Coffee Spoons

yoshihara yuki and the working woman

itsubun — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 20:30:47 +0000

Yoshihara Yuki’s works differ from mainstream shoujo manga and bears its own distinctive style even within the josei genre due to the mangaka’s drunkenly blunt sense of humor and her clever manipulation of the gender dynamics between her female heroines and their love interests. Her protagonists are outspoken, aggressive, and unabashedly sexual in the pursuit of their romantic interests. They do not bother to put up a front of being docile or coy in their intentions. Their antics are hilarious. They steal their lover’s underwear, they talk dirty without being sexy about it, they are loud about wanting sex and can’t be bothered to beat around the bushes, they stalk their love interests and terrorize them with their monstrous libidos, and still they’re so much fun to read about that I can’t get through a chapter of any of her works without nearly bursting my gut from laughing so hard.

“Yoru no Bannin” does a wonderful job of showcasing Yoshihara’s style and philosophy in a bite-size one-shot that the reader can easily digest. Gotou Maya is an office worker who is struggling to keep up with her professional responsibilities, but often finds that due to her own lack of experience and incompetency she has to stay over time in order not to fall behind on her work. Staying late at the office in the evening, she encounters a security guard, whom she creatively names, “Mr. Guard”. He chastises her for being an inconvenience because his own job requires that he close down the company office and turn off all the lights but he cannot do so with her there. Their bantering usually leads to very comical scenes of him kicking her out of the office and her seething on the streets. Their bitter relationship changes when after an especially hard day at the office Gotou once again finds herself having to work over time. Only on this special evening, Mr. Guard shows up with a bento box that he had especially prepared for her. Giving her the excuse that he doesn’t like to see her getting skinnier because of the stress from work, he feeds her his homemade meal and she cries from the relief. With this gesture of kindness, they are finally able to open up to one another and Mr. Guard reveals that his dream is to become a househusband who stays at home and makes delicious food for his wife. Gotou is so surprised by his confession that she laughs and nervously tells him that there is no way she could ever find the means to provide for a househusband. However, by the end of the story after having gone through an ordeal in which she realizes her feelings for Mr. Guard, Gotou has matured and become admirably efficient at her work. She maintains a career as a salary-woman, allowing her to marry Mr. Guard and provide for him so that he can stay at home and live the kind of life that he had always dreamed of.

Although stories which utilizes the office setting are somewhat innovative in that they depict Japanese women in the workforce who are actually capable of providing for themselves, the way these stories unfold take this seemingly modern ideal in a completely different direction. The office setting is a cliche used to tell a narrative of love as a social device for attaining position and stability. The women find love at work, usually in the form of their boss, who happens to be a multimillionaire or is at least rich enough to provide for them for the rest of their days. The office cliche reaffirms current gender roles by having the women marry above their stations and often concludes with them leaving their workstation in order to live out their marital bliss as housewives, bringing them right back to the home. The take-home message of this cliche is that women do not actually want to work, or that if they mistakenly thought they did, they would be much happier off finding a suitable partner who can provide for them so that they can retreat back into their domestic sphere, where they are apparently better off. Therefore, the office is just another potential place to find love, rather than an actual place of contestation where women can redefine their gender identities.

“Yoru no Bannin” is a brilliant exception in its reversal of gender expectations and deviation from the cliche. Rather than being another escapist narrative in which young girls are culturally indoctrinated to be docile and complacent in their desires and ambitions, Gotou’s feelings for Mr. Guard helps her to persevere and defy her restrictive gender identity in order to take on the masculine role of the provider and fulfill her own dreams. In this story, love is depicted as an emotional goal that comes with heavy social and financial responsibilities, as opposed to being a naive, unconditional ideal. Gotou’s decision to pursue her love requires her to grow as a person and become stronger and more capable in not just her job, but also in her fortitude as a gendered being who is defying social conventions. With the help of Mr. Guard, she successfully adapts to her job, catches a pervert at work who plants cameras in the women’s locker room, and provides for her family by working hard and diligently. In this story, the woman is not a victim of her own circumstances. She defies her gender role by refusing to be neither a sexual object nor an asexual housewife. She has both financial and social agency within her domestic and professional sphere. In accepting her feelings, she is no longer scared of taking on the intimidating responsibilities that come with the pursuit of her love. Because love is not supposed to be an oppressive force that traps women in their domestic roles. Mr. Guard’s love for Gotou is her emotional support and the spring from which she draws her strength in order to break through social boundaries and pursue higher hopes than she could dream of by herself. Gotou’s trials and tribulations and ultimately her triumph over various forms of institutionalized adversities as depicted in the story are a message of encouragement to young girls to reevaluate their dreams and accept the hard work and social responsibilities that comes with the pursuit of them.

