Like did my original comment give you the impression that I didn’t know people rule 34 every goddamn thing possible?

In the context of the reply you were replying to, basically yes.

I read what you said as hyperbolic, but generally dismissive of the idea that characters in media have sex appeal and/or vicarious romance appeal, often generally, and often to such an extent that it drives people to make and share their own erotic spin offs.

I think it is silly to not realize how much a popularity of a show these days can be reinforced and strengthened by appealing to the fanfic crowd, to not realize that many network execs have realized that they have a better shot at cultivating a… well, cult like fanbase, if they make their show in a way that appeals to that kind of crowd.

Maybe I’m really old but you suggesting that anime is the reason we stuff sex into shit is just so funny to me. I once heard someone say “every generation is the first generation to think they invented sex.”

I didn’t suggest anime was the reason we stuff sex shit into more western media for more broad audiences.

I said that doing that, stuffing overtly sexual and will-they-won’t-they, romantic tension type material into media, is called ‘fan-service’ within the realm of anime, and an analagous or similar thing is happening outside of anime.

The comment I replied to was like why romance if porn exist which was also funny

I think the unstated thing that I could have said, but did not, because I assumed it was common knowledge, would basically be:

For quite a long time, men have been the main consumers of video and still image pornography.

And women have been the primary consumers of erotic novels, in the US at least.

The American media approach to attempting to make the viewer feel aroused thus differs based on the sex they are appealing to:

Straight men, as a market demo, generally go for visual sex appeal and sex acts, overt or covert lewd gestures, tight fitting or revealing clothes etc.

Straight women, as a market demo, generally go for on screen romance, for the build up to and moments of dramatic sexual tension, will they won’t they scenarios, the context around a relationship that builds up to the actual sex, etc.

In general, for men, sex appeal is direct, physical, literal, and for women, it is more cerebral, more about mental framing and constructing scenarios that feature, or could potentially feature wish fulfilment, being desired by a person with preferred character traits, etc.

These are of course not absolute truths with no exceptions, there are many exceptions, and yes I am aware that creating the media environment in this way reinforces the norms themselves.

Nonetheless, this is still quite true in general, in aggregate, when you run the numbers.

So… thats why it makes sense to conflate sex and romance from the perspective of a media exec designing a show.

Sex sells, you just package it differently if you’re appealing to men or women.

To most media execs:

Men want the sex.

Women want the story about why the sex is happening.