How did they lewdness of holding hands happen?? I would like a more in depth explanation

I'm guessing that because of the way old school yuri stories were. Just an all girls school with a lot of blushing & squealing, there's no erotic touching & rarely a kiss. Holding hands is the most intimate thing normally done--so for someone wanting to imagine a relationship being consummated, they take it as a metaphor for sex. Also public displays of affection (even something like hand holding) may be discouraged by Japanese culture. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holding_hands

^ Thanks for answering

Haruya is a talented young writer, but to date he can only boast of one outstanding work. Inspiration has faded and all he can do now is write small columns in magazines and play [gambling site] . Everything is measured and monotonous. A suburban cottage, meetings with the editor (a part-time lover). But the usual peace and solitude is gone with the arrival of a teenager named Maki.
Beginning with simple curiosity, Haruya catches himself thinking that he wants to see this strange young man with a troubled fate and a pile of psychological problems all over again. He begins to understand what it means to care for another human being. Everything turns upside down in a twist of fate. But will two people from different worlds have the strength to go all the way? Or is it better to turn back halfway?

The manga has related works. It's best read in this sequence:

1. Holding hands and looking at the sky

2. Tender Thorns

3. The one who will never fall in love

4. Vanilla star

Super roundabout way to post spam about gambling. I respect the creativity lol.

To answer the question, it's just because in the old days (pre-2010), yuri was seen as "pure", so any physical contact between girls is "lewd" and "forbidden". People in the English-speaking world took notice of this weird trope and decided to make fun of it.

last edited at Feb 2, 2021 10:07AM

I'm so glad there's a Wikipedia article devoted to the concept of holding hands. What a time to be alive

I'm so glad there's a Wikipedia article devoted to the concept of holding hands. What a time to be alive

The only thing missing is reference to the lewdness of hand holding in the Yuri context.

I think the hand holding memes are fun now because the days when it was the most sexual thing in Yuri are mostly gone. Class S definitely had some masterpieces but thank f*** Yuri has moved on at least in some regards. I got into Yuri through Maria-sama ga Miteru way back in the day, and nowadays it would hardly even count as Yuri.

Be it as it may, I still kinda think that hand-holding is one of the most erotic things around - I guess it's just one of these things which have been imprinted into every Yuri fan's mind.

last edited at Feb 2, 2021 10:42AM