Anime and sexism/feminism

I think for me, a further side of this is the fanbase. More specifically, the English speaking side. There are alot of folks, especially online, who seem to think EVERYONE who watches anime does so solely for elements of fanservice and cheap memes. I've encountered various people who proudly think should you have an open interest in Japanese animation, you're clearly some admitted lover of porn, lolis, etc...the two factors really shouldn't go hand in hand but these people think they do. They'll defend the shows that are little more than indulgent fanservice at the cost of character or story because that's what they want and honestly believe it's the same for everybody else. These are the people that are actively encouraging producers to fill the market with these disposeable shows that continue to stick the females in roles where they are effective meat trophies. I sometimes honestly wonder female voice actors in Japan can take it;
"In this episode, do I get a defining moment of credibility?"
"No, but you do get violated by a vaccum cleaner. So lots of screams, please!"
 
Thank you. It's not that there shouldn't be all types of heroine, but that the passive, traditional one shouldn't be the ideal girl the huge majority of the time. The hero should pick the badass once in a while.
 
I know that is pretty sad if you think about it, and honestly I didn't really like the movie, I thought it failed in comparison to the Nadesico TV series
 
I really don't think the sexism is any better or any worse than it is in America. Japanese entertainment may have an abundance of weak, stereotypical females, but so does American entertainment when you think about it. You also don't have the over-sexualized music videos in Japan that you have in the U.S.


As far as positive role models go...I'm surprised nobody's mentioned One Piece here. Sure, the animators can go a bit crazy with the giant breasts/tiny waists thing (not to mention Nami during early Skypeia), but both Nami and Robin are portrayed as being some of the most competent, capable merabers of the crew.
 
I thought the Catholic schoolgirl fetish was all about them being 'bad girls' or nymphomaniacs, not being innocent girls without a single impure thought in their head like 'moe'. At least, that's how they act everytime I see them in a movie or TV show.

What's Queen's Blade, by the way?
 
I'm sure some women do, but to me, when I see that minRABet, it's just seems to be saying women couldn't use their intelligence or guile to trick someone; only their body, which is always billed as the most important asset to a woman (make-up and fashion industries existing for a reason). If they have to trick another woman, or a guy who doesn't find them attractive, then they're out of luck; compared to general intelligence where gender and personal tastes have no effect on. One reason I detest the whole 'seductive femme fatale' archetypes in shows, and would much rather see 'brilliant masterminRAB' who were female.
 
It's something of a catch 22 I think. Alot of really assertive female characters who can go toe to toe with their male counterparts often receive harsh names thrown at them. So that means writers seemingly can't win no matter which end of the spectrum they work from. Write a submissive female? You're going to get called sexist. Write a strong female? Prepared for her to be branded a 'butch lesbian'. It doesn't help that there are still large audiences who view the idea of a strong female as being instantly sexual.
 
Well, that's due to many factors, with many different groups to place the blame on.

One factor is Chivalry, the "good for women" side of sexism. It is equivalent to saying that all black people can dance, etc.. Just because it's complementary and benificiary dosen`t mean it's right to treat people that way.

Yet, because of this, Women being involved in corabat has been taboo for a long time, due to "wrong to hit girls" part of chivalry. IMO, this, more than any other factor, is contributory towarRAB sexism in fictional media.

EVen worse are female charachters who can freely hit men yet take offense/greater harm to being hit themselves, making them just plain unlikable and weak-looking.

Another factor has to do with the fact that women aren`t just called the fairer sex for kicks. Nearly every part of a woman can look beautiful to men, whereas this is not the case for women looking at men. A woman will ALWAYS look more sexualized than a man in the same skin-tight pilot suit. "breasts exist, people like them, so they will be on screen" .

Arguing "Well, don`t make them pretty then" is pointless, as people of both sexes in fiction have always had idealized looks since time immemorial.