Waffle Shovels: Naruto

itsubun — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 14:00:47 +0000

~ * ~

Riex
Aight. By the way, I don’t feel like making this super elegant or whatever.
Fuck that, it doesn’t work for us.

itsubun
Yeah, me neither. I’m just going to be straight forward and say what I want.

Riex
Sweet, this will be a first in the history of women!

itsubun
YOU’RE GOING DOWN!!!

Riex
Lezz rumble!
*takes boxer’s stance*

itsubun
Heh, why don’t you start? Throw the first punch~
I’m not coming up with anything.

Riex
Because Naruto is gay. And there’s too much lameness to pick just one thing
But here we go…
WTF
Seriously, wtf…
is up with his jumpsuit?
No fucking ninja wears a bright orange jumpsuit.

itsubun
It’s supposed to clue us in to his connection with the Kyuubi. And he likes to stand out because no one really bothers paying any attention to the poor kid. Go figure right?
TOO BAD HE’S NOT SUPER EMO LIKE SASUKE WITH HIS BLACK AND BLUES.

Riex
Well, I’d say that when you’re trying to be a NINJA and you’re blowing your cover with a bright orange jumpsuit, you deserve to be treated like a retard. Unless, unless he’s trying to blend in with an orange tree…or a brightly light section of the grand canyon. Or something…an RSS feed icon!

itsubun
Hey, Sakura wears pink and red, Ino wears purple, and the Akatsuki members aren’t exactly too inconspicuous with their tramp coats and rain-of-blood-clouds either.

Riex
You make a good point. They’re all retarded.
*sigh*

itsubun
I AGREE.
Besides, they use their jutsu techniques to camouflage, not their actual outfits.
Anything else you wanna throw at Naruto?!

Riex
Besides a rock? Or a pair of balls?

itsubun
Oh ho ho, he has more balls than anyone else in the series.

Riex
That’s not saying much (though he’s got more balls than Sai).

itsubun
Yeah, you got me there. Srsly, the main villains all look like trannies.

Riex
Except for that one medical dude, he looks pretty straight.

itsubun
Kabuto!? But in actuality, he’s Orochimaru’s bitch. And they’ve “FUSED”.

Riex
Ew, wtf? Leave the doujins out of this.

itsubun
TRUSTORY
I’m 4rizzle.
He’s hosting Orochimaru’s consciousness or some freaky deaky shit… or maybe Orochimaru has taken over his body, either way they are ONE.

Riex
Well, at least they don’t bitch and whine about unmanly things like “friendship” and cuddle-hugs like a certain individual. They keep that shit in the closet.

itsubun
That’s because Naruto is comfortable enough with himself to be able to do that. And the others appreciate his openness and affection because they’re all sexually repressed, emotionally stunted boppers. He helps them to reconcile whatever it is that’s lacking in themselves.

Riex
I’m gonna have to disagree and just say that, in the world of men, Naruto is just socially inept.

itsubun
Yeah, he is. But only in the sense that he doesn’t fit into their social order. He acts on his own instincts and emotions without seeing the need to sublimate himself. And while he is lacking in “proper” self-discipline by ninja standards, his lack of reservations actually becomes a strength rather than a weakness because he’s able to rally people around him and foster a sense of community. By the end of the Chunin exam, he gets really close to the other genins after facing off with them in the rounds.

Riex
So he’s the King Retard, capable of rallying all other emotionally/sexually repressed individuals around him in a ninja fighting orgy of love?

itsubun
XD YOU KNOW YOU WANT IN!

Riex
Oh, of course.
<.<

itsubun
What I like most about Naruto is his lack of reservations. He doesn’t hesitant to stand up for his own beliefs, even if he is a bit misguided at times. He has good intentions, but he doesn’t try to impose his standards onto others. He keeps his values close to him and fights for the things that mean the most to him.

