Botond173
25d ago
I was following with interest the recent discussion here on the degenerate nature of hardcore anime fandom and I find that there are aspects to this that nobody mentioned. In this comment I'd like to call attention to one of these. Namely:
I propose the argument that feminist ideology has reached a level of cultural influence in the West sometime around 2008-2012 where unironic* depictions of conventionally attractive, sexually alluring, non-girlboss female characters have become taboo in the eyes of normie women**.
*Unironic in the sense that it's by no means done for the purpose of ironically conveying some politicized message about the sad reality of the male gaze, societal sexism etc.
**That is, women that are either lipstick feminists or conform to the norms of the (surely present) lipstick feminist women in their social circle. In other words, the big majority of women, or at least of young urban women.
Since the Japanese anime industry does not abide by these cultural norms, the consequence of this is that anime as a whole is increasingly suspect in the eyes of normie/NPC women, which has at least two consequences of its own. One: the male partners and/or friends of these women, who are usually cucky and normie-oriented betas, evidently adopt the same view, which contribute to its spread. Two: this provides an incentive to notice, thematize and even embellish the off-putting manifestations of anime fandom.
I'd make two more related observations as potential food for thought from this very forum.
@urquan has made a somewhat similar point before: resolute (male) attempts to counter-signal against the taboo on sexual display in a workplace setting are intensely off-putting to normie women. (The difference here is between intensely off-putting and, well, merely off-putting.)
This comment by @WhiningCoil also caught my attention:
I managed to successfully drag my poor wife through Berserk, Last Exile, Akira and a handful of others. But the look she gives me in Evangelion when Shinji gets tangled up in a fresh out of the shower Rei and "accidentally" gropes her, it's hard to defend why that's in there. The sexposition in Game of Thrones was gratuitous (and kind of fun sometimes), but at least they were adults.
Considering that the Berserk franchise contains excessive amounts of brutal violence, horror and gore, and as does Game of Thrones, plus not only "sexposition" but also explicit sex, rape, incest etc., I find it telling that it was a groping scene (which, it should be mentioned, was unironically accidental) that finally crossed the line in her eyes.
And finally a general point: this entire phenomenon has no female counterpart. That is, we see no similar widespread disapproval of (more or less) goonerbait cultural material directed at women. In fact, it appears to me that there is a general push to normalize it.
Botond173
25d ago
But again, the broad consensus about anime is that it has become normalized, that is, it's being accepted to the mainstream and normies are consuming it to an increasing degree. The social phenomenon of evaporative cooling represents the complete opposite of this, namely when normie/moderate members leave a specific social circle.
Botond173
27d ago
I'd also add that the groping incident in question was indeed, unironically, accidental.
Botond173
27d ago
How would the social theory of evaporative cooling explain the phenomenon under discussion right here when there's broad consensus that anime consumption has been becoming more mainstream and acceptable in recent times?
Botond173
27d ago
I'm guessing OP was referring to the rather low population density of Wyoming and the isolated nature of local ranches.
Botond173
27d ago
It's funny that you mention Akira. I was once listening to a movie/film podcast episode about it and the guest participant was a woman teaching movie history and cinematography at a prominent university. The curriculum of one course of hers includes the history of Japanese animation and she said she also talks about Akira in detail as a part of this - even though she admitted she has never watched it until she was invited to the podcast. 'The most typical normie I can imagine', I told myself.
I'm guessing the intent was to inject light humor into an otherwise heavy scene that depicts the reality of depression.
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