those girls that smile kindly then rip your life to pieces
Basically, participants would each pick one or several of their favorite series or one-shots (not necessarily fandoms) and find at least one example of undeniable, indefensible sexism. Preferably, a work that gets your hackles raised whenever someone badmouths it and ESPECIALLY if you would otherwise consider the gender dynamics to be perfect.
Okay. I am still compiling my nearly essay-long sexism-in-Avatar critique. But let's just focus on something fairly easier, shall we? No, not Naruto. That's...the cheap shot no one wants to make because it's so brain-killingly obvious. Let's talk about Ouran. Ouran High School Host Club is actually really good to its female lead as far as manga goes. She's independent, sensible, practical, and swoons over barely anything. Even when she is lovestruck, she thinks of it as some weird disease and doesn't quite seem to know what to do with it. She's shown as highly intelligent, and her intelligence is never seen as 'lesser' than the guys'. In fact, she's shown as much more levelheaded and less, let's admit it, fucking crazy. She's fairly gender-blind, has an awesome trannie dad, and is totally cool with referring to herself as 'ore' and wearing guy's clothing WHILE acknowledging herself as female. Haruhi is the bomb.
Still, there is a lot to critique about Ouran, despite their stupendously awesome lead. I have compiled a list:
(I'm keeping this mainly to the anime, as the manga inspires entirely new and different critique.)
The lack of main female characters
Really, I know it's a reverse harem and everything, but could we have some more female characters? No, the throngs of swooning customers really don't count. So far, there's Haruhi in main character status. Very good. Then, Renge...who is really annoying. I hate to call female characters annoying, but this one is. She enters each scene the exact same way, exists entirely to be a squeeing fangirl, and has absolutely no emotional depth. She's like a figurehead for 90% of Ouran's girl cast: cute, squeeing fangirls who faint at the sight of a handsome man. Joy. Tamaki's mother is shown as a frail, bedridden figure living with the guilt of having sold her own son and is only mentioned in 'main characters' here because she is a mildly fridged woman: treated poorly and kept away in order to provide an emotional catalyst for her son. On the opposite side of the female stereotype spectrum, Tamaki's grandmother is a controlling uber bitch.
Not a very promising collection of ladies, all considered. It's even worse that Haruhi is considered to be like the mythical unicorn, the one female out of all the school's many ladies worth talking to, worth consideration, the one girl they deemed worthy to be considered a human being and not a 'girl'. There seems to be constant comparison between Haruhi, the practical and strong, and the many airy, romantic, silly waifs that crowd the place and sigh about love. The girls are treated as practically interchangeable in a throng of poofy-dressed, sparkling female stereotypes. While the guys are given distinct personalities and motivations, the girls are rarely given time and their motivations are entirely romance-driven. (All the better for romantic God King Tamaki to cure.)
Can I mention that I can't stand how everyone fawns over Tamaki? Is he REALLY all that? Can I say that I wish someone other than Haruhi could call him on his stupid, condescending prince routine? Are all the girls in Ouran that completely naive? And yet there he goes, rearranging the lives of those poor girls and telling them what's best for them. I know he's meant to be a helpful figure, but really I find him pretty infuriating.
It's okay to pretend to rape a girl if you want to teach her a lesson.
I despised this episode. I despised every inch of this episode. I want this episode to die in a raging inferno. Where do I begin?
We're shown that Haruhi is presumably in the wrong for trying to help two girls who were being harassed by a couple bullying boys. Why? Because Haruhi is a girl, and therefore should not take matters into her own hands, and should not help ladies like a man should, and in fact is stepping out of her place by thinking she can stand up for the rights of others on her own. She's just a girl, and should never try to stand up against boys. (I'd give them a break if Tamaki was going to tell her she shouldn't face stronger opponents without some kind of self defense, which is practical and gender-neutral, but he clearly stated that his objection was because she was female.)
Not only this, but the boys feel entitled to an apology from Haruhi. Why? Because she didn't come crying for help like a good little lady should. Yes, she needs to apologize because she got thrown off a cliff by some boys for speaking up for the rights of others. They feel entitled to an apology because not only is Haruhi clearly stepping out of line with her reckless actions, but she also made them worry. I'm sorry, these are the assholes who forced her to join their club, put her terms of membership as unwilling slave labor, constantly mock her poverty, sell her pencils, and do other outrageous things without a single word of apology, and they expect an apology from her for being a decent person? Fuck you, boys. You are dead to me this episode, you and your mansplaining and chauvinist-enabling.
Tamaki, meanwhile, spends a good deal of this episode sulking and demanding an apology, and refuses to speak to Haruhi until she does. (Can I mention one manga point? In the manga, he ate the ootoro sushi that was meant to be hers. She is a poor girl who can never buy it, has never tasted it, and has stated repeatedly she longs to eat it, and he eats it like a petty bitch because of his entitlement complex. Not cool.)