Other people admire his spirit or “way of the ninja” [usually after he beats them into the ground with it] so they strive to adopt his idealism and attitude and incorporate them into their own perspectives and outlooks. Like Hinata, Neji, and Gaara.

Riex
Which I suppose is all well and good, but I’m part of that group of people that believe in efficiency. The group that says that when your oppenent is down and you think he’s dead, shoot him in the head a couple of times just to make sure.

The group that says “why waste extra chakra on basic camouflage when you can just wear something besides an orange jumpsuit”?

itsubun
Heh, yeah, that’s also a point that I’m ambivalent about. I don’t like the fact that Naruto still has yet to directly kill an opponent. I understand that they’re trying to retain his image of innocence and purity. But I think they need to scrap that and let him grow into his potential as a multifaceted character who has to cope with his own guilt and darkness derived from the act of murdering another human being. That would be an interesting direction to take the character development.

Riex
Or my favorite one…get to where you can defeat an opponent without relying on some demon fox.

itsubun
Hey, hey, hey, I disagree. That’s a tricky point to argue because what about the characters who have their bloodline limits? They have a definite advantage over the average ninja. And I see Naruto’s fox demon as an inheritance from his father, the 4th, considering the context and circumstances of how he obtained the demon in the first place. So I’d say, “If you’ve got it, flaunt it.”

Riex
That’s all well and good, but take their shit away too…who do you think would win? Look at Rock Lee. He ain’t got shit ‘cept that gate unlocking nonsense, and even without that he could whip Naruto’s ass

itsubun
That’s because he’s trained in taijutsu, which technically still counts as an advantage. Whereas Naruto is good with ninjutsu because of his excess chakra. If you’re talking about completely stripping them of all their jutsus, then I’d say the odds are even on all sides.

Riex
I didn’t say take away Naruto’s ninjutsu, just his fox. It all comes down to the demon fox.

itsubun
Even without his fox, I’d still say that Naruto is kickass.

Riex
In general, yeah…comparatively speaking, not so much.

itsubun
It’s not solely because of the demon fox that Naruto has been able to make it thus far in his journey. It’s because Naruto IS a natural genius of his own kind. Heh, you know, everyone’s always raving about how Sasuke’s a genius. Genius boy, born into a genius family, everything he does is calculated out to be INGENIOUS. But look at Naruto and all of the things that he has managed to accomplish, even without the legacy of his heritage to validate his achievements.

Riex
Yeah, I don’t cheer for that bastard either. If I had to pick any one it’d be Rock Lee and Shikimaru.

itsubun
Naruto is my #1. I’d walk the line for that guy. Because sometimes I get that feeling that the audience doesn’t actually appreciate how bad that kid has it. It’s probably because of his comical demeanor and his sunny attitude towards everything, but all things considered he is pretty fucked up. Not in a superficial emo way either. But he’s a ticking time bomb. He lives his life with the perpetual threat of being consumed by the fox demon hanging over his head at all times. His glossed over tragedy is what makes me love that kid. He doesn’t spend his time dwelling on the shit that’s happened to him in the past, which is why he doesn’t resent the village for its harsh treatment of him during his childhood. He just moves forward, always saving one friend or another, always looking for the best in others.

Riex
That’s probably the most valid point you’ve made yet, but at the end of the day I still won’t be a fan of him. See, with Naruto it’s all a determination/power battle…”keep on truckin’” is a good phrase to describe how he works. Maybe that just reminds me too much of Dragonball Z, or maybe I just realize that it takes more than that to get places in life. So I’ll always be cheering for brain combined with brawn, power and intelligence. And if there’s some heart thrown in there at the end, then that’s alright.

Naruto fights to save, whereas I like to see people who fight to win…with salvation as an afterthought, something not given to those who have shown themselves undeserving.

itsubun
I wouldn’t say that Naruto is brainless. Because what you said about emphasis on determination/power battle implies that Naruto doesn’t fully acknowledge the odds against him. He does. And then he decides that he can’t afford to lose because the cost is too much and he cannot afford to lose a love one. So he opts to win and he goes for it. Fighting to save and fighting to win doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive. See, the special thing about Naruto is that the has this surety in him, this seemingly groundless but irrepressible belief that he’s going to pull through and everything is going to turn out alright. And yeah, it’s naive and blind and stupid and whatever. But it keeps him going without slowing down to feel bad for himself. And it makes him productive as a ninja and a human being.

