Why Yuri Paddles are Stoopid and a tidbit of Otakon 2007, Day 2

July 23rd, 2007

$35.

That’s how much a small paddle-shaped piece of wood that says “Yuri” costs.

For $35, you can buy 4 books from ALC Publishing, or register for Yuricon’s 2007 “Yurisai” event – and still have money over for lunch.

You can share the books with friends, review them, talk about them with the folks on the Yuricon Mailing List. Or you can come to the Yurisai, hang out with Rica Takashima and other Yuri notables, watch Yuri anime, learn to make Yuri AMVs, draw Yuri manga, read Yuri manga and doujinshi at our Library.

You can carry a Yuri Paddle around. But only at anime cons, really. And not at Yuricon (or Yaoi-Con, for that matter – they have also banned them as nuisances.)

Yuri Paddles support Hen Da Ne, a nice group of guys who make most of their money selling doujinshi. With apologies to them, they do not make Yuri, nor do they support most of the Yuri doujinshi circles, because they buy primarily highly pornographic doujinshi, perpetuating the “Yuri is porn” thing. ALC Publishing remains the only all-Yuri publisher in the world – we seek out and publish women, lesbians, who draw stories of women in love, rather than women having sex on one another with unrealistic (and to me, at least, disgusting) gouting bodily fluids of undefined source.

Lastly, carrying a Yuri paddle is like carrying a sign that says “I am sexually immature.” (True story – at recent con, a guy asked if he could take a picture of me holding a paddle and I refused. He asked why; I commented that Yuri paddles as signs that says “I am sexually immature” to which he said, “I am sexually immature.” “But I’m not,” I replied.)

The bottom line is, those paddles are useless. They will not get you laid. They support Yuri in no way. What they do is take your money and funnel it AWAY from Yuri.

So, please. Don’t. If you want to support Yuri, buy licensed anime and manga – we have a long list of great Yuri-flavored series on the Yuricon Store. Or any ALC books or “I Love Yuri” items (money from which goes directly to making more Yuri manga and running events.) Don’t buy Yuri paddles.

***

And, for reasons I can’t go into (but which are perfectly legitimate, trust me!) I ended up in the 4chan panel last night. This is particularly amusing considering last weekend’s “Why does /u/ hate Erica Friedman?” thread. (I was going to post to that and insult me better than they were, but I just didn’t care that much. “I hate Erica Friedman because she killed my sled dog!”)

Anyway, I just want to say, I have never been closer to being bored to death in my life. If someone had killed me, I would have considered it a respite from the tedium. The panel was an awesome display of just how much apes can mimic human behavior.

***

I’ll try and type up the rest of my weekend when I get home tomorrow. Lots of good, lots of bad and lots of people with questionable fashion sense. ;-)

11 Responses

  1. Vince says:

    Congrats on your paddle stance. I’ve never seen the appeal of the stupid things either. Thankfully my daughter knows my stance on the idiotic things and hasn’t bought one…. yet

  2. Hinano says:

    This is why 4chan is to be avoided at all costs. Cause you’re right: It’s like trying to chat with a bunch of primates.

  3. Gosh, if you’re all going to agree with me, it’s just no fun anymore. LOL

    I honestly do see the appeal – like pins and posters, one doesn’t have to be 18+ to buy a paddle, like one has to be to buy, say, my books.

    Nonetheless, they are incredibly stoopid.

  4. Reka says:

    There is no appeal of paddles, really. Pins and buttons you can wear, while with paddles you can… I don’t know, paddle a boat and fend off attackers. You can’t hit people with them, since they’re hard. Fortunately, I didn’t see too many at Otakon this year.

    I don’t think I’ve ever been asked for my ID when I’ve bought your books. I am 18+, fortunately, and you remembered my face (! This may be why?), and most of them aren’t 18+, but still. ^^;

  5. Vince says:

    Fine, if you want me to disagree… I save it for the next time we meet (probably MangaNEXT) :-)

  6. Yaoiko says:

    Hi! I was the redhead you met on Saturday who bought one of your books! (The New Jersey girl, a-ahaha.)

    Just wanted to agree with you on those FUCKING PADDLES. I’ve always hated those things, mostly because the majority of the people who buy them seem to be perverted boys who just want to show off their kink of choice. Same with the girls who buy the yaoi paddles.

  7. Kellie says:

    I have always had the same opinion of yaoi paddles; they are stupid, they are overpriced, and they give the impression to outside observers that yaoi is all about BDSM. Fangirls love them because they are a large and visible way to proclaim their love of yaoi, and perhaps meet others who are also into it. But why does it have to be paddles? I long for the day that some enterprising person comes up with something to replace the damnable things. Flags or signs or hats or something, anything, but paddles.

  8. Anonymous says:

    I’d not say having a paddle is sexually immature. It’s just kinky, not everyone’s taste, but whatever.

    However, paddles are cheap. Instead, you can buy a proper paddle, AND good Yuri manga. And you won’t look like a random idiot who is out to randomly hit strangers in the process. You save about 30$ that way as well as your dignity.

    And also, well…how can people not agree on your opinion of 4chan?

  9. Pat says:

    Why on earth was there a 4chan PANEL? How was it decided that it would hold any source of entertainment? 4chan is for posting pictures and files. It is not the place one goes to actually discuss anything. I’m sure you were bored to tears. It probably made the Shoujoai.com panel at ACen seem downright mind-blowing.

    As for the paddles, I don’t think too many of your readers are going to disagree with your opinion. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone sporting one of those things that was over 20 years of age, and didn’t look like a freak. It really has nothing to do with BDSM. It’s just an excuse to wave a freaking paddle around.

  10. Shinkouhyou says:

    But-but-but.. I bought 4 books from ALC Publishing! And I registered for the Yurisai~! (and I was there, too, wearing a goth lolita outfit and a tentacle arm ^_^)

    I carry the Yuri Paddle around at cons (and made the mistake of asking you something about it at NYAF, sorry again, by the way. I was excited because I’d gotten a panel of voice actors to sign it.) AND I use it to “initiate” my lesbian-leaning friends, which is lots of fun at parties! It’s a popular item amongst my sexually-immature friends and I.. even if I don’t get it out of my room, sooner or later, if I have company over, someone raids for it and we fight over who is worthy of the paddle!

    The Yuri Paddle may be a stupid, silly item–but it’s a lot of fun and I’m glad I spent $35 on it!

    I’m also glad I spent money on the Yuri manga from your table at NYAF and while I was at the Yurisai, buying manga and DVDs, and I’m basically glad whenever I do anything Yuri-related ^_^

    ..this comment is being made a whole lot after the post and you might not even see it, so ah.. yeah >_
    But I won’t ask you about the loathsome object anymore ^_^

  11. Anonymous says:

    Do you not realize it all for fun?Are anime hats stoopid?(Stupid) O__o.God get over yourself.

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