Forum - View topicI am an Anime Feminist. Ask Me Anything
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all-tsun-and-no-dere
ANN Reviewer
Posts: 671 |
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I've seen a lot of rumor and accusations flying around about the ultimate aim of progressive anime criticism, especially the website Anime Feminist.
If you haven't heard of us, Anime Feminist is a site dedicated to feminist criticism and analysis of anime, manga, and video games. We run articles from a wide variety of contributors all over the world with the goal of creating a space where people can discuss the content they love with like-minded fellow fans, and get paid for doing it. I am a writer and editor for Anime Feminist, and I'm here to answer questions and clear up any misconceptions you may have about the site. Please note that I'm here on my own and not as an official site representative - there are questions I won't be able to answer either because they're confidential about the site or I just plain don't know. I can also only answer for myself - we're not a hive mind, and my colleagues and I frequently have different opinions. To kick things off: Why do you hate anime? I don't. Why do you hate sex/Why are you such a prude? I don't and I'm not. Why do you hate men? I don't. Are you trying to get Crunchyroll to ban fan service anime? No. |
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NickPenrhyn
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EDIT: Removed my questions because they're off-topic and too promotional. This is clearly in response to how users here view the site and discussion about it, so it's not for actual site business I think. My apologies.
Last edited by NickPenrhyn on Sat Dec 08, 2018 11:28 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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all-tsun-and-no-dere
ANN Reviewer
Posts: 671 |
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At the level, we've hit the point where we can start building quick and easy recommendations lists including general-purpose, LGBT rep, and family-friendly. The next thing we want to do is have a review database that makes it easy to search for reviews, and after that build an AniFem store with branded merchandise. The biggest goal for our Patreon level is to pay our managing editor a livable salary with benefits, so she can quit her day job and devote herself to the site full-time. My personal dream is to curate resources on media literacy, with resources and discussion guides for teaching people how to think critically about popular media.
Our submissions form: https://www.animefeminist.com/community/submissions/ Pitches aren't always open, and we don't take every pitch. Still, I heartily encourage everyone interested to try submitting! |
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Crisha
Moderator
 Posts: 4290 |
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EDIT: The moderators have decided that the thread can remain open.
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Ryuji-Dono
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Question here - What other goals do you have in mind?
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all-tsun-and-no-dere
ANN Reviewer
Posts: 671 |
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I know our editor-in-chief wants to get into video essays, a greater convention presence up to possibly hosting our own, publishing books of essays, and possibly partnerships with like-minded publishing companies like Sparkler. Speaking in the abstract, my goal is ultimately education. I want people, especially children and teenagers, to think about the media they both consume and create, and be aware of what they may be conveying other than just entertainment. I want to promote media that portrays things like diverse characters, complex characters, and healthy relationships, and challenge the messages in series with negative portrayals in complex, nuanced ways. |
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Aylinn
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Don't you think that all kinds of characters and relationships should appear in media, even if they are unhealthy and characters are homophobes, blatantly sexists, etc.? I think such things appearing does not necessarily discredit series even if you look at shows from an ideological point of view. After all, relationships between characters in Utena are not among the healthiest and characters are not among the most likeable. |
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all-tsun-and-no-dere
ANN Reviewer
Posts: 671 |
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The answer is yes... but it's complicated. To start, I wouldn't really compare anything to Utena. Ikuhara as a storyteller is one-of-a-kind, and I would trust few creators to make anything remotely similar. Utena is a series with a distinct point-of-view that has a statement it wants to convey, and everything in it was written with intention around that point. So... Utena has incest? Yes, but it's part of a much grander statement about the function of power, roles, and relationships between people. Average "dude has a boner for his little sister" anime? Not so much. When I say I want to promote series that depict healthy relationships, that doesn't mean that I don't think stories depicting unhealthy relationships shouldn't exist; rather, that series with a healthy depiction are far, far too rare. When young people learn about the world through fiction, they lack healthy models to compare unhealthy ones to, and real life doesn't always make up the difference. SO. When do I take issue with major character flaws, like homophobia, abusiveness, etc.? It all comes down to framing, both visual and narrative. Framing invites you to sympathize or agree with certain characters and their choices, and conveys how severe a transgression is. That also interacts with the viewers' views, opinions, and cultural I'll start with one of my pet topics: abusive partners and how they're depicted in media. Let's take two examples: Boys Over Flowers and Nana. Both involve controlling, abusive boyfriends who the main character ends up marrying, but frame things very differently. In Boys Over Flowers, the boyfriend, Doumyoji, wields an enormous amount of power over the female protagonist, Tsukushi. One day, after declaring his intention to drive her out of their expensive private school for a petty slight, he corners her after school, pins her down, and starts to undo her clothes. It's a frightening, violent attack that switches to soft, romantic tones as he kisses her neck, then gently pats her on the head and tells her not to cry. After he walks away, she focuses not