I think Naruto is incredibly inspirational. Not because he lectures down to other people and makes them feel bad about themselves and their own circumstances. That’s more along the lines of Orochimaru and Madara and their “manifest destiny” spiels. It’s because he keeps pushing forward, keeps getting hurt and getting back up again, keeps fighting against his sad fate… And you never hear Naruto complaining about his lack of family or bitching about other people’s mistreatment of him. He treasures the things that he does have and he tries to keep them close and protect them with his own strength and love. It’s because of his words and actions and the way he lives his life that other people are able to witness his personal struggles. He gives them hope and they strive to take in some of his overwhelming goodness in order to surpass their own limitations and become better than they are.

I’d argue that he doesn’t measure his odds in the same way that other people might. Because let’s be honest here, sometimes the odds are insurmountable, and if he were to try and rationalize all of the scary, horrible shit set up against him, he could lose hope and fall to despair. He has everything to lose if he fails. So he pushes past all of that and keeps fighting against the fears and insecurities and impossibilities.

Riex
And he always seems to pull through. Which, to me, is bullshit.

itsubun
LOL, he’s the titular character of the series.

Riex
Yep, and that’s probably what kills me about him. I mean…him and Rock Lee are quite similar
but Rock Lee gets his ass kicked sometimes and loses. Then he gets back up again…probably why I like him better. Even if he is fucking gay as hell.

itsubun
And it’s a series aimed at a demographic that glorifies hope and the human spirit. If Naruto loses, that’s gonna do damage to audience reception of the series. Naruto, as a character, has to bear the expectations of the series itself. And to be fair, that winning streak can be found in almost any other shounen adventure series.

Riex
Which is probably the source of all the beef we’ve got with him. But there’s a difference in naruto though.
No one fucking dies ever, ‘cept for that old granny lady and no one cared about her anyway.

itsubun
Shikumaru’s jounin teacher died. Orochimaru is dead. Jiraiya is dead. The series started off with the death of the 4th.

Riex
You got me on the 4th, but I only watch the anime…you spoiling bastard!

itsubun
LOLOLOL TOO BAD!
And the lack of death is probably due to the tight character dynamic that the mangaka has labored to create. Think about it, if one of the secondary character, like Neji, died, then how is Kishimoto going to fill in that gap for the team formation? Because of the intricate network that Kishimoto has set up, if one of the main characters die it’s going to be hard to tie up the loose ends without damaging the fabric as a whole.

Riex
Go watch Berserk, then we’ll talk about death and why I think naruto’s lack of it is BS.

itsubun
Well, Berserk’s whole set up has a much darker tone and depth than Naruto. Different themes and philosophies at work make for different treatment of death.

Riex
Yeah…now we’re getting off topic and I think we’ve both made our points.

itsubun
nods ndos

Riex
ndos!

itsubun
Constructive criticism is constructive!
Don’t mock me, you!

Does my personal Jesus wear an orange jumpsuit?

~ * ~

I never thought of Naruto as a “HERO” in the traditional sense of saving the world or rescuing damsels in distress and all of that epic crap, because I don’t care to put those kinds of pressures and expectations on him. I mean, he’s still just a kid and he’s pretty naive and shortsighted when it comes down to it. But there’s something about this kid that draws people in. Maybe it’s his warmth, or his unvarnished need to help others because he wants to preserve for his friends a world where they can find their happiness, or maybe it’s because he’s so damn stubborn about keeping his word, losing sight of everything else because he wants his friend to come home safely.

I like Naruto because he’s someone that I would want to be friends with if we were to exist in the same time and place. I think it’s a damn shame that the best things about Naruto are often overlooked in preference for the other characters who are so much “cooler” and “stronger” and more “detached” from everything with their grand schemes for world domination and clan reconstruction. I guess for me, I like that Naruto is capable of making mistakes because of his inability to detach from his emotions. And I don’t see that as a weakness or a flaw. Because here’s a guy who been fucked over by a lot of shit in his life, but he’s still capable of caring for other people on such a deep level, still believes in them even when they’ve let him down so hard. It’s so much easier to become jaded and to distance yourself from your emotions by hating others, by subscribing to the bastardization of the human form, by seeking revenge in order to protect yourself. It’s infinitely harder to accept the bad things that come with people and to work with them on their flaws and insecurities so that they can become more capable of happiness.

