It’s no secret that I have long thought the modern feminist movement had gone off the rails. Recently, I ran into the knowledge of the existence of a group called Anime Feminist. Because if there is a form of media that has never needed a ‘feminist’s touch’, it’s anime. Understandably, this might seem an odd thing to say about an industry known for its gratuitous fan service, boob bounces, and panties shots, so hear me out.
To define the integrity of characters by the length of their clothes is absolutely childish.
Most anime understands the world, and the culture and community at large is capable of a level of self reflection. They can look at a culture of weirdos, perverts, loners and neets, and overall accepts them into their society with little effort and a dash of self-deprecating humour. The ‘hentai’ character or ‘otaku’ archetypes are a start. Sure, there are the occasional mad individuals, but they are not a norm. Overall, the anime culture has a form of diversity along lifestyle not normal in most media.
But the most important reason why anime does not need the feminist touch or vision is simple. Anime culture knows how to treat females (and males) as humans, arguably more so than any other media culture. And the culture itself understands that fan service is just as it is. Marketing. Think about some of the more recent anime that have cropped up and been labelled as ‘sexist’. Think about the female characters in those shows and remember what was their most memorable scenes.
Lie down. Try not to cry. Cry a lot. CHIHIRO! WAAAHHH!!!
What defined them was not the scene where they showed a little too much skin in, or the way they were dressed. They were moments of great humanity. Acts of character that made them empathetic or heroic. It is a far cry from the westernised media’s norm. We need to understand that there is a difference between a sexualized show and a sexist show.
Going on and on about women being sexualised in media is absolutely asinine. Anime alone has more than their own share of sexualized males, from shows like Kyou Kara Maou to The Prince of Tennis. Sex sells. To think otherwise is completely immature. A grown person can look at a depiction of a human body of their sexual preference and be attracted by it. That’s how people work. And anyone unable to distinguish between the body and the mind is the true sexist. To define the integrity of characters, and by extension, people, by the length of their clothes is absolutely childish.
For example, I do not hate Edward in Twilight (vomits*) for being topless all the time with an unrealistic expression of the male body. I hate that piece of crawling dung pile because he is a terrible excuse for a living creature. Likewise, while, as a male, I am attracted to the physical appearance of the character of Yuki Nagato from The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-Chan (I like short girls with glasses. Sue me), what sold to me was that she is an absolutely amazing character.
D’aww
We often forget why the feminist movement began. It’s to earn equal rights between men and women. That includes being paid equal wage for equal work; not being denied healthcare based on sex; to not be marginalised in media; and a whole host of equality issues. But to fight for those rights means fighting for the same negatives males receives in return. Equality is not equal if only one side gets the better treatment.
If these misguided feminists wishes to fight for less sexualised female anime characters, they too must do the same for the males. This means Ayashi no Ceres, Saiyuki, and Free! (especially Free!), all needs to be taken off the air, because seriously, no man can be that handsome and perfect, and their toned body is starting to make me feel bad.
No. I’m serious. It’s making me want to start cutting myself.
We must always remember one thing. Sex sells. That’s it. Free! gets gratuitous male fanservice for the same reason Oreimo does. A certain section of the population went to see Transformers for the same reason another went to watch Twilight (Blergh*). Some people who might eventually like the stories might have their initial attraction to the show because of the fanservice. I won’t lie, I’m one of those people, and it does not make me feel like less of a person. I’m just a healthy male, after all. I’m sure the same can be said for Free!.
Including fanservice in good stories is simply a good marketing solution, as it covers more ground for viewership without really losing much in the value of the story, and can help attract certain bases of demographics. An individual then is required to differentiate the point of a good story from the fanservice, a process that has been dubbed “being an adult”. People who are not able to get past the fact that fanservice exists and judges an entire character or story based off that concept is childish, and are unable to see past the physical attractiveness of a person of either the same or opposite sex in order to enjoy a show.
A grown person can look at a depiction of a human body of their sexual preference and be attracted by it. That’s how people work.
What feminists needs to understand is that what they should be fighting for is not for the art or even the system to change. Yes, changing those things will be a jarring lesson, but the true fight for equality lies in changing the mindset. As much as I hate the word, I can identify myself as a feminist. And if we want to effect true change, we must first ourselves be able to differentiate the value of the body from the value of the mind.
