In the past, I tend not to talk about these issues.. Sadly, it has gotten to the point that the mainstream media is using them as a scapegoat for all these issues including sites like Anime News Network inserting politics to some of their reviews, thus the discussion becomes polarized. In some cases, this eventually lead to censorship and lack of localization while people shaming others who enjoy these types of media.
I have shared some thoughts about this in the past, but not in full because the issue is very controversial. With that, I want to share my full thoughts about this topic hopefully in a balanced matter.
You might be wondering, why this issue matters to me? While I consider myself as a progressive and support equal rights for all people, it seems troubling that people tend to blame media like video games and anime to the point that they are used as a scapegoat for everything that happens. We have seen this many times when a mass shooting happens, some groups blame video games for causing the violence. Moreover, the oversensitivity culture is also ruining media as well with content being censored and features removed.
The thing that bothers me is that the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women wants to push Japan to ban or censor all fanservice and erotic content because it’s sexist against women. To make matters worst, there was another cringe-worthy article I saw a while back that suggest that watching moe anime causes people to become sex offenders, which is outrageous since the author lack facts to back up her claims that this is actually the case.
While the portrayal of female characters is still a controversial issue, the problem I see with the arguments from these groups is that they seem to lack hard evidence that playing video games will cause someone to become sexist towards women or watching a show become a sexual offender. To me, this is the type of argument in which a study is done and eventually come back with a result that there is no link to that said issue. Jack Thompson tried to link video games to violence and he ultimately failed.
Regardless, some video game companies, namely Nintendo decided to censor out or rather dumb down their works out of the fear of receiving backlash from some of these groups that in most cases don’t plan on buying the game to begin with. Of course, these changes anger most fans as they are not able to play the game with all the content. This is evident with the removal of the petting feature in Fire Emblem Fates along with poor quality translations, removal of some costumes in Fatal Frame (despite the game being rated Mature) and the chest size slider being omitted in Xenoblade Chronicles X. Moreover, Dead or Alive Extreme 3 is not being localized out of fear from a potential backlash with Idea Factory deciding not localizing certain games to the west.
To me, I feel that these groups are focusing too much energy on first-world problems instead of focusing on the actual issues. Sure, I wish that there are more stories with capable female protagonists, but I think they should be using their energy to work on the real issues such as fighting for equal pay, paid maternity leave, expanding access to birth control, etc. instead, they go on a crusade against video games, anime, etc. just because it offends them for any reason. I think the reason why it’s easier to strongly attack creative media and forcefully insert politics into a discussion rather than fighting for equality because the latter takes more effort to get results.
I feel that feminism have sadly diverged away from the goals of 2nd wave feminism, a movement that actually fought for equal rights for women (such as voting and reproductive rights to name a few). Aside from adding identity politics into the mix, I feel that the movement today have devolved into the whole “this offends me” type of thing, which in turn hampers any discussion of creative work people enjoy since it becomes heated rather quickly. Moreover, these people also name-calling or insult people who enjoy these types of media and people who don’t necessarily agree with their argument, even if it’s backed up with valid facts and studies.
To me, this kind of behavior undermines the whole movement not because they are complaining about first world problems, but for the fact that they can’t take criticism when someone doesn’t agree with their argument. Aside from the usual name-calling, they will accuse the person that they are being harassed and will try to do mass blocking campaign to get the person who criticized them banned on social networks like Twitter. In some cases, someone have gone to jail for disagreeing with them, which is insane. This is why I don’t want to get involved. Aside from the discussions in most cases being toxic, most people in general are uninterested. People just want to enjoy their video games, anime, etc. and discuss about it.
In the end, people need to realize that inserting politics into everything just ruins everything since it eventually plays with our emotions. This is probably why localized copies of video games come censored with changed dialogs and removed content or even worse, not getting a release outside of Japan or Asia nowadays. Companies are afraid of the backlash from these activists who find everything offensive will go out their way to tarnish their reputation for not conforming with his or her beliefs.
