YAOI NEWS: Christopher Handley Finally Sentenced

Never thought I was going to see the day and it happened rather quietly I think. Christopher Handley was the man in Iowa charged with having obscene materials, which were actually manga. He was sentenced to six months in prison, followed by three years of supervised released and five years of probation to run concurrently. Here's the part that just chaps my ass (ranting to commence in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…):

During Handley's supervised release and probation, Handley must also "participate in a treatment program, to include psychological testing and a polygraph examination, as directed by the U. S. Probation Officer." According to earlier court documents, this last provision is "intended to provide [Handley] with diagnosis and treatment for sexually and/or gender identity or other mental health issues."

Excuse me? You're going to treat "sexual and/or gender identity" with psychological testing and a fucking polygraph examination? Really? Oh yeah, this is the U.S…. what was I thinking. We're not that progressive although we like to think we are.

The seven books/mags/comics were finally listed and it was confirmed there was not any yaoi in that specific batch but that doesn't mean boy characters don't get the same treatment. Don't fool yourselves. Another interesting note in ANN's article was where he bought his stuff from. Some of it was from JList, the same place I buy my BeBoy Gold from and the same place I know a LOT of people buy yaoi and hentai from. (CORRECTION: He bought "similar" materials from JList, not the specified seven)

If you haven't read the article yet, I suggest you do. It provides a lot of information we were not given before including background information on the defendant himself.

Did you read it? What do you think? Big deal? No big deal? Worried? Could care less? Please share your thoughts in comments.

EDIT: Some new information regarding the trial was added in comments. Please read the comments for clarification on the gender identity issue.

EDIT #2: Made a correction as noted above.

EDIT #3: The comments section is having some issues with the layout in Firefox. There are comments that don't appear to show but it's due to the black background showing through with the black text. Just highlight the comment and you'll see it. I'm going to work on getting this fixed.

SOURCE

26 Comments

Cait February 11, 2010 at 8:21 PM

I feel ill. I just don’t have the energy to say anything else right now…

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Crystal February 11, 2010 at 8:22 PM

An interesting bit of info that we didn’t put in the ANN article that might clear some things up (although by far does it excuse it IMHO), is that Handley would fantasize that he was those little girls in the sexual situations (and the court documents have some really graphic information on what actually happened in those seven books), and while having those fantasies of being those girls he would masturbate. I have a feeling this is where the “treatment for sexual and gender identity issues” came in to play in his sentencing.

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Jennifer LeBlanc AKA Asami's Girl Reply:
February 11th, 2010 at 8:33 PM
I think that would make his behavior a lot more acceptable to many people. He wants to BE the girl instead of wanting to DO that to the girl. Either way, as you said, it does not excuse them treating him this way and making take those tests. Just because he’s not the norm doesn’t make him a freak. Plus humiliating him by making him take a polygraph? This pisses me off even more. Thanks for commenting and clearing that up a bit!

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Crystal Reply:
February 11th, 2010 at 8:45 PM
Sure, no problem. I’ll actually post the few sentences directly from the sentencing documents, which I was just too lazy to do earlier. This is regarding his refusal to answer some of the questions on the “psychosexual” evaluation:

“In other words, Mr. Handley purposefully underperformed on the assessment to prevent Dr. Smith [psychologist] from obtaining accurate data about his sexual deviancy, which is a critical factor in this sentencing.
Rather than confirming his statements to Inspector Raper [US Post Office Inspector] that he was fantasizing about 14-15 year old girls, Mr. Handley changed his story, and told Dr. Smith that he was primarily fantasizing about being the female having sex with a male. This underscores that fact that the root of Mr. Handley problems appears to be complex and confusing gender and sexuality issues.”

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Jennifer LeBlanc AKA Asami's Girl Reply:
February 11th, 2010 at 8:57 PM
That actually makes me think he lied to the doctor! “Oh no, I’m not a pervert after young girls. I want to BE them! Yeah, that’s it.” XD I wonder if he really is gender confused or if that’s something the lawyer planted in his head to make him look less like a pervert and more like a sexually confused individual. But that’s just my brain working in overdrive.

