The City of Police Department Matsudo in the prefecture of Chiba, Japan launched a campaign to talk about cycling road safety aimed at young audiences. Unfortunately, he used an anime-like image that was criticized by various activist groups due to its sexualization.
The video of the local government campaign is starred by Linca Tojou, a V-Tuber known from the region. According to several people, her anime-like image, an underage girl with large breasts and a small waist, was not the best choice for this project.
For example, the Alliance of Feminist Representatives of the region wrote a letter directed to the police department to remove the video, as they point out that this anime image sexualizes the young schoolgirls, pointing out that their clothing resembles theirs, while their ‘big breasts sway every time you move’.
According to that letter, his appearance replicates a stereotypical and harmful vision for women.
For its part, Setsuko Itakura, president of the agency Art Stone Entertainment and owner of Linca Tojou, mentioned that: ‘She is not a student. She is part of a virtual world and wants to be a Japanese idol, so she wears clothes that an idol would wear. ‘
In fact, the president declares herself a feminist and questions the intentions of the Feminist Alliance: ‘My team is made up of pure women. The creators of this V-Tuber are women. Are they really feminists if they are actively against other women in this industry? ‘. In this way, he defended the use of this anime-like image.
Where does the problem with the over sexualization of women in anime come from?
This debate is not new, in recent years, Japanese pop culture (including anime) has been singled out for over-sexualizing women, especially minors.
Junko saeki, professor of media and gender at the Doshisha University comments that: ‘In the seventies, young Japanese idols wore little clothes. This was normalizing and we never questioned it. But now more and more we ask ourselves: who do we dress like this for? And, more and more women are speaking out against these gender roles. ‘
For example, the anime Sword Art Online It has been criticized for sexualizing its female underage protagonists. In fact, child sexual abuse is illegal in Japan, but not in the manga. According to Saeki, this is because “The image of young women and men is idealized.”
This image directly impacts people’s lives. Japanese women who grew up consuming products such as anime perceive youth as an integral part of beauty. Rachel lim, a 24-year-old student puts it like this: “Being young was the most important attraction a woman could have, turning 25 meant starting to decline.”
For its part, Meg Itoh 25-year-old, points out how problematic the lolita complex in the anime: ‘It’s hard to be the’ ideal ‘Japanese woman. Either you have to look like a girl or have an unrealistic breast size. ‘
What is the reaction of Japanese women to these representations?
For some women like Lim, 24, this idea of beauty and sexualization in anime is strongly internalized: “She thought that being fetishized or sexualized by older men meant that she was finally an adult, that she was considered beautiful.” And that is the main problem that Feminist Alliance points out in his letter.
Lim mentioned that Tojou he could dress as he wanted, just like other characters. But, the police knew that wearing a girl in revealing clothing would better sell their bike safety campaign: ‘This official decision was made by men with power who know this will sell and become popular.’.
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