Haruhi goes to be sick in one of the rooms, where she meets Kyouya. He promptly throws her on the bed, lies on top of her, and says that he could do anything he wanted to her and she wouldn't be able to fight back, because she is a girl. He is someone she trusts, thinks of as a friend and a sempai, and he threatens to rape her. He takes her out of her safe, comfortable place and reminds her of male strength and brutality and makes her think he will violate her for stepping out of line. What does she do?
She smiles gently and tells him that he's a good person.
Because all of this is an act he's putting on to teach her a lesson.
DGFHJKKGHGJK!GHJJKHL.
DIE. DIE. DIEDIEDIE.
Ahem. So, as you can see, I hate that scene more than anything. FLAMES. FLAMES ON THE SIDE OF MY FACE. Suffice to say, oh my god this is the most sexist thing Ouran has to offer and it's worse than anything single thing Kishimoto has done. (Individually, mind you. As a lump sum, Kishimoto is far, far worse.) The episode ends by showcasing Haruhi's crippling fear of lightning, and Tamaki gets to play shining knight for her in her very convenient moment of weakness. Meanwhile, I kill a kitten.
Tamaki's uncorrected male chauvinism.
I actually do like Tamaki. He's a ray of light in the form of a boy. He's like a golden retriever made human. He's too much of a phenomenal goofball to despise. But I hate how sexist he is. His entire mindset is based on the sexist ideal of women being perfect, delicate, demure flowers for men to protect. He constantly fantasizes about Haruhi being the perfect, giggling schoolgirl and is set up as her romance interest although he doesn't have a realistic perception of her personality. He shows no understanding for the feelngs and agency of women and their love lives, and tries to set them up with guys through a series of complex pranks.
Example: that girl who felt like she was being ditched by her fiance, who wanted to travel the world for her. Tamaki's response was to make her catch the fiance in a compromising situation with another girl, break her heart, and then put her in the spotlight as the boy asked her to dance. Haruhi's more rational response was to call the boy a selfish ass and tell him to go tell the girl what she was feeling. Tamaki's response was somehow shown as a good way to get them together, but I found it humiliating to the girl. I want him to run into a case that can't be solved by bringing the pair back together, since relationships end for a reason. That never happened.
He's also against lesbians, apparently. There was a nice speech in there about how women are meant for men and that there's no good from two women loving each other. (Despite his statement about how the host club could totally help out gay guys. Hypocrite, but typically so.)
All in all, Ouran may have an awesome leading lady, but it has a long way to go in the realm of feminism.
Okay. I am still compiling my nearly essay-long sexism-in-Avatar critique. But let's just focus on something fairly easier, shall we? No, not Naruto. That's...the cheap shot no one wants to make because it's so brain-killingly obvious. Let's talk about Ouran. Ouran High School Host Club is actually really good to its female lead as far as manga goes. She's independent, sensible, practical, and swoons over barely anything. Even when she is lovestruck, she thinks of it as some weird disease and doesn't quite seem to know what to do with it. She's shown as highly intelligent, and her intelligence is never seen as 'lesser' than the guys'. In fact, she's shown as much more levelheaded and less, let's admit it, fucking crazy. She's fairly gender-blind, has an awesome trannie dad, and is totally cool with referring to herself as 'ore' and wearing guy's clothing WHILE acknowledging herself as female. Haruhi is the bomb.
Still, there is a lot to critique about Ouran, despite their stupendously awesome lead. I have compiled a list:
(I'm keeping this mainly to the anime, as the manga inspires entirely new and different critique.)
The lack of main female characters
Really, I know it's a reverse harem and everything, but could we have some more female characters? No, the throngs of swooning customers really don't count. So far, there's Haruhi in main character status. Very good. Then, Renge...who is really annoying. I hate to call female characters annoying, but this one is. She enters each scene the exact same way, exists entirely to be a squeeing fangirl, and has absolutely no emotional depth. She's like a figurehead for 90% of Ouran's girl cast: cute, squeeing fangirls who faint at the sight of a handsome man. Joy. Tamaki's mother is shown as a frail, bedridden figure living with the guilt of having sold her own son and is only mentioned in 'main characters' here because she is a mildly fridged woman: treated poorly and kept away in order to provide an emotional catalyst for her son. On the opposite side of the female stereotype spectrum, Tamaki's grandmother is a controlling uber bitch.
Not a very promising collection of ladies, all considered. It's even worse that Haruhi is considered to be like the mythical unicorn, the one female out of all the school's many ladies worth talking to, worth consideration, the one girl they deemed worthy to be considered a human being and not a 'girl'. There seems to be constant comparison between Haruhi, the practical and strong, and the many airy, romantic, silly waifs that crowd the place and sigh about love. The girls are treated as practically interchangeable in a throng of poofy-dressed, sparkling female stereotypes. While the guys are given distinct personalities and motivations, the girls are rarely given time and their motivations are entirely romance-driven. (All the better for romantic God King Tamaki to cure.)
