Forum - View topicREVIEW: Confessions of a Shy Baker GN 1
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wolf10
 Posts: 928 |
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In defense of Kozue, most of my (possibly dated) reading in Japanese on the subject suggests that "LGBT" is about as long as the great initialism has gotten over there, and it might not have made sense to localize it to something longer (and it's still infinitely better than the alternatives). I suspect leaving that take there will be enough to summon someone to correct me.
This sounds like a good one for my "trial read at bookstore first" list. The first chapter is free in Japanese and I already feel myself slowly dying from cringe. The neighborhood I live in is rife with that kind of allyship, and not just from straight girls (I think they're a little unfairly singled out, honestly). "We're LGBTQIA++ friendly!" "I don't think the coffee can tell the difference." |
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a_Bear_in_Bearcave
Posts: 548 Location: Poland |
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Yeah, that was really weird to me. In my corner of the world, people either react to term "LGBT" positively or (often very) negatively, I'm not in the community myself but I really, really doubt anybody here would care if office was "LGBT" friendly, "LGBTA+" friendly or "LGBTQIA+" or "QUILTBAG+" friendly, they would only care about the "friendly" part.
Also I don't think caring about someone's weight seems suspicious at all? Being fat sucks, no one wants to be fatter if they can avoid it, I'd expect anyone in established relationship to know if their partner feels negatively about their weight, especially if they're foodie as well. |
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musouka
Posts: 718 |
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Yeah, I also feel like I need to defend Kozue, at least a little bit. I think the manga struck a good balance between showing how she could be obnoxious--especially to gay people--but still ultimately well-meaning. Becoming an ally is a learning process, too.
On the other hand, I'm a little surprised that Gon's casual sexism didn't get a mention. From saying Kozue should be fired from her job because he assumes she's trying to dig into her boss's personal life, to assuming elderly women can't be sexually harassed. I think this is even more explicit in the second volume, but it's absolutely one of Gon's flaws as a character, which I also think is purposeful along the lines of Toshimitsu's refusal to even go out to eat because he's petrified someone might clock him and his boyfriend as gay. |
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Toyokaaaa
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Maybe because I live in a homophobic country and being a part of "+" in "LGBT+", I don't see a problem of using just "LGBT" instead of extended versions of the acronym. So I'm one of those who would react with joy at "LGBT friendly" sign instead of seeing it as "less inclusive". But maybe it's a difference in priorities.
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wolf10
Posts: 928 |
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Apologies for putting my first-world problems on display. People often do genuinely mean well, but sometimes having constant reminders of just how accepted you are has the opposite psychological effect, especially when experience has already taught you otherwise. I suppose it can be said that in countries (or even just cities) where such signs can be proudly displayed, there's no need to put up a sign to begin with. I live along a Pride parade route, so seeing how quickly the flags go up and then down year after year has left me a bit jaded.
(That there have now been many revisions and amendments to the LGBT initialism, and even more revisions to the standard pride flag, is also a topic with many diverse perspectives, to put it very mildly. SGM ("sexual and gender minorities") has been proposed as a more durable umbrella, but that's going really off topic now. (You can look it up!)) And now I have to apologize for parenthesizing like Faulkner. 
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 2648 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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I think that's largely true. In the book, Kozue only starts talking about how the longer version is better after she's attended the sensitivity class, and Yamamura is shown as not really having strong feelings one way or another, which leads to her basically queersplaining the whole thing. I admit that that's mostly where my dislike of the character comes from - a few too many people "kindly explaining" my own sexuality to me.  I think that's why Gonta doesn't like her as well - it's nothing to do with her being a woman and everything to do with his past experiences with well-meaning would-be allies. But I'll keep an eye on that in volume two, musouka, because you're right, I could easily see it being more about (or just as much about) casual sexism.
I think this may be a cultural thing, or just a different experiences thing. What can look like caring to one person can look like fat shaming to another. This isn't that at all - it really is just caring - but to someone sensitive to the issue it could raise a red flag. (A few eating disorders in the family make this something I pay attention to.) |
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wolf10
Posts: 928 |
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I can agree that characters like Kozue, even just having a series like this, can have value. Sometimes the nicest form of allyship really is just saying nothing and carrying on. |
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SaneSavantElla
 Posts: 250 Location: Philippines |
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I'm sure it's better than nothing, but as someone who works in a company that espouses "diversity & inclusion" as part of its corporate culture, I always feel the hypocrisy that abounds in the workplace. Not only that the understanding of sex and gender diversity stops at LGBT with most not even knowing there is a + after it (or that it matters), it's also very clear that the company's idea of teamwork is to discourage any form of individuality and divergence from the norm. If anything, I've become more wary of any business that uses their "<insert>-friendly" as a selling point.
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SHD
Posts: 1759 |
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Yes, I'm in the same boat - being a queer person living in a country where homophobia is pretty much government policy (to the point where ads showing non-heterosexual couples get taken down, and rainbows and rainbow color schemes in general are considered "gay propaganda" and getting removed from schools/etc.), and even most well-meaning people are not very well-informed about the finer aspects of of sexual/gender identity, even I, but many other activist groups as well, tend to use simply “LGBT" or "LGBT+" when talking to "lay people" about the topic in a not specifically educational context, because that's really as far as their understanding (and honestly, their interest) is expected to go. And I guess this is kind of sad, but even lip service or rainbow-washing level "LGBT friendliness" makes me feel a bit happy because to me it reads as a sliver of civilization, so to speak. Then again, this discussion just goes to show how sensibilities differ in various cultures (and I guess even subcultures). This review being for a release mainly targeting North American readers I suppose the target audience would indeed notice something like this right away. I now wonder if the manga has been released elsewhere as well, and how people are reacting to it there. |
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