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darkheart510 Reply:
February 11th, 2010 at 9:05 PM
yes, because being gender-confused is so much better than being labeled a pervert.

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darkheart510 Reply:
February 11th, 2010 at 9:04 PM
Argh, but I still don’t like that they were searching for ‘deviancy’ in the first place. Not everyone who reads loli or shota has sexual or gender issues! Nor are they all deviants!

Thanks for clearing it up.^^

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AzureKitsune February 11, 2010 at 8:23 PM

I’m actually very worried.

Aside from the fact that this trial is (finally) over, the fact that he went under psychological evaluation is rubbing me the wrong way. That plus the fact he’s a “sexual deviant.”

I was rather shocked to see that some of the manga that got him into trouble came from JList. Makes me wonder what the head of JList thinks of all this.

I understand that anime and manga is still a niche genre, and that the genres of yaoi, yuri, loli and shota are small, but to label someone a “sexual deviant” just because of his interests? I know loli isn’t the most popular of genres, but still, it was Handley’s interest. No one got hurt here.

Even though I live in NY, this case is still a scary situation.

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darkheart510 Reply:
February 11th, 2010 at 8:44 PM
My thoughts exactly. Counseling, I understand. Strange kinks that the mainstream doesn’t understand makes them nervous, so they want to do things about it.

But imprisonment? Did he mentally or physically harm someone? No. So why does he have to go to jail? He even lost his job because of the case. He’s not going to be registered as a sexual offender (thank god for small favors), but he’s going to be labeled as a deviant. With all the negative beliefs about deviancy and psychological counseling, he’ll be going through hell for this.

I think this is so hard to take because this could have been ourselves or someone we know. Our hobbies, which we’re perfectly proud of, have been labeled as something bad.

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Jennifer LeBlanc AKA Asami's Girl Reply:
February 11th, 2010 at 8:47 PM
The sad thing is, if he lived in San Francisco, this probably wouldn’t have happened. Not only is he a pariah now but he can’t even move somewhere else to try and start over.

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darkheart510 Reply:
February 11th, 2010 at 9:10 PM
I don’t think so. Those loli-mags get pretty extreme. Most people(yes, even in Frisco) would still be shocked by it. I’m amused by your constant belief that SF is such a free and sexual city.

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Jennifer LeBlanc AKA Asami's Girl Reply:
February 12th, 2010 at 3:00 AM
It is compared to the rest of the nation. Don’t forget, you haven’t lived anywhere else. I have and no where is as free as San Fran.

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darkheart510 Reply:
February 12th, 2010 at 1:52 PM
>_< Still, child pornography is a no-no!

Ah well, when you're 11 years my senior, you're bound to get around more.

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Jennifer LeBlanc AKA Asami's Girl Reply:
February 12th, 2010 at 1:56 PM
Did you have a birthday or did you forget how old I was? Besides, is it really child pornography if it’s illustrated? I’d love to see you put shota and child pornography in the same sentence. I’ll wait for the shota police to come knocking. You know how they get.

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darkheart510 Reply:
February 12th, 2010 at 2:35 PM
On your formspring acct, you said you were 36. I’m 24. Ooops, 12 years my senior.

If you were talking to normal people, they wouldn’t make the differentiation between loli/shota and child pornography. They’d still be repulsed by the content. Many people who are into shota are embarrassed and act guilty when they admit to it even if it’s not the same as child pornography. But no, I don’t think having loli/shota manga has the same implications of owning child pornography. He shouldn’t have to go to prison and I’m damn freaking glad he doesn’t have to register as a sex offender.

Pft. I have a feeling you know the shota police better than I do, what after that Amazon.com flame war last year.

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Random person Reply:
February 14th, 2010 at 11:47 AM
The problem with your line of thought is that lolicon are just drawings therefore are not child porn.

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Jennifer LeBlanc AKA Asami's Girl Reply:
February 14th, 2010 at 12:17 PM
I’m going to allow your comment here this time but I have a thing against anonymous commenting. We’re all adults here and can have adult discussions so if you feel strongly about your opinion, you should stand behind it with your name. I don’t allow flaming or other immature behavior on my site.

