A leading university has launched an inquiry after it emerged that one of its PhD students has written a research paper about sexual attraction to young boys.
Karl Andersson spent three months recording his thoughts and feelings while masturbating over images of young boys in Japanese comic books.
In the abstract for the paper, Andersson, who is interviewing fans of shota comics for his PhD, said he wanted to “understand how [they] experience sexual pleasure when reading shota”.
His 4,000-word study, which details his sexual habits and sexual encounters between boys in the comics, was published in the journal Qualitative Research in April. It provoked outrage from academics, an MP and others after it was circulated on Twitter this week.
The University of Manchester and Qualitative Research have announced they are investigating the circumstances of the research and its publication.
In the paper, Andersson explains how he will document the details of each masturbation session in a journal as “a kind of critical self-reflection”. He describes how he gave up all other sexual activity, from sex with other people to other types of pornography.
“I happened to live alone during this experiment, and I had newly become single after a long relationship – these factors probably contributed to my willingness and eagerness to explore this method,” he wrote.
Dr Mara Keire, a historian at Oxford University who writes about sexual violence, expressed her shock at the research paper, tweeting: “How was a description of the author masturbating to the images of young boys peer reviewed and published?”
The Conservative MP Neil O’Brien asked: “Why should hard-working taxpayers in my constituency have to pay for an academic to write about his experiences masturbating to Japanese porn?”
An National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children spokesperson said: “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. All research, and research publication, should be subject to proportionate but rigorous ethical review, including robust safeguarding checks.”
Andersson’s University of Manchester profile page states that his PhD research is funded by the school of arts, languages and cultures. But in his research paper he declares that he “received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article”.
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.”
In a statement published online, the editors of Qualitative Research said they had begun an investigation into the publication of Andersson’s research, which would address whether it met ethical standards.
“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,” said the statement.
“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.”
Andersson has been contacted for comment.
