Manchester boots out masturbation paper PhD student

A PhD researcher who caused outrage with a journal paper describing how he masturbated to sexualised images of young boys has been booted off his course.

The University of Manchester faced heavy scrutiny last year over its funding of Karl Andersson’s doctorate following the publication of his article in Qualitative Research, subtitled “Using masturbation as an ethnographic method in research on shota subculture in Japan”, focusing on a manga comic genre depicting sexual encounters involving young boys.

With MPs and academics lining up to criticise the paper’s publication, a police investigation was also launched to consider whether UK laws on the possession of indecent images of children – which can include cartoon images – had been breached.

Manchester suspended Mr Andersson, while his paper was retracted by Sage, which promised to vet submissions on controversial topics more carefully in future.

Manchester has now confirmed that “the student’s association with the university ended” earlier this year – a move that followed an unsuccessful appeal against the decision, Times Higher Education understands.

“Another human resources investigation is ongoing, so we cannot comment on that,” a university spokesman added. It was unclear whether the masturbation paper was completed in Germany, prior to Mr Andersson’s enrolment at Manchester.

In his paper, Mr Andersson thanked his supervisor, Sharon Kinsella, “for always encouraging me to go where my research takes me”, but Manchester vice-president Nalin Thakkar later told MPs that Dr Kinsella only became aware of the research once it had been approved for publication.

Writing on his personal blog, Mr Andersson explained how he had been “shamed in British tabloids” after his article “went viral” and that “my university decided to halt my research”.

“I therefore conduct my research independently now, without university affiliation or funding,” continued Mr Andersson, who said he had spent “half a year conducting fieldwork among shota fans in Japan”, which included “creating my own comic and selling it at one of the events that are central to the [shota] culture”.

Standing by the “masturbation article”, he added that “the paper was praised by everyone involved in the publishing process (course convenor, journal editor, peer reviewers, supervisor) for its innovative approach, and its academic merit has subsequently been asserted by scholars”.

Mr Andersson did not respond to THE’s request for comment. Greater Manchester Police said that it was still working with the university “to establish what, if any offences have been committed” and that no arrests had been made.

Alice Sullivan, professor of sociology at UCL, who was one of the first scholars to criticise the paper, said transparency was needed about why Mr Andersson’s PhD proposal had been approved.

“Manchester’s School of Arts, Languages and Cultures has questions to answer regarding the intellectual climate in which Karl Andersson’s research could have been deemed worthy of funding, notwithstanding the fact that the masturbation paper was not part of Andersson’s PhD,” said Professor Sullivan.

However, the controversial paper also “raised questions for the wider sector”, she added. “The editors and reviewers of the journal Qualitative Research apparently believed that an article about masturbating to images of children made a worthwhile contribution to knowledge,” she said.

“Quite apart from the ethical issues, academics and funders should be asking questions about the existence of queer theory as an academic niche where masturbation can be treated as a research activity. This suggests a radical lack of intellectual standards, which risks bringing higher education into disrepute.”

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com