Editing Shotacon (section)

==Origins==
The term "shotacon" is a [[Japanese abbreviated and contracted words|Japanese contraction]] of {{Nihongo|''Shōtarō complex''|正太郎コンプレックス|Shōtarō konpurekkusu}}, a reference to the young male character Shōtarō ({{lang|ja|正太郎}}) from ''[[Tetsujin 28-go]]''.<ref name="Otaku Sexuality p.236">Saitō Tamaki (2007) "Otaku Sexuality" in Christopher Bolton, Istvan Csicsery-Ronay Jr., and [[Takayuki Tatsumi]] ed., page 236 ''[http://www.upress.umn.edu/Books/B/bolton_robot.html Robot Ghosts and Wired Dreams] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605115230/http://www.upress.umn.edu/Books/B/bolton_robot.html |date=2011-06-05 }}'' University of Minnesota Press {{ISBN|978-0-8166-4974-7}} "Shota is an abbreviation for “Shotaro complex,” from Kaneda Shotaro, the boy who pilots the robot in the manga and anime Tetsujin 28 go (what became Gigantor in English). Originally an offshoot of yaoi, the origins of this genre are said to begin in the early 1980s."</ref> In the [[anime]] and [[manga]] series, Shōtarō is a bold, self-assertive detective who frequently outwits his adversaries and helps to solve cases. Throughout the series, Shōtarō develops close friends within the world. His {{Lang|ja-latn|[[bishōnen]]}} cuteness embodied and formed the term "shotacon", putting a name to an old sexual subculture. The word ''shotacon'' itself was coined in the magazine ''Fan Road'' in 1981.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nagaike |first=Kazumi |date=2022-12-16 |title=Male Love for BL, Shota, and Otokonoko Characters: Japanese Alternative Masculinities Mediating Different Modes of Existence |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/873026 |journal=Mechademia |language=en |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=150 |issn=2152-6648}}</ref>

Where the shotacon concept developed is hard to pinpoint, but some of its earliest roots are in reader responses to detective series written by [[Edogawa Rampo]]. In his works, a character named Yoshio Kobayashi of "Shōnentanteidan" (Junior Detective Group, similar to the Baker Street Irregulars of [[Sherlock Holmes]]) forms a deep dependency with adult protagonist [[Kogoro Akechi]]. Kobayashi, a beautiful teenager, constantly concerns himself with Kogoro's cases and well-being, and for a time [[cohabitation|moves in]] with the unmarried man. This nonsexual but intimate adult-boy relationship in part inspired the evolution of the shotacon community.

[[Tamaki Saitō]] writes that although the modern shotacon audience has a roughly even split between males and females, the genre is rumored to have roots in early 1980s dōjinshi as an offshoot of [[yaoi]].<ref name="Otaku Sexuality p.236"/> Saitō suggests that shotacon was adopted by male readers who were influenced by [[lolicon]]; thus, he claims "''shota'' texts by female ''yaoi'' authors are structurally identical to ''yaoi'' texts, while ''shota'' by male ''otaku'' clearly position these little boys as young girls with penises".<ref>Saitō Tamaki (2007) "Otaku Sexuality" in Christopher Bolton, Istvan Csicsery-Ronay Jr., and [[Takayuki Tatsumi]] ed., pages 236–237, ''[http://www.upress.umn.edu/Books/B/bolton_robot.html Robot Ghosts and Wired Dreams]''. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605115230/http://www.upress.umn.edu/Books/B/bolton_robot.html|date=2011-06-05}}''. University of Minnesota Press. {{ISBN|978-0-8166-4974-7}}.</ref> Kaoru Nagayama writes that the 1995 manga anthology ''U.C. BOYS: Under Cover Boys'' started a boom in commercial shotacon in the second half of the 1990s.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Nagayama|first=Kaoru|title=Erotic Comics in Japan: An Introduction to Eromanga|date=2020|publisher=Amsterdam University Press|isbn=978-94-6372-712-9|location=Amsterdam|pages=228–230|translator-last=Galbraith|translator-first=Patrick W.|oclc=1160012499|translator-last2=Bauwens-Sugimoto|translator-first2=Jessica}}</ref> During this time, male-oriented shotacon emerged and mixed with female-oriented shotacon: "the situation was such that shota works targeting women, men and a combination of both were all in close proximity."<ref name=":0" /> The boom collapsed at the end of the 1990s, but male-targeted shotacon saw a small resurgence starting in 2002.<ref name=":0" />