WK & misogyny
Pondering on women in Weiss after spending the evening listening to some of the drama cd's. There seems to be a lot of misdirected misogyny, which intrigues me.
Yohji claims at some point that it was his inability to protect the woman he loved that turned him into a woman-hater. Because by turning his hatred toward them, he could distract himself from his own self-loathing. Kikyo takes the path of killing and dismembering women in his twisted quest to find the men responsible for his sister's murder. Probably fueled also by a bit of self-loathing, and the fact that he couldn't save his sister's life. So to find her killers, he becomes like her killers, losing himself in the process. The most interesting case of self-loathing is Ayame, born a transsexual. Though born a female, he undergoes a sex change operation to reflect the fact that he is psychologically male. Eventually (unable to be with his true love Azami because he's a man), he turns his self-hatred to women, killing them for enjoyment and perhaps revenge.
Is it that to these men, the females in their lives are merely reflections of their own short-comings? Why is it that they can't see women as individuals and not just something needing their protection or approval?
Meanwhile the main women in the story - namely Birman and Manx, put their lives into the hands of the men they love, eventually dying in the process. You could even argue that Rex has a fixation for Persia/Omi that is similar to the other women's devotion. Queen accuses her as much - that her romantic nature blinds her, making her a devout follower of the dreams of another.
Sally finds her self-worth and wish to live beyond the walls of Rosenkreuz only after falling in love with Farfarello. Silvia, arguably the most independent of women in the series, tries to appeal to Brad's "love" for her to save herself in the end (which of course doesn't move Brad in the least because he loves Schuldig).
(EDIT: Oh and of course, how can I forget Schreint, Masafumi's little harem?)
Is there no wonder yaoi is the appealing alternative in wk, when given such limited scope of female perspective? Not that I'm complaining about that, since I'm all about wk yaoi...
Yohji claims at some point that it was his inability to protect the woman he loved that turned him into a woman-hater. Because by turning his hatred toward them, he could distract himself from his own self-loathing. Kikyo takes the path of killing and dismembering women in his twisted quest to find the men responsible for his sister's murder. Probably fueled also by a bit of self-loathing, and the fact that he couldn't save his sister's life. So to find her killers, he becomes like her killers, losing himself in the process. The most interesting case of self-loathing is Ayame, born a transsexual. Though born a female, he undergoes a sex change operation to reflect the fact that he is psychologically male. Eventually (unable to be with his true love Azami because he's a man), he turns his self-hatred to women, killing them for enjoyment and perhaps revenge.
Is it that to these men, the females in their lives are merely reflections of their own short-comings? Why is it that they can't see women as individuals and not just something needing their protection or approval?
Meanwhile the main women in the story - namely Birman and Manx, put their lives into the hands of the men they love, eventually dying in the process. You could even argue that Rex has a fixation for Persia/Omi that is similar to the other women's devotion. Queen accuses her as much - that her romantic nature blinds her, making her a devout follower of the dreams of another.
Sally finds her self-worth and wish to live beyond the walls of Rosenkreuz only after falling in love with Farfarello. Silvia, arguably the most independent of women in the series, tries to appeal to Brad's "love" for her to save herself in the end (which of course doesn't move Brad in the least because he loves Schuldig).
(EDIT: Oh and of course, how can I forget Schreint, Masafumi's little harem?)
Is there no wonder yaoi is the appealing alternative in wk, when given such limited scope of female perspective? Not that I'm complaining about that, since I'm all about wk yaoi...