

As another season of sun-soaked summer dining nears its end, we’re once again reminded of those less fortunate and the struggles that countless people all over the city and beyond face, especially as the colder months start to creep back in quicker than any of us would like.

That’s where important non-profits like Eat Well MCR come in, helping dish out free, nutritious and varied meals to Greater Manchester’s homeless community and anyone in need with the help of some of your very favourite restaurants.

With that in mind, as autumn fast approaches, the organisation has set up the fittingly named ‘Eat Well, Do Good’ festival, which will help raise vital funds and provide thousands of free meals to those who need them most.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Eat Well MCR (@eatwellmcr)

Eat Well MCR works to tackle the growing crisis by delivering roughly 2,500 meals per month to individuals facing economic deprivation. By supporting the charity, venues and patrons can positively impact the community more than they know.

With just £2, a meal can be provided for someone in need, and the collective efforts during this week-long festival have the potential to raise funds to not only unite local businesses but also show people sidelined by poverty in our community that Manchester cares like we know it does.

Teaming up with the likes of Ramona , Maray , 10 Tib Lane ; Chorlton Cheesemongers , chef Caroline Martins , and many more soon-to-be-announced partners, the festival will feature a wide variety of activities and events all across 0161.

Eat Well MCR are also obviously encouraging as many hospitality venues as they can to get involved with this important charity initiative throughout the season; food and drink spots can participate in whichever way they find the most suitable – the most important thing is doing your bit.

This aim is not only to bring the Manc hospitality sector close together and help battle its own struggles, but help deliver meals, source ingredients and raise awareness and funds to support underprivileged communities on our doorstep, all with the help of volunteers and kind-hearted people in the industry.

• A brand new gym in Manchester city centre is offering free yoga and HIIT classes this August
• Morrisons is giving away 100,000 Warburtons crumpets for FREE this summer
• Four best mates from Stockport are taking on the Loch Ness 24 challenge for charity

Will Taplin, Executive Chef for Ramona, Firehouse and Diecast, said of the event: “We’re really excited to be part of this fundraising campaign. We’ll have extra special slices at Ramona and full pie at Diecast on sale throughout October, with a built-in donation from every pizza sold going to Eat Well MCR.”

Other hospitality vendors can get involved by offering a special dish or drink where a a portion of the proceeds are donated to Eat Well MCR, hosting their own fundraising activities or ticketed events, or by simply adding a £1 donation to every bill.

For instance, there will also be a party featuring DJs and more held at Ramona on 27 October to conclude the week of fundraising, where all proceeds from the evening will be donated to Eat Well MCR.

With stats like £1,000 worth of frozen food alone being thrown away by Mancs every year and that there are more than 7,000 homeless children across the 10 boroughs, it’s time to stand up and make a difference. Those interested can sign up via the Eat Well, Do Good Week sign-up page HERE .

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester,  subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE .

Featured Images — The Manc Eats /Eat Well MCR/ gwafuvegan (via Instagram)

A touching tribute has been paid to the man who died after falling from a fourth-floor balcony in Salford.

The man, who has now been named as William Waheed Lyall, has been described as a ‘loving, strong, resilient’ man by his family.

The 57-year-old passed away on Sunday after he fell from an apartment at Black Friar Court in Salford.

Three people were arrested on suspicion of murder and have since been bailed.

Greater Manchester Police are still investigation the circumstances of his death.

A spokesperson for William’s family said: “It is with immense sadness and shock that the family of William Waheed Lyall have learnt of his unexpected death. 

“William was loving, strong, resilient and worked tirelessly to provide for his family, not seeking recognition but wanting to see them happy.  His children meant the world to him and he taught them that true strength comes from selflessness.

“As a brother, he was fun to be with and was always a shoulder to lean on. We will miss his kindness, generous heart and  his contagious hearty laughter.

“William may no longer be with us but his spirit, his values and his love will forever guide us. William leaves behind three children Aadel, Ahel, Francesco and his wife Dida.

“The family trusts that the police will leave no stone unturned to determine the details of this tragedy.  We await the completion of the police investigation so that we can bury William at the Salford Muslim cemetery.

“Rest in peace, dear William you will be forever missed but never forgotten.”

Officers are continuing to investigate and anyone with information is asked to contact police via 101 or gmp.police.uk, quoting log 3044 of 11/8/24.