So to conclude, yeah, I adore the kid.

[R-R] the mechanics of rape fantasies – your wildest dreams

itsubun — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:07:42 +0000

Warning: Mature Contents

Haruda hit the nail on the head in her R-R rape entry:

Let me preface this entire thing by stating that female rape fantasies aren’t about actual rape.

She’s right. Female rape fantasy isn’t actually rape because the woman still has absolute power and control over her imagination. She’s the director of the fantasy. She calls the shots, picks her leading man, and writes her own script. In an imaginary situation, it is not possible for one person to actually violate the other against her will, because the person entertaining the fantasy is a willing participant of the sexual act. She gains visceral pleasure and satisfaction from the fantasy that she manufactures for herself.

But why fantasize about rape? Why not fantasize about scented candles, rose petals, silk sheets, sweet kisses and soft sighs?

Because the glorification of rape is more exciting. Rape is RAW and THRILLING and DIRTY and oh, so WRONG. Rape is bruised thighs and split lips and head lolling, heart pounding, choked sobbing, hands pinned down, simulated helplessness, the whole pleasure-pain of it all. Rape is you fucking with danger, in the most literal sense of that. And some people get off on this, more so than they would with consensual sex because rape in itself lies outside of even the casted shadow of the norm, outside of what is acceptable in the category of culturally secreted things. By indulging in rape fantasies, people find an elevated kind of freedom in their [un]inhibited desires, a new degree of pressure and release. But besides the extra kick that rape fantasies add to a person’s pleasure, they also push interpersonal power dynamics to their limits and twist them into something else, something a little more complicated and indicative of larger social issues that cannot be overlooked as personal preferences and quirks, but warrant consideration and reflection.

Rape operates on a different level from the other more or less normative sex fantasies in that it is capable of temporarily reconciling restrictive social constructions with the individual’s unacknowledged desires.

Japanese culture enforces gender roles that are especially debilitating to women, who are expected to uphold proper decorum by preserving and maintaining the personification of the values of modesty, innocence, and purity. Major aspects of the culture from the complex system of honorifics used to address one’s superiors to the calculated angle of a bow reflect the hierarchal nature of Japanese society. The codification of these gestures is embedded in a national consciousness that does not tolerate deviant behavior. At least not from women.

The only time a woman can acceptably engage in sexual activities is when she is pandering to a man’s needs. The Mizu Shoubai [nighttime entertainment business in Japan] exhibits the commodification of women, facilitating their bodies through the underbelly of the Japanese economy. Soaplands, cabaret clubs, and the marketing and profit of every kind of fetish you could think to indulge in would all add up to a seemingly sexually liberal culture in which women can and do engage in all kinds of provocative acts from the coy gaze of a geisha to the bizarre antics of shoving eels up one’s ass. But the reality of it is that the idealization of these sexually open and tolerant women are only the product of a manufactured, capitalist wet dream. In actuality, these women are still bounded by the same standards and customs enforced by the Japanese social hierarchy, even if they are at the dirt bottom of it. So while they are using their bodies in order to make a living by working “morally questionable” jobs, they are still expected to modify their behavior in order to fit in with the norms prescribed by the same society that outwardly shuns them.

This is an excerpt from an interview with Sora Aoi, award-winning AV actress [read: high tier porn star]

Interviewer: Do you still think about how your partner is feeling more than yourself during sex?
Sora Aoi: I don’t think about it too much if I’m feeling good, but if it’s not good, all I think about is how to make him happy.
Interviewer: What if he comes before you start feeling any good?
Sora Aoi: I’m happy about that.
Interviewer: Mentally maybe you are happy, but your body isn’t satisfied, is it?
Sora Aoi:That’s O.K..
Interviewer: What a great woman! Tell us how a woman can be so good like you.
Sora Aoi: Heh-heh, I don’t know : )

