A leading university has launched an investigation after it learned that one of its PhD students has written a research paper on sexual attraction to young boys.
Karl Andersson spent three months recording his thoughts and feelings while masturbating to images of small children in Japanese comics.
In the paper’s summary, Andersson, who is interviewing fans of the Shota comics for his PhD, said he wanted to “understand how [they] experience sexual pleasure when reading shota”.
His 4,000-word study, detailing his sexual habits and sexual encounters between boys in comics, was published in the journal Qualitative Research in April. It sparked outrage from academics, an MP and others after it was shared on Twitter this week.
The University of Manchester and Qualitative Research have announced that 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 forms of pornography.
“I lived alone during this experiment and had just become single after a long relationship; these factors probably contributed to my willingness and desire to explore this method,” he wrote.
Dr Mara Keire, an Oxford University historian who writes on sexual violence, expressed shock at the research paper, tweeting: “How a description of the author masturbating with pictures of young boys?”
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Conservative MP Neil O’Brien asked: “Why should hard-working taxpayers in my constituency pay for an academic to write about his experiences masturbating to Japanese porn?”
A spokesman for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children said: “That this research was published in a peer-reviewed journal is deeply concerning, and it is 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 safeguards.
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 spokesman said: “The recent publication in Qualitative Research of the work of a student, now enrolled for a PhD, has raised significant concerns and complaints which we are taking very seriously. We are currently carrying out an detailed investigation of all aspects of their work, the processes surrounding it and other issues raised. It is very important that we look at the issues in depth.”
In a statement posted 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 9, we began researching the publication of the paper ‘I’m not alone, we’re all alone: Using masturbation as an ethnographic method in researching the Shota subculture in Japan,'” published earlier this year,” the statement said.
“We are continuing our investigations and will look closely at all guidance from the Publications Ethics Committee and ensure that all actions taken meet COPE standards.”
Andersson has been contacted for comment.