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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:
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.
I don't watch much television or movie content, but what about the television show Landman? It seems like there are a lot of female characters who are basically there to be eye candy. For example:
In an early episode, there is a scene where some of the characters order coffee from a coffee shop called "Babes 'n Brew." The girl working the counter is an impossibly attractive young woman wearing a bikini top. By "impossibly," I mean that in real life you would pretty much never see a woman this attractive, dressed like that, working a job like that, in that part of the country.
One of the main characters, played by Billy Bob Thornton, has a college-aged daughter who is highly attractive and spends a lot of time parading around in a bikini.
In another scene, there is a drug smuggler type who is shown taking a call from Billy Bob Thornton's character while sitting in a strip club; in the background there are various unrealistically attractive women dancing around while wearing very little.
I do concede that the culture has become more hostile to this sort of fan service. For example, I remember the movie "The Fifth Element" from about 30 years ago. The movie has numerous attractive, sexily dressed female characters working in roles such as stewardess, receptionist, and fast food clerk. I think it would be hard to make a movie with roles like that today, in part due to the influence of feminism. But I also think there's another possible factor, which is that pornography has become so easily available that it's not as much of a selling point to include this sort of stuff in a movie.
... oddly enough, I was reading an article on Bikini Baristas just within the past week or two, and have no idea how I stumbled upon the link. Mught have been here, even. Or might have been in a discussion on submarines/sailors/shipbuilders. Who knows?
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