This is going to be a serious fan girl rant. You have been warned. Also I apologize for any spelling and grammatical errors. I am speaking from my heart.
I am absolutely exhausted over the fact that feminists are concerned over Sailor Moon. While I was checking over added information on wikipedia I ran into this:
"Sailor Moon's character has been singled out as less-than-feminist because her favorite class is home economics and her least favorite is math."
Whatever happened to individualism? It is conspicuous to me that Usagi isn't allowed to be herself. What is wrong with a character that rather be a housewife than a mathematician? If it is a choice upon an individual to pursue that path in life then we have no right to judge them. I am also well aware that Usagi is a fictional character.
I feel that this judgement on her character is rather an insult to Naoko Takeuchi. It flattens her character's development. I also feel that these certain feminists are also ignoring the other Senshi involved in the story. Not every female is going to latch their affection on the main character. For example the second Senshi introduced is not only excellent with numbers, but has been said to possess the an IQ of three hundred. Ami Mizuno ambition is to become a medical doctor.
As for the costume decisions of the artwork, I can understand the concerns. The skirts are relatively short. It is an issue that does not bother me personally. I think their sexy and imaginative. To each their own. I'm not going to protest over it. If you don't like the artist's choice, no one is forcing you.
As a very young girl watching Sailor Moon, it never occurred to me that being silly or bad at something was necessarily unfavorable. I can relate to Usagi. I am dreadful at math and clumsy. I love to eat sweets and take naps. I am not the most brilliant person one has ever encountered. If anything Usagi trials of saving the universe has taught me about how important it is to be yourself. It has shown me that with love in your heart one can defeat any evil. When I watched Usagi I saw a girl who nobody expected anything out of. Then I also watched a girl who would surprise everyone with strength, grace, and all of the answers. I would like to think that was mean, because I know how it feels to be constantly underestimated.
I also read this post:
"Sorry, but Sailor Moon is a sad excuse for women wanting to be anything they want to be. Look at that picture! No women of color, all thin frames, and school girl fetishism made particularly for the male gaze. Sailor Moon, might have preached girl empowerment, individuality, liberation, etc. but it most certainly doesn't practice it. This post reeks of nostalgia, as opposed to celebrating women. Sorry, English isn't my first language"
I also read this reply. I feel that it better expresses what I would have said myself:
"I’m going to completely disagree here. I get what you’re saying, but I think it’s a very stereotypical argument that attacks the appearance of the characters rather than the actual content of the show. Your generalizations make me think you haven’t watched the show before. (I have read the entire 18-book series and watched the majority of the 200 episodes, thankyouverymuch.)
Sailormoon was not made for the “male gaze”; it was published in a young girls’ magazine. Did old men jack off to it? DUHH. But the largest readership and target audience was young school girls.
Additionally, it’s SO standard to say that thin = objectification of women. Of course their body types are unrealistic—but the show doesn’t operate on realism, it operates on fantasy. Of the multitude of girls I personally knew who watched the show, of all different shapes and sizes, the appearance of the characters had the least to do with why they watched the show.
For my friends and I, who were unpopular, picked on for being nerdy, and kind of on the social fringe in school, it was reassuring to us to watch something that says it’s okay to be any of those things. We genuinely did feel empowered by it. So, do I feel nostalgic aboutSailormoon? Yeah, absolutely. But it really was more than that. If it influences a multitude of young girls into believing they can be strong women regardless of what other people think, who cares if all of the characters are Japanese (which I think you may have assumed they were all white), thin-built, and pretty?"
I'm not trying to make anyone like the things I like. I just want people to look before they leap. I know I can be mean about Twilight fans. I hate Twilight with intense passion, but I would never intentionally crush the spirit of those who love it. Everyone is entitled to those little things that make one happy. As I would do my best not to trespass on others, I demand the same.
I leave you all with this:
References:
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