On Women in Shounen Manga
Now that i'm finally *drumroll* caught up with One Piece /*drumroll*, i looked around a bit in the community and there was an interesting discussion on gender inequality. There's been a similar thread on the Naruto comm not so long ago and i also remember seeing one on the Reborn comm, back when i was still interested in that series.
Now even though the portrayal/treatment of women in OP doesn't bother me half as much as in other popular shounen series like KHR or Bleach, there still exist some issues which are bothering me. I should probably make a seperate post about it when i have more time because the point of this one is that following those discussions, i noticed that there's always one or more comments claiming that the discussion is futile because of a) it's a series aimed at young boys and/or b) it's due to cultural differences.
Both arguments are rather silly: a) seems to imply that a series aimed at young boys automatically has to be sexist. Why is that so? Because seeing a truly strong woman who doesn't wear a skimpy outfit would scar their fragile masculine minds? Because it wouldn't sell? Sorry, i don't believe that. It also implies that you are supposed to shut up if you are not a young boy because you don't belong to the target group. This is pretty much the same as claiming that you've got no right to criticise a racist book as long as it's clearly aimed at white people only.
b) basically says that you lack respect for other cultures if you dare to criticise the portrayal of females in Japanese shounen manga. This is bullshit of course since it's perfectly possible to respect and acknowledge a different culture without uncritically glorifying it like a lot of manga fans do, especially the really young ones...
I could write more, but i gotta work for a change.
Now even though the portrayal/treatment of women in OP doesn't bother me half as much as in other popular shounen series like KHR or Bleach, there still exist some issues which are bothering me. I should probably make a seperate post about it when i have more time because the point of this one is that following those discussions, i noticed that there's always one or more comments claiming that the discussion is futile because of a) it's a series aimed at young boys and/or b) it's due to cultural differences.
Both arguments are rather silly: a) seems to imply that a series aimed at young boys automatically has to be sexist. Why is that so? Because seeing a truly strong woman who doesn't wear a skimpy outfit would scar their fragile masculine minds? Because it wouldn't sell? Sorry, i don't believe that. It also implies that you are supposed to shut up if you are not a young boy because you don't belong to the target group. This is pretty much the same as claiming that you've got no right to criticise a racist book as long as it's clearly aimed at white people only.
b) basically says that you lack respect for other cultures if you dare to criticise the portrayal of females in Japanese shounen manga. This is bullshit of course since it's perfectly possible to respect and acknowledge a different culture without uncritically glorifying it like a lot of manga fans do, especially the really young ones...
I could write more, but i gotta work for a change.