sailorv:
A few days ago, my sister received this response to a post she made about Sailor Moon on International Woman’s Day. I went back and forth as to whether or not to respond to it, but given that it’s Naoko Takeuchi’s birthday today (thanks Cassie for the heads-up) I felt it would be an opportune time to address the misconception that Sailor Moon objectifies women.
Firstly, the women of Sailor Moon are women of color (if Japanese women are considered such). There are several articles written on the topic of why anime characters are NOT made to look white; here’s one. Not really much more to say on the subject, since this particular Kotaku article says it all. White people have a habit of projecting themselves onto everything, but that doesn’t make everyone who is pale-skinned white.
Secondly, Sailor Moon is centered around a shameless food lover. While it’s true that the Sailor Senshi are impossibly proportioned, it doesn’t harp on the message of looking perfectly thin. While I sometimes think that the impossibility of achieving anime bodies is problematic for both women and men’s esteem, I think that it isn’t quite as severe as the image manipulation of real life bodies, because no one expects to actually look like an anime character. In a country that is weight obsessed (similarly to America) Sailor Moon is a refreshing voice (though admittedly not perfect) that says it’s okay to indulge.
As for the male gaze, it is patently incorrect to say that it was created (and that the clothes were designed) for the purpose of appealing to men. To label Sailor Moon “school girl fetishism” simply because the girls wear sailor fukus (uniforms) is default sexualization. Sailor Moon was, in fact, created for young women who wear sailor uniforms! The “sailor uniform” as the Senshi fuku is the vehicle by which young girls can inject themselves into the storyline. It was not created for men, and whether or not men masturbate to it (we all know they do) is irrelevant to the integrity of the story.
Which brings me to another point - are sexy women by default objectified, even if they are drawn/fantasized/created by other women? The only answer I have to this question is that women are objectified when their (fictional or real women) ownership over their sexuality is relinquished. Sadly there is no easy way to define when women own or don’t own their sexuality, and some cases are more obvious than others. That being said, I think that Sailor Moon’s sexiness is pretty clearly self-possessed. Her personal growth throughout the series, her steadfastness in her beliefs, and her minimal reliance on Tuxedo Mask (whom she often saves!!!) show that she isn’t easily used, and I think that’s the message that resonates the most with women. It also makes her sexiness that much more admirable - she rocks a short skirt not only because she’s fighting crime, but because she wants to. Her outfit fulfills a female fantasy equally as a male one.
But beyond the outfits, Sailor Moon doesn’t much appeal to the “male gaze.” I recently stumbled upon a comic about the false equivalence fallacy of “male objectification”, and upon reading it, the FIRST example I thought of was Tuxedo Mask. I’m not saying that Tuxedo Mask is an example of male objectification, but he certainly doesn’t fulfill male fantasies. Created for the male gaze? I can’t really see how.
It’s true that my love for Sailor Moon is very much nostalgic, but the only thing I find shameful about it is how the sometimes-bad dialogue still makes me cry. Sailor Moon is completely justifiably feminist by my own definition, and I’ve found that most accusations of its sexism and fetishism still play into antiquated and close-minded ideas of feminism.
The funniest part about this is the bullshit “It teaches that indulgence is okay!”
Yeah.
And
she manages to eat and eat and eat and eat
and stay thin.
That’s like
that’s the problem.
People don’t care about what you eat, really. They care about what your body looks like.
Just, no.
I also don’t understand making the character’s ~desires~ at all important. They didn’t write the show, the show wrote them. It isn’t Sailor Moon’s idea to wear a short skirt, it’s the writer’s and artist’s. Their outfits for crime fighting are as absurd as Power Girl’s, minus the gigantic hole in the shirt, but add in some risque almost-naked transformation scenes.
I mean
I know a shit ton of guys who have openly admitted that they watched Sailor Moon solely because of the transformation scenes.
It was not created for men, and whether or not men masturbate to it (we all know they do) is irrelevant to the integrity of the story.
What. Okay so, “we all” know that men masturbate to it—I wonder why? It’s irrelevant to the integrity of the story, sure, but it’s not irrelevant to the discussion of how the show portrays the Scouts.
I’m not here to rag on Sailor Moon, but to credit is as some awesome feminist-empowered show… I absolutely do not agree. I mean, it has absoLUTELY got some great messages in it, but there are gigantic holes to be blown in a lot of this argument. :\
(via perfectlyqueer)