Can I mention that I can't stand how everyone fawns over Tamaki? Is he REALLY all that? Can I say that I wish someone other than Haruhi could call him on his stupid, condescending prince routine? Are all the girls in Ouran that completely naive? And yet there he goes, rearranging the lives of those poor girls and telling them what's best for them. I know he's meant to be a helpful figure, but really I find him pretty infuriating.
It's okay to pretend to rape a girl if you want to teach her a lesson.
I despised this episode. I despised every inch of this episode. I want this episode to die in a raging inferno. Where do I begin?
We're shown that Haruhi is presumably in the wrong for trying to help two girls who were being harassed by a couple bullying boys. Why? Because Haruhi is a girl, and therefore should not take matters into her own hands, and should not help ladies like a man should, and in fact is stepping out of her place by thinking she can stand up for the rights of others on her own. She's just a girl, and should never try to stand up against boys. (I'd give them a break if Tamaki was going to tell her she shouldn't face stronger opponents without some kind of self defense, which is practical and gender-neutral, but he clearly stated that his objection was because she was female.)
Not only this, but the boys feel entitled to an apology from Haruhi. Why? Because she didn't come crying for help like a good little lady should. Yes, she needs to apologize because she got thrown off a cliff by some boys for speaking up for the rights of others. They feel entitled to an apology because not only is Haruhi clearly stepping out of line with her reckless actions, but she also made them worry. I'm sorry, these are the assholes who forced her to join their club, put her terms of membership as unwilling slave labor, constantly mock her poverty, sell her pencils, and do other outrageous things without a single word of apology, and they expect an apology from her for being a decent person? Fuck you, boys. You are dead to me this episode, you and your mansplaining and chauvinist-enabling.
Tamaki, meanwhile, spends a good deal of this episode sulking and demanding an apology, and refuses to speak to Haruhi until she does. (Can I mention one manga point? In the manga, he ate the ootoro sushi that was meant to be hers. She is a poor girl who can never buy it, has never tasted it, and has stated repeatedly she longs to eat it, and he eats it like a petty bitch because of his entitlement complex. Not cool.)
Haruhi goes to be sick in one of the rooms, where she meets Kyouya. He promptly throws her on the bed, lies on top of her, and says that he could do anything he wanted to her and she wouldn't be able to fight back, because she is a girl. He is someone she trusts, thinks of as a friend and a sempai, and he threatens to rape her. He takes her out of her safe, comfortable place and reminds her of male strength and brutality and makes her think he will violate her for stepping out of line. What does she do?
She smiles gently and tells him that he's a good person.
Because all of this is an act he's putting on to teach her a lesson.
DGFHJKKGHGJK!GHJJKHL.
DIE. DIE. DIEDIEDIE.
Ahem. So, as you can see, I hate that scene more than anything. FLAMES. FLAMES ON THE SIDE OF MY FACE. Suffice to say, oh my god this is the most sexist thing Ouran has to offer and it's worse than anything single thing Kishimoto has done. (Individually, mind you. As a lump sum, Kishimoto is far, far worse.) The episode ends by showcasing Haruhi's crippling fear of lightning, and Tamaki gets to play shining knight for her in her very convenient moment of weakness. Meanwhile, I kill a kitten.
Tamaki's uncorrected male chauvinism.
I actually do like Tamaki. He's a ray of light in the form of a boy. He's like a golden retriever made human. He's too much of a phenomenal goofball to despise. But I hate how sexist he is. His entire mindset is based on the sexist ideal of women being perfect, delicate, demure flowers for men to protect. He constantly fantasizes about Haruhi being the perfect, giggling schoolgirl and is set up as her romance interest although he doesn't have a realistic perception of her personality. He shows no understanding for the feelngs and agency of women and their love lives, and tries to set them up with guys through a series of complex pranks.
Example: that girl who felt like she was being ditched by her fiance, who wanted to travel the world for her. Tamaki's response was to make her catch the fiance in a compromising situation with another girl, break her heart, and then put her in the spotlight as the boy asked her to dance. Haruhi's more rational response was to call the boy a selfish ass and tell him to go tell the girl what she was feeling. Tamaki's response was somehow shown as a good way to get them together, but I found it humiliating to the girl. I want him to run into a case that can't be solved by bringing the pair back together, since relationships end for a reason. That never happened.
He's also against lesbians, apparently. There was a nice speech in there about how women are meant for men and that there's no good from two women loving each other. (Despite his statement about how the host club could totally help out gay guys. Hypocrite, but typically so.)
All in all, Ouran may have an awesome leading lady, but it has a long way to go in the realm of feminism.