Neko Nation =/= Rape Culture

There have been people wishing to boycott Tokyo Hardcore because of their recent decision to stock Tentacle Grape.  This technically applies to Neko Nation, since it was actually my idea to bring in Tentacle Grape.  I'm absolutely mindblown that people feel the need to boycott us on what is such a trivial matter in my opinion, and this isn't the first time since we've had someone get upset over the Pedobear picture as well pictured below too.

First of all, I do understand the whole idea behind rape culture, it is a serious and important social issue that is relevant and I'm all for the ideas behind it to a reasonable extent.  Rape is a serious issue but so are the likes of torture and murder.  Saw has been a successful series that has spanned off 7 movies due to it's shocking, gory and disturbing torture sequences, the best selling games of last year were Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3, games that encourage and glorify death on a bloody war torn battlefield. Like rape, we often see torture and murder are trivialised, glorified and joked about.

The reasons why the like of gruesome torture movies and violent video games exist is due to the context.  We need to remember that these situations are highly unrealistic, to allow these scenarios to happen in real life would be highly sickening to all.  We also need to remember that these situations are highly unrealistic and while the likes of serial killers exist and are a serious and disturbing issue, you'll be hard pressed to find someone that claims that Saw would highly trivialise serial killers and in real war, there aren't any respawns.

This is why the whole boycott against Tentacle Grape is ridiculous, people are boycotting what is a highly unrealistic situation that would not relate to relate to real life.  The name is a play on "Tentacle Rape" a ridiculous scenario where a monster with tentacles will usually attempt to tie up a girl with their tentacles and then proceed to rape.  People are amused by that it is an unusual scenario and are buying into the product because of it.  Tentacle Grape is generally sold to anime fans that get this reference, so this is not a product stocked on regular supermarket shelves.  This is not bought by people who think that rape is amusing or silly, it is bought by people are amused by the whole idea of tentacles.

The product is targeted and being sold to a small niche market and I'm utterly confused that they feel they've done the right thing by boycotting businesses that trivialise rape via Facebook.  This is a highly weak strategy of trying to "support" a cause especially by targetting the small businesses at the bottom of the food chain.  Do you see PETA trying to protest against the local butcher?  Do you see gay rights rallies being protested at your local town hall?  No, they go for the bigger targets because it's the more effective targets.  There's a huge difference between actually trying to make a difference and being seen to try to make a difference, one only has to look at Kony2012, the most "supported" movement of 2012 with many millions behind the cause which made no difference.

The point I'm getting at is that if you are really going to do something for your cause actually, go do something that will actually effect or send a message to the top of the food chain.  You can protest, share and like all you want on Facebook but Kony wasn't exactly shaking in his boots on April 20th.  People need to actually donate your time, money, effort and talents into a cause to make some sort of serious impact which is not done by the keyboard warriors.

The reasons why this product is being sold is because people find the idea of tentacle rape an amusing one thanks to hentai released from Japanese anime companies, then there is also the fact that there are certain hentais in Australia that are legal which have tentacle rape in them.  This is what needs to be aimed for, I just see this whole campaign as protesting against one hentai joke rather than the actual root of where this all stems from a case of knee jerk reaction in trying to be seen to do something rather than actually doing something.

People need to realise that Neko Nation is not some major multinational wholesome corporate company.  Neko Nation is a small business that operates in a niche market that provides a party environment for those 18 and older.  This means that Neko Nation will try and connect with it's demographic (anime fans who like to party) by making communications with an approach that involves anime and is not necessarily family friendly and/or politically correct.  Neko Nation does not take the conservative route with it's messages and therefore might cause a select few individuals to be offended and misunderstand our messages but if you're not able to properly understand our messages and also view things light heartedly, then Neko Nation isn't for you.

Neko Nation does not take the conservative road try to play it safe to be inclusive of everyone.  We are here to do something different by including those who have felt excluded down this conservative path, think about how many clubs and bars will let you in with full cosplay and are willing to play music that is not RnB or house in Australia.

We are maintaining our decision to stock Tentacle Grape as for the select few who think that we are being offensive by possibly trivialising rape (and are highly unlikely to go to our shows anyways) is completely counteracted by the fact that most of our fans would realise that this is a novelty (tasty) harmless product (ignoring the sugar content!) that just a pokes a bit of light hearted fun at anime culture.