Vogue is an American fashion magazine that has been published since 1892. It generally features features on major fashion brands, such as Christian Dior, Prada, Chanel, gucci, D&G, valentine, fendi and givenchyhowever, on other occasions they also share some opinion articles, and it was one of these that gave people something to talk about recently.
With over a hundred years of history, obviously Vogue it already has publishing divisions around the world, and one of them is Japanese. This division published an article on the occasion of the International Women’s Dayto be held on March 8, criticizing the sexism that persists in Japanese culture and is “transported” abroad in the form of manga and anime.
The article is quite long, but we can narrow it down if we only focus on the section that mentions the manga and anime industry. The rest talk about the low participation of the female sex in the government in Japan and in other positions of power in the territory. Anyway, let’s review what brings us together today:
«It is an indisputable fact that Japanese anime and manga culture enjoys great popularity abroad, but there is one aspect of it that young Americans are very concerned about. In April 2022, a full-page advertisement for the “Tawawa on Monday” manga appeared in the morning edition of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper and became controversial. Anime News Network, a popular news website for anime fans, was the first to pick up the news in the United States.».
«The article introduced a comment from a Young Magazine official, who explained the intent of the ad by saying that the cartoon featuring a big-breasted high school girl was intended to cheer up and allay employees’ anxiety on their way to work. It also quoted Kae Ishikawa (石川雅恵), UN Women Japan Office Director, who protested against this illustration.».
«Ishikawa commented: “This ad just reflects the male view of ‘this is what I want schoolgirls to do’ and gives schoolgirls the idea that ‘the only way to satisfy men is through sexual attraction’. By advertising anime that clearly depicts underage women as male sexual objects, you risk promoting stereotypes that impose these roles on women.“».
«Meanwhile, the popularity of Japanese animation and manga, with its high quality and wide variety of genres, has taken the world by storm, with the first Japan Expo held in Paris in 2000, and anime conventions held in the United States. United States and throughout Asia. In this context, Fair Planet, known for its human rights journalism, states that “now that the popularity of anime has spread throughout the world, this is not just a problem in Japan”».
«“In Japanese manga and anime, underage female characters are sexualized, career women are turned into villains, and there are many sexist themes, such as scenes of sexual assault that are allowed as an expression of affection.“, they explain. Furthermore, citing an example from a 2017 study, he stated that “it is clear that manga and anime, which often reflect deep-rooted gender stereotypes, promote sexist perceptions in the population“. They also point out that the hypersexualization of female characters in Japanese anime and manga has contributed to “Asian female fetishism” by the West».
«In 2014, Japan officially banned the possession of child pornography. The UN later called for the ban to be extended to include manga and anime, but the Japanese government has not complied. In addition, the absence of this type of regulation means that, even now, cartoon ads with sexually explicit content unexpectedly appear on the screens of smartphones. Critics argue that classifying manga and anime as child pornography violates people’s freedom of expression, an issue that must continue to be debated.».
Fountain: Vogue
The entry Now they claim that ‘anime is propaganda of machismo’ was first published on Kudasai.
