The dial-up connection sound fell silent, and the screen began to show images without waiting. When the age of enduring slow loading ended, the very circulation of sexual expression changed in quality. The 2000s were the first decade in which sex began to flow freely over the line.

The sexual culture of the 2000s names the era in which the structure of circulation of sexual expression turned drastically, as the spread of broadband, the dawn of download sales, the rise of mobile erotic sites, the peak of eroge and the strengthening of expression regulation all proceeded at once. The weight of distribution shifted from the shop and the post, central to the previous age, toward delivery over the line. (A companion article, the history of adult culture in the 2000s, treats the same decade with a stronger focus on the AV industry and the broader sex industry; this article centres on media flow and regulation.)

Broadband and the opening of distribution

In the first half of the 2000s, the rapid spread of ADSL and optical fibre changed the home communication environment from the slow dial-up connection to a constant, high-capacity one. This made the delivery of images, video and large data realistic, and freed the circulation of sexual expression from its dependence on the physical base of the shop. The character of delivery, anonymous, obtainable without going out, and immediate, greatly lowered the barrier to purchase. For adult goods, which easily carry shame and the eyes of others, the meaning of this change was large.

The dawn of download dōjin

The symbol of the era is the establishment of the download-sales platform. Distribution sites for dōjin works, DLsite foremost, were built up, so that individuals and small circles could deliver their work nationwide without holding stock. The culture of download dōjin, in which works circulated beyond the time and space limit of the marketplace event, laid its base in this decade. Commercial majors also entered the delivery market, and data sales grew into a strong pillar of adult distribution. Distribution without a physical medium opened a path to profit even for works of niche taste, accelerating the subdivision of genres.

Mobile erotic sites and dating sites

Alongside the PC, the mobile phone too became an important window for sexual expression. Against the spread of mobile internet led by i-mode, mobile erotic sites from standby images and ringtones to adult image delivery proliferated, and the habit of accessing sexual expression in one’s pocket spread. At the same time the dating site became a social phenomenon, opening a new route of contact with strangers. The rise of crime and trouble that followed became a social problem, and in 2003 the Dating Site Regulation Law was enforced, a legal response chasing the new media. Encounters within online games (netoge) also spread quietly in this period.

The peak of eroge

The 2000s were also the time when the bishōjo game reached its peak in both expression and market. Works that stressed narrative won high evaluation, and some were adapted into anime, strengthening their influence on subculture as a whole. The expressive forms and narrative types originating in eroge spread to neighbouring media.

The strengthening of regulation

In step with the opening of distribution, the move to regulate expression also strengthened. In 2002, over the expression of an adult manga, the people of Shōbunkan were arrested on suspicion of distributing obscene matter; the Shōbunkan trial argued in court whether manga expression could be the object of the obscenity offence. Found guilty at both first instance and appeal, the case became a symbolic event in the debate over manga regulation. At the decade’s end, in 2010, the revision bill of the Tokyo metropolitan youth-protection ordinance was debated, and the clause regulating the sexual depiction of non-existent manga and anime characters raised a great controversy over freedom of expression (the revision passed at the year’s end). The two forces, the advance of delivery technology loosening the circulation of expression and the strengthening of social and legal control over its content, stood in tension; that is the feature of the era.

See also

• History of adult culture in the 2000s
• Download dōjin
• Eroge
• DLsite
• Dating site
• Netoge