With the face of a doll and an amazing bust, Sora Aoi is the epitome of the school girl fantasy. And to cement her status as the ultimate ideal of an intimate partner, here she denies getting pleasure from her job; whether her responses are truthful or not, the point is that she is not allowed to indulge in that kind of pleasure or to voice her enjoyment of it. Her job and position are valid as long as she herself remains a commodity. Individual desires and emotions are strategically voided in order to give off the impression of a diligent worker and devoted martyr, a sex symbol, a body vacant of any conflicting or undesirable facets. If she were to admit that the sex is great and that she’s having a jolly good time shooting her AVs, then she would be kicked out of the business faster than she can fake her next orgasm on screen. Because her consent would condemn her. As long as she publicly negates her sexuality with her imposed modesty and work ethics, she is allowed to utilize it for her own gain without having to deal with the moral backlash and social repercussions. Funny how that works out.

If even porn stars in Japan are expected to revere cultural norms and standards, then your average, run of the mill girl lives under the thumb and scorching magnifying glass of social obligations. She has to navigate through the minefield of gender expectations, familial responsibilities, and cultural conventions while grappling with her own sense of identity and sexuality. And it can’t be easy, always having the threat of shame and failure hanging over your head, always having to hold back and filter all of your private thoughts and wants into open-ended sentences and roundabout conversations that go nowhere and come nowhere near what you actually mean to convey.

Ashley mentioned the double standards at work behind the public perception of gendered sexuality in her R-R post. When a guy runs his mouth and starts going down the list of names in his little black book complete with play-by-play recount of his peeper going into all kinds of nooks, crannies, and crevices, he gets a pat on the back and praises from his audience for being a smooth operator, a ladies’ man, Hottie McP-I-M-P. But when a girl lets it slip that she’s been getting some shlick shlick AXxXion, she’s condemned for being a slut, a whore, trash, used goods, etc.

There is no male equivalent of slut. – MANMOT

Because you can’t simply disengage from your sexuality without the help of drugs, and seeing as how not everyone can hope to measure up to St. Sora’s martyrdom in the bedroom, where the hell is a girl supposed to get a break in all of this?

Well, we finally get to the core topic at hand [after that long and winding contextualization]:

RAPE FANTASIES function as a loophole in the myriad of overwhelming expectations that society imposes on women.

First, let’s take a look at these “sex offenders” in the typical rape fantasies:

What do all of these guys have in common?

1) looks harmless, but possesses dexterity you can feel and a fetish for his private tutor

2) top ranking student/most popular boy in school/certified badass

3) comes from a rich family – can afford pretty much anything, even love

The answer is that these pretty boys all have attractive qualities that “sanctify” and complement their brutish behaviors. So unless you’re filthy rich, popular, ridiculously good looking… or Makoto Itou, chances are that chicks aren’t going to be fantasizing about you shoving them up against walls and taking them hard and raw; which supports the argument that rape fantasies aren’t actually rape since the men involved and the situation itself is fabricated with so much glamor and appeal.

Pay attention to what the men are saying. Because in these fantasies, the women are actually expressing themselves through the guys, superimposing their displaced desires onto the guys’ actions and convictions.

Here, the depiction of rape is misleading because the guys are not actually violating these women. They are carrying out their sexual fantasies, executing their wish fulfillment. In these situations, the women are blameless because they’re posited as the victims, while the guys take on the roles of the sexual predators who are instigating these “dirty” acts. Gagged, tied up, pinned down, fucked up, protected by their own circumstantial helplessness, these women are then free to give in to their feelings and desires because they’ve set up a scenario where their own will and decisions have been conveniently taken out of their hands.

And this is the point of contention where tricky things like FATE and DESTINY come into play. As in, it’s okay to let these things to happen because this is what is meant to be. It’s okay for him to treat you like that, because he is The One, your Soul Mate, and you just have to suck it up and take it because no one else could possibly make you feel the way he does. That’s why it’s okay for him to be a sexist bigot who puts you down and trivializes you to make himself feel better. It’s okay, because this is TruLuv™. This is the ultimate happiness. These strange, secret fantasies are the only means by which you can hope to find fulfillment.

Thinking like that makes me want to cry.

I can’t bring myself to believe in things like FATE and DESTINY because there should never be an inevitability in any of our fates. You have to work your ass off to make things happen for yourself. Of course, the decisions that you have to make won’t be easy ones. But to give up the freedom to choose for yourself, to place your fate in another person’s hands, is a consequential act that is so profoundly sad and regrettable.