I think things need to go back to the status quo when political correctness meant avoiding speech that can be hateful like radical slurs to intentionally insult certain groups of people while media companies don’t have to worry about receiving backlash for making games like Dead or Alive Extreme 3. I am against censorship as the next guy, but at the end of the day, freedom of speech does not give anyone the right to say anything they want without the potential of being criticized or facing consequences if someone says something that is stupid or genuinely offensive. If a one can’t take criticism for an opinion or statement he or she made, the person should probably not say it at all. However, people have no right to silence other people’s views just because he or she disagrees. As said many times, people are entitled to their opinion no matter if you agree or not.
Lastly, if one finds a piece of media offensive, just vote with your wallet and don’t buy or watch it. Nobody is forcing anyone to watch a show or play a game that you do not like. Sure, anyone is entitled to his or her opinion and discuss the aspects one doesn’t like, but nobody has the right to go around and try to have a game banned or pressure companies to censor content because you don’t like it and suppress other people’s point of view. There are other people out there that might enjoy it. Companies should be able to create works they envisioned without the fear of being told what they can or cannot make as long it’s in the boundaries of the law.
In other words, activists need to focus on the actual issues that matter instead of becoming over-sensitive over things that are trivial. It’s okay to discuss about these issues from these works in a rational matter as long you keep an open mind and keep in mind that media in most cases are fictional. Don’t forget, anime and manga are made for a Japanese audience in mind and they might not conform to western views.
In short, this comic should sum up everything up I said in this long post:
With that, what are your thoughts about this issue? Feel free to share, but please keep it civil.
How did you get from “Banning the sale of video games or cartoons involving sexual violence against women” (from the article) to “ban or censor all fanservice and erotic content”?
What series do you watch that feature sexual violence against women that you’d call moe? Rape isn’t exactly cute.
The article is a bit click-baity, but of course I am against rape since it’s immoral and of course it happens to both genders. Of course I would never play these games. Still, given how broad the definition of “sexual violence,” it can become a slippery slope to ban games that are not eroge, but have sexual content. Regardless, they have every right to exist even if I would never play these types of games. Responsible adults should understand the difference between reality and fiction. If we go around and remove things all these things that offends people, it limits the creativity and you would be left with works that are uninteresting. Like I said, if you find a work that is offensive, just don’t watch it or buy it.
As for the psychiatrist suggesting a link between sexual offenses and moe characters, that is a different issue which pretty much play in the same playbook as video games causes violence, which is disproven several times.
It’s gotten to the point where these types of people who claim to be progressive aren’t actually progressive at all, they are ultra far leftists. They put their self-entitlement before everything else first and foremost, anything and everything that makes them feel insecure are automatically targets for their political attacks, including entire sexual and ethnic groups. You can’t have free forms of expression or you’ll offend them otherwise. Comedians doing dark comedy, which satirizes terrible things? Nah, too problematic, try plain comedy instead. In real life situations, even choosing to simply ignore them because you don’t want to cause trouble will bring offense to them (especially if you happen to be a man, white, and straight – I only barely fit that bill because I’m Asian). That kind of mindset will bring society backwards rather than progress it, because it’s honestly extremely infantile and it makes the rest of us look like a joke. I mean, can anyone who claims being interested in another culture is “cultural appropriation and bad” possibly be progressive?
It’s even more ridiculous when you get into the subject of fictional works. Can’t have an evil racist character or a villain that also happens to be a rapist, because it totally means the creators are insinuating such acts/beliefs are A-OK even though said characters are -villains-. Can’t design an attractive female character without discord, even though males with unrealistic bodies are just as commonplace., especially in video games.
In terms of anime, I find it terribly in-line with the pattern of self-hating BS western otaku love. Being an overly-sensitive “political activist” and being an anime fan at the same time might sound like a contradiction, but in that regard, it makes sense. I personally have to put in an effort to enjoy anime discussions, as in finding crowds that aren’t of the type that would ever be found writing for ANN.
