I Need A Reverse Of My Gender!Fail Tag

[redbrunja]

sub_textual has a great meta post on Naruto, the construction of gender, and why talking about sexism is shonen manga matters.

I think she's a little harsh on Tsunade (for example, Tsunade really doesn't read like a Vain Sorceress to me - she doesn't seem to care that much about being young, it's linked one of her battle techniques and it comes off looking especially well in comparison to Orochimaru and his obsession with pretty boys and living forever). I think the Sannin were written to be pitiable, to be the failed Team 7, but I do think that sub_textual  is dead on in that Tsunade's gender is why she's more pitiable than, say, Jiraiya. (He may be writing smutty novels, but they're successful smutty novels. Compare with Tsunade's nick name as 'The Legendary Sucker.')

But what I'd really like to draw your attention to is this:

"But while we understand it is oppressive and anti-feminist, as feminists I do not believe we should feel guilty for our enjoyment of Naruto despite that fact. Just like we should not feel guilty when we read the likes of Thomas Hardy, Mark Twain, or Jonathan Swift -- or any other author who might have sexism, classism, and racism in their texts. When confronting any work of literature, what matters most isn't what the author intends, but what the reader understands; and if we, as readers, vocalize, critique, and raise awareness of the issues we have in a text, then we, as feminists, are doing our due dilligence as feminists in starting the dialogues and conversations that will help to create a more complicated and sensitive understanding of Naruto and awareness of the sexism in it."

Talking about these issues, saying, 'I really enjoy this show/manga/book' but it's problematic as hell matters. I am so freaking sick of people acting like if I enjoy a sexist text a.) my taste is questionable/mockable or b.) there is nothing I can do about it besides shut up about the sexism and/or read something else.

I'd also like to link to an article hieronymousb  mentions in the comment, When Worlds Collide. I remember reading this and being struck by how much male privilege it illustrated. (In a similar vein, I am grateful every time I realize that I don't have to search for a salon that knows how to cut my type of hair.)