As an overweight, ugly man, I can identify with the fact that my body is not physically attractive, and can healthily accept that. But at no point do I wish for my body’s look to define my mental capabilities. As such, I do not mind if a male character is portrayed as handsome, fit, fat, ugly, weird, normal, short or tall. Because as a person, I am ultimately attracted to a personality and understand each individual is different, and can overlook the physical attractiveness of a person as simply being a bonus service for fans.
Add-on: I should point out that these views are a part of a larger world view of mine. When The Debt Collective, an activist group associated with Occupy Wall Street accused John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight of copying their debt erasing tactic without attributing them, it is in blindness to the larger issue that presenting The Debt Collective as an equal partner would undermine the validity of the piece and bring less attention and unneeded, unprofessional scrutiny to a very important, and in turn, life-saving issue. OCW’s overall failure in properly conveying a message of import that would have irreversibly changed the discourse of a country showed a unorganised, screaming mess. Activist groups and individuals (such as myself), have the tendency to be too opinionated to verify any facts or host non-partisan discussions, thus my disagreement with the larger body of the feminist movement lies in their inability to value logic, reasoning, and reality, over the hurt feelings and black/white morality that is not in tune with the grey nature of the world.
Header Image by Deyalith R (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
December 19, 2016 at 03:18
“What feminists needs to understand is that what they should be fighting for”
What people like you need to understand is that it’s not your place to give advice to someone else’s struggle. You will never truly understand that struggle, you will never feel what it’s like. It’s like a western white person giving advice to a black man on how to overcome racism: It’s idiotic. The whole notion that you *think* your opinion on how feminists should act, or what is offensive and what isn’t, when *you* are not the one who is troubled by it is part of the problem.
I am by no means hardcore feminist, but you have not the slightest of clues of what it’s like to be a woman in modern society. The comparison you add at the end to your own self image is a complete misunderstanding of the issues at hand and, as someone for who it’s a rare day when one doesn’t get harassed on the streets, simply offensive to even read….
While it’s clear to me that your ‘worldview’ won’t change (You seem to be proud of it, not too uncommon for people with such thoughts, but sad nonetheless), I do hope you grow to be more understanding of others rather than seeing your own opinion as one with importance, as doing so is missing the point of representation.
December 19, 2016 at 04:55
Hi Laura. Thanks for your comment.
I understand where your anger is coming from, and I think it is a justified stance. I, as a man, can never truly comprehend what it is like for a woman to live in modern society in the same capacity as how a woman can never reciprocate.
Do not worry. I do not have a ‘but’ or ‘however’ to counter, as an argument is not something I am looking for. This piece was written from a personal perspective, and I am not surprised to find my bias showing. I do not have any abject objection to feminism as a whole – aside from thinking that the name should be changed – and am merely stating my dissatisfaction with the particular group in question above.
It’s a personal philosophy that I tried to share that the fight for equality should be focused on the mind (culture, view of thinking, etc.) over the value of the body, as physical attraction, being instinctual, is harder to shift than a cultural view. Hence, the seemingly immortal phrase, “Sex sells.”
While I know it is far from the same topic, I hope to share with you a short story with regards to race. I am a Chinese. During weekly D&D nights with my friends of varying ethnic backgrounds, I often head over to their place, where they have multiple chairs. We’ve mentally and vocally labelled some of these chairs as ‘Malay chairs’ or ‘Chinese chairs’. Malay chairs have adjustable backrest, from a cultural stereotype that Malays are lazy. Chinese chairs are straight, given the perspective that our race are stiff.
We do so without ill intend, simply accepting our human nature to see and assign patterns, even where none exists. Never once though, do we expect another person, regardless of race, to conform to them. Honestly, that would be terrible. Because those Chinese chairs are downright uncomfortable and I hate them. It is racism without hatred, discrimination, or bigotry. We simply accept that there is a cultural perspective of certain people, though not judge their individual value or personality by those stereotypes. We make racism a joke, basically saying, “Look, this way of thinking is so ridiculous, it should not even be affecting our fellow humans.”
I am hoping, that in the long run, the battle for gender equality will reach that path as well. We accept that male chairs and female chairs have different shapes. Male chairs are wider and more bulky, while female chairs are sleeker and compact, and transgender chairs are a mixture of the above. Then we sit wherever we feel most comfortable with, because all the chairs have similar value. They are chairs.