Yes, that is a big problem. As you mention, these people claim they are progressives when they are not. Progressives like Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft, and Woodrow Wilson in US history that fought for reform and equal rights. The people you mentioned are far from that and more focused on self-entitlement and overly sensitive. This is why there are things like safe-spaces and trigger warnings so that they can be protected from things that offends them, even if there is historical context. They get offended so that they can get what they want and keep pushing the goal posts as well.
I think free speech and expression is very important, but as mentioned, freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences. This is the thing that should deter people from saying things that are truly offensive. However, it seems that these groups of people think that freedom of speech should be limited because it will offend them. As you mention, satire might use dark comedy to prove a certain message they are trying to convey in a funny manner. Aside from the whole CancelColbert thing which is very cringeworthy considering that I am an Asian myself, it seems that the person that I do not want to mention did not get the context of Colbert’s joke and automatically be offended by it. This is probably why companies are afraid of including content and deciding to censor, remove features and decide not to localize content at all, which is a lose-lose situation to everyone in the end.
To me, I kind of blame the parents why some people are overly sensitive and self-entitled. Of course if parents spoil the crap out of them and never let them experience the real world when they are growing up, then of course I can see why things are like what they are. There is no wonder there are hundreds and thousands of articles about millennial being lazy, self-entitled, spoiled, egotistical, narcissistic, etc even if there is a good portion that don’t fit these stereotypes.
But yes, its sad that people tend to look down people who like anime in general. This is probably why I don’t look too highly of ANN considering that they insert politics into everything. Don’t need to say any futher.
In other news a liberal reaps the whirlwind that he sowed. Also, the original goals of feminism lol. Feminists always were about the power grab, never about equal rights.
If you are talking about modern feminism, then yes, it’s less about fighting for woman’s rights and more about a power grab nowadays, hence which is why we have . This is probably why people should focus more on egalitarianism, equality of all humans regardless of gender, religion, sexual orientation, etc., which of course would deal with woman’s rights as well as other rights of other groups.
Feminism was totally relevant to equal rights back when women did actually get the short end of the stick. I don’t think we should discredit that.
Now that we actually do have equal rights in the United States though, it pretty much IS about the power grab. Otherwise they would literally be fighting for nothing. Like the people who complain about wage gaps between a male engineer and a female gender studies major (why can’t they just change their major in engineering? They have that right.). Right now it’s just a bunch of self-entitled fascists and racists, with herd mentality followers and misinformed kids going along for the ride. There are even postmodern feminist/social justice college students that want to ban Martin Luther King’s speech from of all people because it’s “color-blind”, it’s crazy…
That isn’t to say all people who call themselves feminists are unreasonable, but personally I think If anyone even remotely supports equality and calls themselves a feminist this day and age, they’re doing it wrong. Unless they’re being active in fighting against women being treated like cattle in Middle East… which a lot of them aren’t. As chikorita157 said, egalitarianism makes more sense (though that isn’t to say that couldn’t get hijacked too, I have that little faith now).
As they say, life choices makes a big difference in how much people get paid… so of course as you mention, comparing the wages of woman working as a social worker compared to a male who works in the tech industry. It doesn’t make much sense since different industries pay differently. If it was apples to apples comparison with a woman and a man working in the same job with the same work experience and there is a pay gap there, then it’s an issue.
But at the end of the day, I feel that it can be said as a power grab. Looking at one of the reactions of the Ghostbusters movie that has an all female cast, the same people come back and complain again because one of the characters are racist. It just shows the pushing of goal posts to push their own agenda and make themselves feel important. There is no wonder people keep going on and say that millennials are the worst generation, it’s because of how a minority behaves. I won’t be surprised if they will hijack every movement that supports equality in the name of special.