Alternatively, you can contact the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

• Four best mates from Stockport are taking on the Loch Ness 24 challenge on behalf of The Christie
• Budget airline Wizz Air launches UK’s first ‘unlimited’ flight subscription with 200 destinations
• Mancs named among the top 10 ‘biggest complainers’ in the UK

Featured image: GMP

Shocking new study reveals Mancs throw away more than £1,000 of ‘freezable’ food every year

Budget airline Wizz Air launches UK’s first ‘unlimited’ flight subscription with 200 destinations

Molly Mae-Hague and Tommy Fury announce shock split

Clint Boon takes us around Manchester's iconic Deaf Institute

Two motorcyclists have died in a crash on the iconic Snake Pass road

Chester Zoo announces birth of ‘exceptionally rare’ twin monkeys

Bolton man pleads guilty to creating child sexual abuse content using AI

The Wharf might just be the perfect place for your next celebration or big gathering

You can have your wedding reception at Toby Carvery with £9.99 roast dinners for your guests

Eat Well Manchester is launching a special fundraising festival for those in need this autumn

We go meatballs deep with Mira's traditional Neapolitan sandwiches

Sage reviews its processes after retracting masturbation study

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Publisher to review how it deals with research on topics with “potential to do harm”

Sage Publishing is reviewing its submission processes and ethical requirements after it faced strong criticism over an article it published exploring the use of masturbation to erotic comics depicting young boys as a research method.

The US-based academic publisher became embroiled in a media storm last month after its journal Qualitative Research published the controversial article by Manchester PhD student Karl Andersson on “using masturbation as an ethnographic method in research on shota subculture in Japan”.

Following the uproar, the article was first removed and then retracted by the journal, which cited “a lack of clarity and hence ethical scrutiny at the time of the initial submission” and “the potential to cause significant harm”.

Critics have questioned the legality of viewing shota in the UK, and the Greater Manchester Police is investigating the incident, though no charges have been made yet.

Research Professional News has approached Karl Andersson for comment. He has not commented on the issue so far.

In an update published on 15 September, Bob Howard, executive vice-president of research at Sage Publishing, said the case “highlights the need to review how we deal with research that covers topics that have the potential to do harm, including research that involves illegal activities, even if those activities are only illegal within certain jurisdictions”.

In the statement published on the Sage Perspectives blog, Howard said: “The first step we are looking into is how we might identify sensitive and especially potentially problematic research at the point of submission.

“By flagging topics that are sensitive and have the potential for social harm, we will be in a better position to advise and guide our editors long before a paper is accepted.”

He added that the publisher was “already exploring ways to do this, including technology options that can support the work of editors and editorial boards”.

Ethical requirements

Critics have also questioned the peer-review process that allowed the paper to be published with some even calling for the journal’s editors to resign.

Howard said the publisher was also taking steps to “review the ethical requirements across all article types at the point of submission, for this and all Sage journals”.

He explained that under the journal’s current policy, article submissions are scrutinised by the editor-in-chief when they come in, including “ethical considerations, fit to the journal, suitability, and academic merit”. The article is then assigned to an editor.

But in the case of Andersson’s article—which was originally published as a “note”—it was sent directly to an editor without prior scrutiny.

“Notes and Book Reviews go directly to an editor—there is no scrutiny prior to assignment,” Howard said. “The journal is planning to extend this extra level of scrutiny before assignment to all submission types.”

“More broadly, ensuring the requirement for ethics statements across all types of publications in the journal will help to provide additional checks and balances.”

Howard added that the journal was aware of calls for the editors to resign, but said, “as a publisher, we do not believe that it is our position to remove the editors if, as happened in this case, journal policies have been followed and the peer reviewers supported publication”.

“It is our responsibility to safeguard the editorial independence of our journals, which means that editorial decisions—as well as concerns related to them—must be handled within the journal’s existing editorial structures,” he continued.

“At the same time, we are committed to working with our editors to identify and rectify errors, uphold the integrity of the scholarly record, and continuously improve guidelines for best practice.”

Research Professional News has approached Sage Publishing and Andersson for comment.

The University of Manchester, which is currently conducting its own investigation into the matter, declined to comment.

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Academics must speak up about research that could cause harm

The regulations can be ambiguous, but the masturbation paper furore is a result of supervisors’ and reviewers’ lack of vigilance, says michelle shipworth.

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Last week, I was surprised and delighted to hear Twitter academics making a loud case for the ethical review of research.

I’ve been my department’s director of ethics for over seven years, served on innumerable and interminable research ethics working groups and been a member of UCL’s Research Ethics Committee for four years. I am largely unfamiliar with academics demanding more ethical oversight of research.

This sea change in academic attitudes was sparked by a journal article in the well-regarded Sage journal Qualitative Research , in which a University of Manchester PhD student, Karl Andersson, spent three months masturbating exclusively to Japanese shota images. Shota , he explains, is “a Japanese genre of comics and illustrations that feature young boy characters in a cute or, most often, sexually explicit way”.