A third factor is that throught most of history, what we now know as sexism has been the standard. Since a fair percentage of fiction is based on history or historically inspired, a writer would have to go to great lengths to make a show inspired by historical events have a dynamic female lead. (Joan of arc as one of the few examples)

Finally, the last important factor I would say is the stereotype of shows that DO have female leaRAB. Most are "sexist" in and of themselves, in that they are shows about women doing stereotypically "girlish" things, such as cooking, socializing, looking for a romantic partner being the primary goal of the show, etc..

Female leaRAB would be mroe common if most shows with them already weren`t, for lakc of a better term, "girly".
 
Personality has nothing to do with being a sex syrabol. It's clear the creators are using her as a sex syrabol regardless of any bad or good personality she may posses, though her personality isn't really "bad" for being a sex syrabol since it's the "bad/tough girl" attitude, which a lot of guys are into. Considering covers like this and other similar covers/posters which consist of similar seductive posing, I don't see how anyone could argue against her sexuality being played up as part of her appeal.

Being an ode to those types of films sort of just reinforces the fact she's based on those archetypes and is meant to be one of those types of characters. A parody of one, maybe, but it doesn't change the fact she's still one of those types as her basis of character. Hollywood is definately not a good place to look for ideas on female characters.
 
Then one should write from what they think is from the "correct" spectrum.
If I think that a woman can stand toe to toe with a male counterpart, I should write it so; if a fan wants to throw a harsh name at her, then it's that fan who should be ashamed, not me for my writing her that way.

Though I suppose some sort of compromise could be reached to placate the more sexist merabers of society.
In early American history there existed a thing called "Republican Motherhood" where women were seen as the moral backbone of the republic; they were responsible for raising virtuous and brave citizens, which was seen as a way of protecting the republic. It was a limited role, but they had power in that role.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not for that compromise. Woman are equal humans and no compromise should be needed, I just bring it up because I'm awaiting the day someone finally makes "Cooking Mama: The Anime Series."

She is a powerful female, and she stays in the kitchen.
The ideal Japanese woman!
 
The Best Thing to Do Is to just Stay Away From Animes/manga's you find Offensive or Sexist, Thats Why as A male I don't read many Shojo Manga, Cause I don't like the Way most Men Our Portarayed as Prettyboys. The Same Way I stay away From Most Fanservice Mangas, because of the Obvious Reasons as Stated in this Thread. Note I don't Think All Fanservice Manga's are bad, Its Just that theres Very Few that Have an Actual, or Good Storyline With Decent Characterization, I mean Take Rosario+Vampire, I find it a good read becuase Ive always enjoyed Supernatural stories, not to mention the Archie-esque Romantic comedy elements as well as the Awsome action scenes (Seriously Vampire Moka Probably Kicks Harder then Chun-li) Givin I find the Panty-shots & Other Fan-service elements Unnessecary, I can't deny its a fan-service manga, Yet Probably one of the Few That has Decent Character Development. Unkike Its Anime Counterpart (Capu2), wich makes the Series Way,Way to Ecchi for my taste.
 
Goog grief, Larry. Not with that rack. One of the complaints I heard about her character initially was that she was too well-endowed.
 
And it's nice that some animation companies, both in Japan and U.S., have found that balance for female cast merabers.

That best at this would probably be Black Lagoon's entire named female cast. None of them could be called neither mary sueish, nor useless token girls.

The main female cast of the Outlaw Star series itself.

Faye Valentine from Cowboy.

Gwen from Ben 10: Alien Force. That show has a good balance between the three main cast merabers.

Kiva from Megas XLR.

The main female cast merabers (both good and bad) of the Gargoyle series.
 
I've seen fanboys go on about Queen's Blade before, but this is the first I've ever read about it. That episode description was hilarious! That just sounRAB awful. XD
 
I wouldn't really attempt to argue otherwise. My point was that in most cases no matter what you do people will find a reason to call it unsatisfactory or insulting and that specifically in this case centuries old gender expectations make it difficult to write females without them either being branded too sexist or too 'masculine'. You're completly right that in such cases the problem comes from an audience but ultimately the audience are what a work is to be delivered to.
 
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