As a writer, one of my toughest challenge in fiction writing is to portray true equality. For I believe that men and women should be able to act and look how they want base on their person, and not simply as an abject figure. Women can be attractive or not, smart or dumb, tall or short, rough or smooth, male or female, in any combination. One trait should not affect another. The same rule goes for men. I simply refuse to allow the physical appearance of a person to define their value.
In the end though, the bottom reason I am making such a lavished attempt to reply is to clear a very grave misunderstanding (which quite honestly, really hurts). I can change. I love changing. And I know I am bragging here, so my apologies. My mind is open to try and understand as many differing world views as I can before casting personal beliefs and ideologies, and the things I write are all done so with careful consideration of all information available at the time of writing. They can and will change with time, and I do not conform to any social correctness when I write them.
I hope this reply sets you at ease, or at least, helps open up a better understanding and path to future discussions. If not, I can appreciate your dedication.
As a shameless plug, if you wish to get a better sense of my views on gender equality, maybe you would be interested in reading my novella, Tearha: Keep Walking. I’ll link it at the end.
Have a good day,
-Aden Ng
https://www.adenng.com///books/the-chronicles-of-tearha/eltar-series/the-chronicles-of-tearha-keep-walking/
June 12, 2019 at 17:59
Well then how dare you speak of his own struggles with his self image. You, as a woman will never understand what it’s like to be told “‘id never date anyone under 6 foot tall. I want a real man!” but of course some one like you would never be able to think outside yourself, always compartmentalize all suffering and make it a completely unwinnable war because “no one could ever understand what “I” go through.” And you subconsciously like it that way. It gives you ALL the power. You are small minded if you think no one outside the “A” sex/race/whatever could understand the suffering of “B” sex/race/whatever. You know what the modern feminist movement lacks? HUMILITY. You have become what you claim to hate. A group who judges the value of every person based on immutable characteristics. You state it is “clear to you he will never change his opinion” while rejecting every supposition he offered as totally wrong. You claim he needs understanding while you show even less. You claim his opinion is “self important” while vaulting your own opinion as superior. Displaying an amount of projection and arrogance that would never allow anyone to ever grow outside of their own experience, hence why you see the world as little tribes incapable of bridging the gap of understanding and acceptance. If he doesn’t have the “slightest clue of what it means to be a woman in modern society” than how can you have slightest clue of what it is to be a man in modern society. You completely missed the point of what he was saying. You couldn’t see the issue from BOTH perspectives. Feminism has a lot to say about “how men should be” but in the same breath state we can only understand worldviews from our own sex’s perspective. You have a serious case of cognitive dissonance if you subscribe to that.
September 19, 2020 at 10:19
Dude, I think you need to leave this argument with Laura and Aden.
Ur argument is more like about yourself unable to get a date cause you’re not attractive,
while Laura is more about the dangers to the real world as a woman, especially rape case n sexual assault is getting higher.
Everyone is starting to accept the fact that women are physically weak than men. Cuties is becoming controversial.
If anyone read your comment, they’ll accuse you of being incel.
September 19, 2020 at 10:32
Well, yeah, rape victims are also men.
But your argument in the first place was about unable to find love, I’m sorry if you found yourself a wrong girl.
Laura talked about creeps harassing women (young and old). Even Aden agrees that those stuff should be addressed and understood her struggles.
Laura just need to keep in mind that not all creeps are outakos which what was Aden trying to convince her. They weren’t fighting further so why bother?
Laura’s mistake was that she’s slipping her anger but her point was pretty accurate, especially younger girls are getting cat-called by pedophiles.
September 23, 2024 at 05:44
btw, your last paragraph about ” what feminist should understand ” sound just like some kind of ” here, take my science” and essentialistic basic hypothesis and norm than doesn’t seem to considerate the concept of social dynamics, sociology nor social psychology. Groups dynamics are a thing, and confrontation between groups based on their power in their society so, also, based on science… quite simple
rather than justifying the state of things by internal notions that ignore all social dynamics, and justifying the state of the system by its own existence, what if we asked ourselves why we do things the way we do and not the other way around, and how the system itself influences us to be the way we are and undergo what we undergo? why this posture of wanting to explain to others what they haven’t understood rather than trying to share and question things?