Have I recieved your attention?
Good.
So, what's bothering me right now? Last month they had a Finnish animeconvention in Lahti called Desucon. I wasn't there and that's not what I'm going to rant about, but after that event social media got a bit nasty here, in Finland, for a while it seems. I didn't follow it completely and because of that some might think that I don't have any right to even talk about it. But when tits and asses are the topic I get quite curious.
After a while, trying to find out who did what and why someone got upset, I got bored with it. There was just an opinion against another. No matter how carefully you plan (or avoid planning) your lecture, someone might be offended by something you said. And that someone has complete right to do that and leave the lesson.
What started bothering me, is that feminism has still the stamp of ugly and hypocritical -ism. And I don't actually wonder why, not anymore.
The comic that started it all can be read here:
Hourly comic for Desucon by Hanna-Pirita
It's in Finnish, and I apologize that I won't translate it all. (Now when I think of it, I should have written this in Finnish 'cause my English is, well, anything but fluent but then again my subject is extremely international)
So, how it all goes? First the artist goes to meido cafe to check if she could see any panties. Later, after the lesson where she felt that female body was taken as an object containing only tits and ass, and was sad about it, she realizes that the person in meido cafe might have felt that way too. To that point I'm fine. She has realized her "mistake". And then she hears that there is going to be a lesson (or something, it really doesn't matter and the comic doesn't tell) about relationships between homosexual men aka yaoi. She gets excited about it. I'm not sure what kind of yaoi-stuff they had there, but if you've ever read any yaoi, you might be familiar with the fact that yaoi isn't what you'd call realistic. At least not the stuff you can get here. At least what I've read. I might be wrong, of course. But in yaoiculture here in Finland there is quite a lot nudity, extremely fit/skinny bodies, totally gorgeous faces and some crossdressing too.
Now we're getting to it.
So basically, what she says is that it's wrong to take female body as an object, 'cause someone might not like it, but it's ok to do that to men. At least I see no difference between half-naked women and men. But then again, that might be just because of my sexuality.
I'm a huge, well, let's not say fan but somethin like that, of pornographic stuff like drawings and paintings. I don't like pornfilms that much, but stuff like superhero comics (what else are the costumes, but sexy outfits?), burlesque-ish photography, pin-up etc. you name it, I'll probably like it.
As a woman I don't feel like an object because of the unrealistic superhero paintings and drawings.
(What I don't like is the image of femalebody that fashionindustry tries to feed us. I don't like the stereotypical female character in anime either. But that's just my o p i n i o n. It doesn't insult me, as long as people don't expect all women be like that. If you feel that "kawaii" is your thing, then so be it.)
But the problem starts when people start to act like someone is an object. If you think that someone is hot, no problem, talk about it among your friends or fan sites. But going to someones skin just because s/he looks hot in what-ever-wearing, it's wrong
Some say, that because of the over-sexual world we're living in right now, the boundaries have started to fade. I know that some people complain about people staring at them when they are wearing bikinis, but then they do the same to men wearing shorts. Then they point out that the one looking at them was around his (mostly) fourtysomething. But the fact is, that it's not illegal to watch someone, who is grown up, on the beach. And if you look attractive, someone you might not consider hot may end up looking at as well. And before someone gets mad, the same goes with men/what ever you call your gender, checking can't be stopped, but anything that goes beyond that should.
The solution that has been suggested is that the bikini ads etc should be removed from the streets and mags and that women(or men). We should get less sexual.
I don't see that as an option. Rapes happen in every culture, and no matter how much clothes you wear, someone will consider it as sexy. Not so long ago showing your anckle was (at least almost) an invitation to sex. No matter how little you show, something is considered always as "fucking hot" or even slutty behaviour.
To be honest. I'm glad that I can wear short shorts and bikinis. I wouldn't go back in time, no matter how much I adore rococo clothing and many many other historical styles.
But by saying, that the problem is in the way we dress nowadays, people sound just plain ridiculous. Why? Read this paragraph again.
I'm not sure if I made any sense here, but I've started to understand why feminism is considered as hypocritical way of thinking or even women trying to overrule men in turn.
Still, I prefer calling myself a feminist, eventhough I draw tits, asses and dicks. And I don't feel like I'd be tired of being an object.
Have you ever heard a song called: "Are you tired of being an object?" by the Ark? If you haven't, you really should listen it.
Ps. I know that I've got too many subjects and too little about each in one update, but I just wanted to gag it all out in one. Sorry if I ended up with a mess.
