Sexism In Anime

Historically, like almost every single culture in the world, Japan has always been a male dominant society. Although there are exceptions, women are generally treated as inferior beings whose goal in life is to serve the men. They are expected to take care of the house and rear the children while the men work to bring their family an income. This is very similar to European society, where wo

The idea that women are inferior creatures is still present in modern Japanese culture. In a typical household, women are generally expected to take orders from their husbands and run the business of the house. Meanwhile, the husband would work from day to night in order to provide the family with an income. Although career-seeking women exist, they are generally the last to get hired and the first to get fired. According to Anne Cooper-Chen, “In cultures like Japan’s, women and men occupy different places; few women hold professional or technical jobs, and they tend to be segregated from men in education” (7). With their lack of control in the workforce, the anime and manga industry, occupied mostly by men, would naturally include elements of sexism.

men faced the same treatment as their eastern counterpart. One notable difference between the two though is that some Japanese women are taught the art of the samurai and how to utilize the naginata. However, even here a gender barrier is placed on them, for they are not allowed to touch the sword, a man’s weapon. Also they are not allowed to commit suicide by cutting open the abdomen, an honor only the men can participate in (Izawa 2). This tradition of sexual oppression continues even in modern day Japan.

Despite all the elements of feminism in the storyline, Bubblegum Crisis does include many stereotypical sexist components that are found in other anime. The first thing that comes to mind is the drawing of the females themselves. Although there are rarely gratuitous shots of the women, they are drawn to have very “feminine” features. With the suits on, they still have the look of a very idealized body of a woman, including slinky long legs, visible hips, narrow waists and breastplates. Thus, instead of rendering them genderless or more macho, the suits enhance their female features. Also, if one checks out the promotional shots on the video covers, one can see the main female character Priss totting a gun on one hand while bursting out of her exosuit. The shot also partially exposes her breasts and shows her with a playful look on her face. This is clearly done to attract the attention of male consumers who might be attracted to the flashing guns and the beautiful woman. Thus “it becomes clear that Priss’ body is primarily being utilized for sex appeal” (Ruh 10).

Generally speaking, a majority of anime and manga are created by men. Since the gender roles are so strictly emphasized in Japanese culture, one might theorize that the media would also remain segregated. However this is not the case, since a majority of the modern anime is create

Some topics in this essay:
Dragonball Tenchi, Bubblegum Crisis, Eri Izawa, Brian Rah, Anne Allison, Sharon Kinsella, AD Police, Anne Cooper-Chen, Knight Sabers, Ministry Education, anime manga, found anime, japanese culture, strong independent, izawa 5, modern japanese, elements sexism, anime manga industry, women portrayed, family income, fighting crime, modern japanese cultural,