on the attempted rape but on the head pat and "don't cry." He is, in short, framed as merciful and therefore romantic. Later, she starts dating him, and he regularly acts violent, possessive, and cruel. And yet, by the end of the series, she marries him. In Nana, the main character Hachi gets pregnant through a one-night stand with the rock star Takumi, but doesn't find out until she's dating another guy. When he learns, he locks her in her room, calls her boyfriend, and tells the boyfriend that she will marry him. Later, when they're telling her roommate that they're moving out, he rapes her despite her protestations. Both scenes are tense and harrowing, and they make it clear that Takumi is abusive and there's nothing romantic about his behavior. Hachi DOES marry him and they have good times, but that undercurrent of control and the threat of what will happen if she defies him remains ever-present. Both feature abusive boyfriends who assault and seek to control the heroines. The difference here is that Doumyouji is constantly forgiven within the narrative, even if other characters get mad at him, and in the end he gets the girl - even though he honestly deserves to be arrested. With Takumi, however, the framing makes it abundantly clear that his behavior is harmful and is making Hachi miserable. (They also end up estranged, as several flash forwards demonstrate.) (And yet, there are people who think Takumi and Hachi are a good character because, again, no one ever taught them what abuse looks like, and many media treat abusive behaviors as romantic.) Or take Yosuke in Persona 4. I really love the character writing in Persona 4, for the most part, and I appreciate that the characters coming to terms with their flaws is an important part of the narrative. However, Yosuke's homophobia is never addressed and treated as a funny gag. No one calls him out for it; it's not part of his arc at all. That permissiveness sends the message to its teenage audience that his homophobic bullying is annoying but acceptable at best, and funny and cool at worst. This differs from, say, antiheroes who love to steal or murder because most people don't need to be told those things are wrong... or at least illegal. However, there's still a lot of people out there who don't realize that homophobia is wrong and gay people aren't a punchline, so they may take cues from the character. I'm not saying every piece of fiction should be a morality play! But it's important that people are capable of unpacking what stories are saying, intentionally or not.[/i] |
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Zalis116
Moderator
 Posts: 6902 Location: Kazune City |
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Were you aware that the pronoun errors in the ANN Land of the Lustrous description have been fixed?
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RyukoSuzakuTorisMikage
Posts: 8 |
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why do most female Naruto or bleach characters have under matured view points or personalty,s.?
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Debus
Posts: 12 |
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What do you think about Goblin Slayer?
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Ggultra2764
 Subscriber Posts: 3984 Location: New York state. |
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What are your thoughts on some of the... less consensual means that characters make perverted advances on one another within ecchi and hentai titles that border into sexual abuse or rape depending on the actions of the one initiating the act and how unwilling the recipient of it is?
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all-tsun-and-no-dere
ANN Reviewer
Posts: 671 |
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I haven't seen it, so I can't speak authoritatively about it. It doesn't sound like something I'd enjoy, and life is too short to watch anime I'm not into, unless I feel compelled to write about it. That said, based on what I've heard and read about the series, I don't really care for narratives that have sexual assault baked into the world, or women threatened with rape by some sort of other. It echoes a persistent belief held by men in many cultures that their women are under attack by a marginalized group. This belief denies women agency and taps into how culturally women are viewed as property. It can, and often does, fuel violence. Not that I think that the author of Goblin Slayer believes this! I don't know what they believe. But the parallels are there, and I believe they're worthy of discussion.
This is a really roundabout way of asking what I think about rape porn! I personally really hate it and have zero interest in stories that fetishize assault. I understand that it's a common fetish and reading it doesn't mean you'll commit assault or deserve to be assaulted, but there's still pieces missing to the puzzle. A lot of people don't really understand consent very well and, according to things I've read, the situation is often even worse in Japan. If this is how people learn about sex without knowing what healthy sexuality and consent look like, some of them are going to think this is what's normal. The solution is not to ban things, but to make sure people have a better understanding of what is and is not acceptable in reality. |
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鏡
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Did you end up writing an article on DITF inspired by my posts?
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Debus
Posts: 12 |
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Noting that you haven't seen it, I don't know if we can have a proper discussion. But saying that sexual assault is "baked into the world" is a statement that I disagree with. It's not about "viewing women as property". It's about the fact that sexual assault and violence often go together. Goblin Slayer is one of the few series I've seen that acknowledges the reality of violence and sexual assault. In reality, if you had a "party of adventurers" who were mostly female, and they attacked a group of "bloodthirsty bandits", and the adventurers LOST.... then yes the women would almost certainly be sexually assaulted. That is just fact. That's what really hit me when watching the Goblin Slayer series, that sexual violence existed and was a real threat. I do appreciate that you said that you don't know what the author of Goblin Slayer was thinking. That's a lot more nuanced that most of the criticism about the series. I also don't know what he's thinking, but I didn't get the feeling that the author thinks women were any "less" than men. |
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