There was no indication in the paper that the “research” had received ethical review or that it was exempt from the need for it. This suggests that the journal editors and reviewers, as well as the author, saw no legal or ethical problems with this “study” or “research materials”. The author’s reflections on the latter are all positive. For example, he notes that “often, very young boy characters would greedily jump over the first cock that presented itself. That…worked for me”.

Yet possessing non-photographic pornographic images of a child is usually prohibited in the UK by the Coroners and Justice Act 2009.

Most academics on Twitter were aghast at the “study” and demanded to know how it had received ethical clearance. And, following an extended deluge of requests, the publishers and/or journal editors removed the article , published in April, from their website “due to ethical concerns surrounding this article and the social harm being caused by the publication of this work”.

But was ethical review really required when there were no study participants to protect from harm or give informed consent?

Manchester’s research ethics policy indicates that “research involving sensitive topics” requires ethical approval, but only after a long list of points regarding human participants, implying that it is only sensitive research involving humans that requires approval. Research entailing potentially illegal or harmful activities is only flagged as requiring ethical approval if the research is likely to uncover such activities, presumably because participants may be engaged in them.

To be fair, more recent statements from Manchester and the journal make it clear that Andersson’s “research” was not conducted under Manchester’s auspices. One of the student’s own YouTube videos also notes that his doctoral fieldwork plan had “failed thoroughly” to get ethical approval. Without apparent irony, he adds that ethics are paramount in research.

The journal editors are all at Cardiff University School of Social Sciences. The university’s research ethics webpage says research with human participants requires ethical review, but gives little detail.  And its Research Integrity and Governance Code of Practice has nothing further of relevance.

The journal itself is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics, but the committee’s focus is on the publication process itself. Research ethics are merely touched on in a flow chart .

The journal editors’ recent statement acknowledges that they “have wider and overarching responsibilities with respect to difficult or sensitive topics to ensure that work accepted for publication does not cause harm, and we did not fulfil this responsibility with respect to this note”. They observe that the potential for harm includes that the publication “could be used to legitimise and contribute to child sexual abuse”.

It is frankly disturbing that it took a public furore for the editors to recognise this potential for harm. In contrast, commentators recognised this potential immediately. Police are now reportedly investigating and the student has been suspended.

Universities UK’s Concordat to Support Research Integrity asks organisations to have policies emphasising the importance of researchers conducting legal and ethical research and to offer support for researchers to achieve this, but doesn’t specify anything about ethical review. And while the UK Research Integrity Office’s Code of Practice For Research requires researchers to comply with legal requirements and organisations to “set up systems to ensure that when there are risks that proposed research or its results may be misused for purposes that are illegal or harmful, those risks are identified and addressed”, it seems not to anticipate the possibility of research being designed to include illegal or harmful activities.

The Andersson case demonstrates that such provisions are not enough. Universities need to direct researchers to seek ethical review when their research might include or enable illegality or harm. Journals likewise need systems to help them detect potentially problematic research. Research involving illegal activities can be beneficial, but it is a complex area  where the researcher has responsibilities to the university, as well as to participants and society more broadly. The research would have to be extremely well justified; legal and other expert input may be necessary, and mitigating measures would need to be developed.

Journal and ethics reviewers must also be prepared to challenge researchers on the fundamentals of their research. Not all researchers have good intentions and some research can create the risk of real harm, irrespective of intention. Research ethics committee members, as well as journal reviewers and editors, are subject to peer pressure, yet, they must resist it. As UKRIO puts it , universities and researchers “are ultimately accountable to the general public and should act accordingly”. If we don’t, public trust will decline.

The publication of this paper has possibly damaged the reputation of the student’s university, the method he claims to employ and the humanities in general. This cannot be blamed on the Conservative MP who tweeted in fury about the paper (and extrapolated too widely). Nor can it be laid at the feet of the national and international media that, unsurprisingly, cashed in on the story.

This is on us. We are supervisors, reviewers and editors. If we see research that could cause harm, even indirectly, we must speak up.

Michelle Shipworth is an associate professor in energy and social sciences at UCL.

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Manchester quizzed over funding of masturbation paper author

Karl Andersson has long attracted controversy over his interest in sexually suggestive images of teenage boys, so did university investigate this?

Manchester investigates PhD student’s masturbation paper

‘Wanking is not a research method; it is just wanking,’ says professor, as doctoral candidate chronicles how he ‘enjoyed’ provocative cartoon images of boys

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As a loss-maker, research is under pressure as fears of insolvency rise. But universities must do all they can to shore up a key element of their impact 

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At a time of increasing financial constraint, jobs are being shed even in UK departments that ride high in the Research Excellence Framework, while time allocations for research are being cut. Can a loss-making activity like research survive outside traditional institutions, asks Jack Grove