Anime and sexism/feminism

[NYCisthebomb]

Many people do various things to make themselves look better just to feel better about themselves.

Physical appearance and self esteem do have some correlation.

[Sandy in Grease!]

A poster after my own heart.

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[steph.]

Speed Grapher

Now that's a perfect example of how people's personal tastes are personified into a show that was a surprisingly trippy and good anime series

[Johnny P]

Heh. Now this is just personally, I greatly favored Goh getting together with Shizuru over Anna . But, if I were to say a third guy for Shizuru, maybe that gangly pale tech, I forget his name.

[The Changeling]

Yet historically, it's not true that free speech implies anything should go. There's good reason for some restrictions. Libel, slander, lies, disinformation, etc. - all sorts of speech can cause harm or significant risk of harm. Free speech is an important right, so any need for limits had better be darn well established. Good intentions alone (moral guardianism included) are insufficient. Some slopes really are slippery.

Mmm, I think I did answer that, if I'm understanding correctly. The desire to improve your appearance is, as far as I can reason at the moment, intrinsically linked to a concern with what others think about you. Vanity, validation in the eyes of your peers and significant others, even self esteem are connected in some way to how you believe others will judge you, whether you choose to rationally acknowledge this or not. So yes, for most people, physical appearance may well be in a category apart from physical and mental self improvement.

There might be a few other tangential reasons, but they amount to "if you've got it, flaunt it." You could use your attractiveness to further your career. I can't help imagining all sorts of horribly sexist (and unethical) scenarios though. Sure, if you're going to a job interview, don't look like a slob, but that's just being pragmatic. Emphasizing your sexiness for a job interview is questionable behavior, even if it gets results - perhaps especially if it gets results! I suppose models and porn stars do have to make a living, but uhh... we were talking about sexism, right? Yeah. Exactly. Where the heck was I going with this? Tell me.

So I'm still not sure of the purpose behind your previous reply. Impressing a mate ought to encompass reproductive urges. I don't understand what this business of guaranteed pregnancy is supposed to be about.

--Romey

[Beyond Bleach]

Really?!

That's a first for me.

[N2k]

Not wierd, just counterproductive to what seems to be the goal of feminism. If you read the rest of the sentance you quoted, you'll see my reason as to why female protagonists are not as common.

[KPizzle]

1. Wedding Peach is one example. There was so much of "I must be pretty, I must go on a diet/lose weight, my one goal in life is to get a boyfriend and be a beautiful bride someday" it made me absolutely sick to my stomach.

2. Anime tenRAB to make females weak - even if they appear strong (at least in mind) they usually have to be rescued often (if not every episode - Kagome of Inuyasha comes to mind) and still dream of being a beautiful bride, cooking for the one they love (and calling it "a woman's true joy" or some crap) and raising children deep down. With American animation, guys are made out to be stupid idiots, while the females are almost perfect and stand for "girl power." While I'm all for strong females (you can never have too many), I think there neeRAB to be some middle ground - you shouldn't have to "durab down" the males in order to make the girls look better. It's kind of insulting.

[GangsterBritishPirate]

There is one anime that I watch because it has a strong female lead:

The Slayers series.

Lina Inverse is not in any way a damsel in distress. She speaks normally, and is not absurdly well endowed. She is also very independent, smart, has a fiery temper, is very clever, and doesn't take crap form anyone.

In fact out of the main Slayers cast only 2 of the main recurring characters are male, Gourry and Zelgaddis. (Xellos doesn't count)

Lina is probably by a very wide margin the strongest female character in anime. Not in physical strength, but in independency.

She knows the most powerful spells in magic, has considerable sworRABmanship, is very smart, loud, and clever. She has even done more in her life so far, then most people do in 10 lifetimes. Plus she is the main person (usually) responsable for taking down the various head villains of the series, manga, and novels.

All of the OVAs and movies are available in English.

The first 3 TV series are available too (Funimation, formerly Software Sculptures) Slayers, Slayers: Next, and Slayers: Try. The dub for the TV series is different than the movies because different companies have them. The English TV dub is easily one of the best anime dubs though. The voices are perfect.

There is a fourth TV series, Slayers Revolution, (2008-2009), but it is still just in Japan.

[Question G]

Well, Melfina has to pilot the ship naked, for one. Aisha's a busty catgirl in skimpy clothing, so I think that's self-explanitory. I can't remeraber much about Suzuka to be honest since I haven't seen the series in a long time, though I think there were a few scenes of her robe conveniently slipping. There was also that famous "hot springs" episode CN skipped.

I never said it was. Though like you said, there's very few examples of that in animation (I guess Stripperella would be one) since that's more for live-action, comic books, and video games.