I understand that rape fantasies cannot simply be considered in terms of what is moral and immoral because there are so many layers of cultural mores and social factors at work that to dumb any aspect of them down into a black and white systematic judgment would be ignorant and hurtful. I’m definitely not in any position to condemn or justify these fantasies because I can understand where they are coming from and the very human wishes and insecurities that coagulate to produce them, but at the same time I worry a lot about what they could mean.

I worry that the proliferation of idealisms at work in rape fantasies would only serve to disappoint people and perpetuate misunderstandings between them when faced with the reality of their circumstances. Because the reality is that the average girl will probably not end up with Billionaire Prince Charming and the average guy just can’t measure up to her expectations because she has already formed all of these preconceived notions of what love and happiness is inside of her head. So both parties end up falling short and getting hurt by these fantasies because reality pales in comparison.

In her comment, Hinano pointed out the problematic logic of the signature rape themes in Shinjo Mayu’s works:

Also with shoujo manga by Shinjo Mayu which is obviously read by all sorts of teenage girls, it sends the message that “rape is ok, you have to be innocent and docile and some hunk will stick it in.”

So no this isn’t about adults who can’t deal with rape, it’s about the fact that a lot of materials in Japan aimed at teenage girls makes it seem that rape is in fact OK and a “part of life” rather than ever showing a girl who like stands up against the rapist and kicks his ass.

I can already anticipate the counter-arguments that there is a major differentiation between fiction and real life, and that I shouldn’t take these fictional works so seriously because they’re just superficial entertainment, and therefore inconsequential.

Um… you’ve got to be shitting me.

Fiction IS life. Fiction is a product of the creator’s beliefs, desires, insecurities, and values – and in turn reflects not just an individual’s idiosyncrasies, but also the social context that fashioned this creator, which then points to a bigger picture of that society. So no, don’t give me any bullshit about how fiction/art can stand alone apart from its context [i.e. reality].

Implementing that dichotomy [reality vs. fiction] only serves to provide excuses for people who don’t want to look too closely at their hobbies and interests and consider the troubling implications of those things.

Tangent: This is why I hate when people use the excuse, “This is the fucking internet. Get over it.” Yeah, go ahead and disregard that person on the other end of the computer screen and keep treating each other like shit and thinking that there are no consequences for your actions. Because nothing on the internet amounts to anything, right? When you troll or flame another person online, it doesn’t matter because they’re not real human beings and therefore their feelings are voided, right? And when they arbitrarily ridicule you and pick at your flaws, you’re not phased in the slightest, amirite? Heh, keep telling yourselves that.

Hinano raised a very good point in her comment because these works of fiction serve to establish and reinforce cultural meanings and norms that people then internalize. So unless the audience is conscious and critical of what they are consuming in terms of their media and entertainment, they’re going to be influenced in ways that they are unaware of, that could be detrimental to their potential for happiness. The depiction of rape in shoujo mangas have become common and characteristic, which in turn has the effect of desensitizing readers to the actual consequences and gravity of rape.

Rape fantasies do not factor in: death, physical mutilation, unplanned pregnancy, abortion, terminal STDs, and all the money that will go towards paying for years of therapy so you can try your luck at coping with an existence where you won’t be tempted to hurl yourself off a bridge at any given chance

Those are the differences between rape fantasies and rape. So you can’t forget, you can’t forget, you can’t forget. You have to acknowledge these consequences, even if you would rather indulge in shiny, bubbling fantasies of bishies and hot sex. Even if these things are uncomfortable and scary. You SHOULD be scared. You should be so fucking scared of mistaking these things for what is normal and acceptable.

The tragedy of rape fantasies is that even in people’s imagination, they’re still so firmly bounded by the limitations of reality. In utilizing rape, these women are still acknowledging the restrictive gender roles that society has delegated to them. That is why they must incorporate rape in order to work around those boundaries. And it’s heartbreaking, because even in their wildest dreams they are not free.

~ * ~

Other Participants who wrote on this topic: hinano, a day without me, haruda, animemiz, and ashley

spic and span, baby

itsubun — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 22:56:21 +0000

Thank you, Ashley for the hookup and Brian for setting up this new subdomain at Curry-Fury.

