Thread by @LunarArchivist

Though I should probably know better by now considering the flak I've gotten in recent weeks, I'm going to try explaining the controversy and cultural clash surrounding lewd fanart of the anthropomorphic female racehorse characters from "Uma Musume: Pretty Derby". 1/10

On June 20, 2018, a post appeared on the "Uma Musume Project" website from the staff asking fans not to create fanart that might tarnish the dignity and reputations of the racehorses whose names their owners had granted permission to be used. In other words: no porn, please. 2/10

This situation's unusual because, as opposed to recent incidents where overzealous translators, localizers, government officials, or third parties (such as SJWs) were pushing for self-censorship under threat of bad publicity or through blackmail and coercion, this message... 3/10

...originated with the creative staff in the form of a polite request, but one which no fans were being forced to adhere to other than out of respect for the creators (as opposed to the staff themselves, who are almost definitely subject to creative restrictions). 4/10

Such requests by Japanese creators may seem unusual to Westerners but aren't historically unprecedented. Back in the early days of the Internet, I remember CLAMP asking fans not to upload scans from their manga but instead limit themselves to the use of fanart. 5/10

Problems arose for two reasons:

First, the different cultural mindsets of Japanese and Western fans - specifically the former wanting to uphold the creators' wishes resulted in some of them trying to enforce the "rules" by reporting any artwork made by the latter which... 6/10

...violated them - led to a heated debate about artistic freedom of expression being trampelled on. It should be noted that Japanese fans' concerns are not without merit, as characters have been been removed from the series before based on the objections of horse owners. 7/10

Second, a claim that these restrictions were put in place because the racehorse owners were Yakuza bosses that people wanted to avoid offending gained a lot of traction before the person who made it confessed that it was a hoax he had perpetuated for ulterior motives. 8/10

I'm not going to take sides here, but I should point out that one disastrous side effect of the official Uma Musume Project statement on the matter is that it's called attention to their disapproval of the practice...which some will no doubt interpret as a challenge. 9/10

In other words, it all boils down to reactance: Attempts to limit or forbid the creation of lewd "Uma Musume: Pretty Derby" artwork is likely intended to have the exact opposite effect than the desired one, something that Mark Twain (or Usagi Tsukino) could've told you. 😅 10/10