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sunflower February 11, 2010 at 8:46 PM

The manga that originally got him in trouble didn’t come from j-list, but from someplace called Cosplay Cafe. Though he had ordered similar books in the past from j-list. But that’s why I don’t buy from overseas anymore. I know everyone wants to support mangaka, but those anthologies contain minors, and if one is opened by a nitwit customs agent, you’re screwed.

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Jennifer LeBlanc AKA Asami's Girl Reply:
February 11th, 2010 at 8:51 PM
I corrected my post but he did buy “similar” materials from JList. Thanks for clarifying that.

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Tara February 12, 2010 at 4:15 AM

*shakes head* This is appalling.

That’s all I can really say. Ugh.

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Handley sentenced to six months; Hibbs looks at bookstore sales « MangaBlog February 12, 2010 at 2:23 PM

[...] somewhat. Simon Jones puts the whole thing into context, and at The Yaoi Review, Jennifer LeBlanc has some thoughts as well and read the comments for more (some of the comments show up black-on-black, but if you select them [...]
MightyMaeve February 13, 2010 at 3:48 PM

Hmmm. Here’s the actual law. I think it’s a terrible, big-brother-ish law! The human psyche is much more vast than the current morality restrains us with!
Time to burn/censor some books and punish those who dare to read…*rolls eyes* That’ll solve the problem. Yup.

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LibrasArt February 13, 2010 at 4:11 PM

What’s pissing me off is the idea that “treatment for sexually and/or gender identity or other mental health issues” is even be linked to this stupid case in any way. So what’s next? My being gender fluid is a mental health “issue”? That’s such b.s. and any therapist worth their license knows that.

As for how the law is being played out here, that’s just a whole other line of b.s. Up until now it was being treated as, basically, the images needed to look “real”. Which is where digital art was being affected. So where are they going to draw the line now? What about all the manga characters that are clearly stated to be over 18, but look younger? I can think of SO MANY titles where that comes into play.

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How To Keep Manga Fans Out Of Jail : Yaoi 911 February 14, 2010 at 12:54 PM

[...] precedent. (For more on the psychological treatment issue, check out the comments section of this The Yaoi Review post where the author of the ANN article reveals more [...]
yuki March 27, 2010 at 2:44 AM

What this does bring up for me is how very not legal porn is in general, where I live in Virginia gay porn can land you in jail, with Psycho therapy for something that’s not even in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) anymore(Homosexuality).

And that brings up my point, lots of people are bothered by the fact that Christopher Hadley has part of his sentencing has to seek “treatment for sexually and/or gender identity or other mental health issues” the mental health world no longer treats people for sexual or gender identity issues, the only treatment that is offered is if one wants to under go sexual reassignment surgery, and then its more counseling for how to deal with how society preceves gender.
The further point is sexual deviancy is not considered a mental illness, so if this guy had to undergo mental evaluation, he may have not come up clean on other counts, and that’s where the “mental health issues” may come in to play, the judge cant legally say what they are, I mean what if this guy is is in to blood play, that’s self harm, and is considered a mental disorder. There is much about this case that the public does not know, so don’t be so out raged.

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Jennifer LeBlanc AKA Asami's Girl Reply:
March 27th, 2010 at 1:07 PM
Well, they did release a lot of details about the psychology aspect of it already so I’m not sure there is a lot we don’t know. It’s not like they can’t tell us when it’s a criminal case. We find out the details all the time. Plus, even if we didn’t know, that doesn’t mean we don’t have a right to be outraged about what we do know. The law isn’t based on “what ifs”, it’s based on facts. If he’s into blood play or other destructive behavior, it would have come out in the trial. He has no right to privacy when he’s on trial for a crime and convicted of it/plead guilty to it. Any information presented in the trial will be public record if the judge doesn’t seal the case temporarily. Anything said is recorded by the court reporter and we as the public have a right to see those records. I already know ANN saw the trial transcripts.

I don’t want you to think I’m beating you up for stating your opinion. I appreciate everyone who likes to be part of the discussion here and stating things we may not have thought of.

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