For those of you who would still like to keep up with my blogging, please update your blogroll to http://coffee-spoons.curry-fury.com/

Also, new feedburner: http://coffee-spoons.curry-fury.com/feed/

Hope summer is going well for all of you.

TTGL – a reason for fighting

itsubun — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 01:51:54 +0000

So I finally got around to watching TTGL after a fun week of Hige standing over me with his whip ever since I mentioned that I’ve kinda, sorta [totally] been ignoring all of the internet hype about it when it first premiered and therefore, have been living under a rock. So the existence of this entry is due in large part to his aggressive pimping enthusiastic encouragement to give TTGL a try.

All fun poking at Hige aside, I’m glad I didn’t miss out on this series. Funny, fantastical, all the right proportions of giddy excitement for epic adventures and deep empathy for the depiction of private and universal human struggles, TTGL is a Win.

One of the things I love about TTGL is that it doesn’t bother trying to be subtle with its phallic symbols and sexual innuendos. It’s not afraid to bypass pretentious attempts at intelligence and Enlightenment while poking fun at itself. There’s this easy confidence to TTGL in the way indulges in simple humor while at the same time maneuvering a number of twisting philosophies about the ageless struggles of its people.

The storyline of TTGL is simple in its presentation, stripped of excessive colloquialism and frivolous plot holes. It is because of this simplicity that its other merits are brought to light in how TTGL can narrate with such clarity and artistic brilliance the relentless human desire to reach towards the heavens and the crippling anxiety of ever reaching that ultimate destination.

Kamina, as the self-deprecating ideal of super masculinity, was a surprisingly easy character to like and grow attached to. The determination to prove himself does not originate from his own insecurities, but from the need to protect and support those around him. So his lack of humility and common sense in battle do not come off as conceit or foolishness, but as an example of steadfast courage and perseverance in the face of great odds.

In one of the first battles against the Ganmen, Kamina finds himself in a dire situation while under assault and looks in front of him to see a skeleton on the ground, the very image of death itself. It is in this moment that he comes to learn what it means to look death in the face, to understand the gravity of war and survival and the weight and uncertainty of his own existence. TTGL’s ability to illustrate these moments of painful immediacy and confrontation and then to pull that all back, all the fear and severity threatening to spill over from the screen, and wrap it up in supernova explosions and rapturous victories is what makes the series so multifaceted as an epic viewing experience.

I have a lot of admiration for the producer of TTGL as it was easy to see that he put a lot of his own genuine emotions and ideals into Kamina as a character and cared about him a great deal to be able to effectively memorialize and maintain his presence throughout the rest of the series even after his death.

The relationship between Simon and Kamina is one of the most emotionally affective and gratifying portrayal of brotherhood and camaraderie that I’ve seen in any given anime. At the beginning of the series, Simon struggles to stand his ground during the early battles. He consistently butts heads with Kamina, who reprimands him for running away and asserts that a true man cannot do so in the heat of battle. For all of Kamina’s posturing and flamboyant speeches about manhood, fear and weakness isn’t something to be overcome and discarded, they’re things a person has to continuously grapple with in their personal struggle to evaluate and attain their dreams and ambitions. When Simon finally does battle, he fights for his brother. Not because of an ideal or an image that he idolizes, but because there’s a real person, flesh and bones, who needs him.

And that’s what you have to understand in all of this.

It’s not about idealism and it’s not about proving yourself, it’s about death and dying and what it means to be scared. And in the face of all of these paralyzing fears and worries, you come to understand what it means to truly fight for others, not yourself, but for another tangible human being who has put so many intangible hopes in you.

What it comes down to is this: You’re scared of dying, but you’re even more afraid of letting him die.

This is where Simon’s strength comes from. He puts more value into other people than in himself, but he doesn’t come off worse for his martyrdom because they in return reciprocate his trust and dedication and they come running when he needs them. This profound and faithfully blind act of give-and-take is a necessity, otherwise none of them will survive this war. And they’ve already lost so much in coming to the surface. The ability to stand at the edge of it all and put aside your own grievances and selfishness, to stand to lose a bit of yourself, in order to work together is what makes the drill that can break through the walls between humans.

there is nothing on the surface, no walls and no ceilings… it’s a good place for men

Thank you for reading. Hope your summer is going well.