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thespectacularspider-girl:
Male gaze.
It seems to me that people immediately shout “male gaze” or sexism when it comes to so many things. Yet we continue to find out that women are the ones doing this.
We see female comic artists or game designers putting characters into sexy clothes. We see female directors suggesting/urging a topless version of a video. We see female cosplayers enjoy dressing up as sexy characters and strutting their stuff.
Why is it that we see men who are ill proportioned, super muscled and super powerful as ‘male power fantasies’, yet people immediately get their back up about sexy female characters?
Maybe we need to start acknowledging that many women like the idea of being sexy, of dressing up sexy or otherwise imagining themselves as sexy. Maybe we need to consider what the ‘female power fantasy’ is and if that coincides with what we often see in comics or video games.
I have some more examples!
Created by Clamp, and all female team of manga-ka: their lead artist, Mokona has expessed in quite a few interviews her love of drawing topless women.
DearS by Peach-pit, a duo of two women
Sailor Moon characters as drawn by Naoko Takeuchi
Terra 3 as drawn by Amanda Conner
Eh, a beach shot ain’t the best example you could give for Sailor Moon.
Let’s talk about the Sailor Starlights’ outfits:
And Sailor Lead Crow
And Sailor Aluminum Siren
NOW LET’S GET TO ANOTHER SERIES.
Hyperdimension Neptunia, as well as Fairy Fencer F and Date a Live. Although I’ll be using Neptunia exclusively because…
These are all drawn by the same woman, Tsunako.
Tsunako has also expressed that this is her favorite character to draw:
…in fact, Tsunako unashamedly owns a Purple Heart oppai mousepad, which she actively uses at her work desk. Like this one:
And this is what she looks like:
NOW FOR ANOTHER FUN FACT, ABOUT BAYONETTA IN PARTICULAR!
The game’s male creator, Hideki Kamiya, actually had little part in designing Bayonetta. All he did was tell Mari Shimazaki he wanted a “stylish, traditional witch, with glasses.”
And so, Shimazaki designed this, a character she describes as her personal power fantasy:
BUT THERE’S MORE!
As it turns out, Hideki Kamiya’s ideal design was actually not put into Bayonetta, but rather, her rival turn partner, Jeanne:
Who, as you can obviously see, is not nearly as sexualized as Bayonetta.
In fact, Jeanne only really seems sexualized in Bayonetta 2…
…but still not as sexualized as Bayonetta, And once again, her design and demeanor is still meant to be “stylish.”
This is because Kamiya wanted something more stylish and fashionable, whereas Shimazaki actually wanted something sexy.
And now, she actually projects herself onto Bayonetta, saying Bayonetta is the type of woman she wishes to be.
And yet Kamiya gets blamed for the sexy design and personality of Bayonetta, even though he personally prefers Jeanne and Bayo is certainly more Shimazaki’s character than his.
And since I’m gushing here, I’d also like to point out a fun fact about Shimazaki. She was not a character designer to begin with, but rather, a fashion designer. She was hired to do the designs for the characters because, obviously, a fashion designer would do “stylish” best.
And personally, I find that to be cool as hell.
@medicphisto
Women also like to buy sexy art and comics with sexy women in them. Lady Death and Tarot- Witch of the Black Rose are always touted as examples of how horrible the male gaze is, but women are huge fans of these comics and idolize the sexy characters. Women like sexy just as much as men do, but we are shamed for it or called bad feminists, which I think is another way to attempt to control womens’ sexuality. But what do I know, I publish adult comics…. (which sell quite well to women….)
Just because women are creating this content does not mean it is not a product of the Male Gaze. Part of recognizing the patriarchal control of our society is realizing that it affects everyone within it. Men may be the source of the Male Gaze, but anyone can contribute to the sexualization, dehumanization, and body policing that the Male Gaze and Patriarchy in general create. Anyone who thinks they are not at all influenced by society at large is deluding themselves.
Any content creator is obviously free to create what they want, but that does not make them free from criticism. When a large segment of the feminist community is criticizing an artwork for its sexualization of women, prehaps the proper response is not to clamp your hands over your ears and claim a female creator as if it were immunity.
Women can internalize misogny. Women can internalize the Male Gaze. Women can work with the Patriarchy to oppress other women. All women are sisters in the eyes of feminism, but sisterhood does not grant immunity from criticism.
What infantizling bullshit.
Apparently women are so weak and helpless that we can’t exert our own autonomy and enjoy or create things that we want to do, no it has to be because we’re’brainwashed’ by the ‘patriarchy’.
If you’re saying that women are somehow not immune to ‘male gaze’ then why is it that when men make big beefcake characters we don’t call it ‘female gaze’? No, it gets called ‘male power fantasy’ even then maybe men are making characters they like and women like too.
Christ. You entirely undercut women, treat us like we’re weak. Heaven forbid we might actually like this stuff because it is our own power fantasy, just like how a lot of male characters are male power fantasies.
What happens when a woman decides to cosplay as Bayo? Or Powergirl? Hm? Does she also lose autonomy and do it for ‘male gaze’ and male attention? That sounds an awful lot like slut shaming to me. IF not, why is it that the rules suddenly change when it is cosplay, not a woman creating her own character.
And hey, its amazing when you, some dude who blinded by their own ego, decides to champion shit like ‘male gaze’, a theory developed well before mainstream LGBT rights and presence. I guess gay and bisexual women don’t exist, right? We can’t like a woman’s butt and enjoy sexual content, right? What about gay men, huh? Is it still a male power fantasy when a gay dude thinks Nightwing has a great ass?
The fucking double standards you’re upholding with your comment is astounding. The condescension you’re giving off. The infantalization of women. The downright fetishization of womankind.
Guess what, boyo. You’re the one who doesn’t respect women. Not with your attitude.
t wetsand: what i dont understand is what you and certain feminists find so alarming/threatening about women being sexualized in media or even being seen as sexual creatures anyway. after all, it was 2nd wave feminism that brought about sexual liberation for women so they could openly and freely express themselves as sexual creatures without being labeled worthless whores and home-wreckers. now i guess we’ve come around the bend to telling women that being sexual is ok, but just not when it could please a guy, because then it’s oppressive, and if you got the thirst for male attention, or sexual attention at all, you’ve got a case of internalized misogyny. do you understand how moronic that all sounds?
maybe instead of getting up-and-arms about the subjective attractiveness of women in media (particularly fictional ones) you could maybe expel some of your energy fighting for a feminist cause that actually benefits disenfranchised women in countries that do not have the same liberties that you, a well-off, middle-class american (and im guessing white and college-age?) have.
here’s a link to some charities you can waste your time and money on. not that i think youll actually visit the site and look into donating to a charity. because who has time for THAT when you can just piss and moan on tumblr about how THE MALE SPECIES ruin everything.
Of COURSE the one coming in to be all “WELL, ACTUALLY” on this subject and the idea that women are creating these things for their OWN satisfaction would be a dude.
When I was growing up and teaching myself to draw comics, I imitated everything I saw, especially Jim Lee and Joe Mad’s X-Men runs. A lot of my female characters had big boobs, skimpy clothes, and struck sexy poses for no reason. I got nothing out of it, it’s just How Things Were Done Apparently. Later on I would come to enjoy living vicariously through superstrong hot ladies, but that’s not how it began. I was mimicking how it was done in a medium that I enjoyed, but was not made with me in mind.
Just adding all this to say female creators don’t grow in a vacuum. The “influenced by male gaze” argument isn’t entirely invalid. It can be repurposed/reclaimed into female empowerment, sure. But don’t be so quick to shout down people who point out that the influences may have been less than savory.