I don’t wanna feel Blue anymore...
My Japanese men keep giving me such conflicting feelings. Because I really admire them but their views on women often piss me off. And it's not just Gackt with his ultra-sexism. Actually Gackt is such a carefully constructed entity that I don't know which things about him is true and which not.
But this whole "girls should be cute and feminine" thing really gets on my nerves. I absolutely do not believe it when Shige says his type is "3 steps behind" but it still annoys me. He and Massu had a pretty intense course of gender tolerance at the time of Kinpachi but that was 12 years ago and social influence is strong. Tegoshi is even worse. I mean he has a hundred faces - he can wear a uniform or a neat suit or pre-teen girl fashion or even a frilly dress but he wants his girls to be neat and dainty. And NEWS are actually all guys with pretty progressive views.
I dunno, I just feel that the acceptable image for a woman in Japan is so narrow. If you look at the TV shows you'll see it. Every program, whether it's news or entertainment has this young cute woman dressed very plainly in some pale shapeless dress. She would be holding the sсript and read announcements and flipboards but seldom make comments. You won't remember their names. Like the girls on Music Station who change nearly every year and are hopelessly replaceable. I can't think of any show where a woman would be the main host except Tetsuko's room. Usually women are just accessories. Recently when Shigemasu were on Pekepon it turned out the host girl was Shige's classmate. It's not like her position was bad but it made me think she'll most likely never get anywhere.
The fate of girl idols are also were different from their male counterparts. I don't know much about them but JE boy bands can continue even after 40 but the girl groups only have very young members who get kicked out or "graduate" before they reach 25. Well, you can always become a comedian. Those people sure have a lot more freedom of expression. Of course, if you don't mind being the butt of jokes and forever pretending to be madly in love with handsome popular artists. I mean I have huge respect for Imoto and I feel like she doesn't get nearly enough credit for all the amazing things she does.
Also Koyashige saying that girls have it so much easier to be popular because they can dress up and use make-up. I honestly expected them to know better than that. Duh. First of all, girls are expected to dress up and use make-up. Not to mention shaving, nails and eyebrows. There's so much we have to do just to be socially acceptable. When women do that it's normal, when women do that it raises their popularity by 200%. Men can be ugly and messy and still be very popular. And then the socially accepted criteria of beauty is so damn strict. Of course it's not just about Japan. But it seems so strange how in Japan and Korea traits that are considered attractive are traits not really typical for their very race. Like small faces and big eyes and curly lashes. It just doesn't make sense. Also while women may not get arrested for touching men in a suggestive way it still makes you a creeper. A desperate creeper. Thank you very much.
Anyway. I know I've never even been to Asia and my views are probably somewhat biased but these thoughts were piling up inside of me so it feels good to let them out.
But this whole "girls should be cute and feminine" thing really gets on my nerves. I absolutely do not believe it when Shige says his type is "3 steps behind" but it still annoys me. He and Massu had a pretty intense course of gender tolerance at the time of Kinpachi but that was 12 years ago and social influence is strong. Tegoshi is even worse. I mean he has a hundred faces - he can wear a uniform or a neat suit or pre-teen girl fashion or even a frilly dress but he wants his girls to be neat and dainty. And NEWS are actually all guys with pretty progressive views.
I dunno, I just feel that the acceptable image for a woman in Japan is so narrow. If you look at the TV shows you'll see it. Every program, whether it's news or entertainment has this young cute woman dressed very plainly in some pale shapeless dress. She would be holding the sсript and read announcements and flipboards but seldom make comments. You won't remember their names. Like the girls on Music Station who change nearly every year and are hopelessly replaceable. I can't think of any show where a woman would be the main host except Tetsuko's room. Usually women are just accessories. Recently when Shigemasu were on Pekepon it turned out the host girl was Shige's classmate. It's not like her position was bad but it made me think she'll most likely never get anywhere.
The fate of girl idols are also were different from their male counterparts. I don't know much about them but JE boy bands can continue even after 40 but the girl groups only have very young members who get kicked out or "graduate" before they reach 25. Well, you can always become a comedian. Those people sure have a lot more freedom of expression. Of course, if you don't mind being the butt of jokes and forever pretending to be madly in love with handsome popular artists. I mean I have huge respect for Imoto and I feel like she doesn't get nearly enough credit for all the amazing things she does.
Also Koyashige saying that girls have it so much easier to be popular because they can dress up and use make-up. I honestly expected them to know better than that. Duh. First of all, girls are expected to dress up and use make-up. Not to mention shaving, nails and eyebrows. There's so much we have to do just to be socially acceptable. When women do that it's normal, when women do that it raises their popularity by 200%. Men can be ugly and messy and still be very popular. And then the socially accepted criteria of beauty is so damn strict. Of course it's not just about Japan. But it seems so strange how in Japan and Korea traits that are considered attractive are traits not really typical for their very race. Like small faces and big eyes and curly lashes. It just doesn't make sense. Also while women may not get arrested for touching men in a suggestive way it still makes you a creeper. A desperate creeper. Thank you very much.
Anyway. I know I've never even been to Asia and my views are probably somewhat biased but these thoughts were piling up inside of me so it feels good to let them out.