So, in Japanese Pop Culture class...Follow

...we had a guest lecturer, one of the assistant professors in the Film and Animation department. She was there to talk to us about Magical Girl Anime, and I was like "hell yeah", and then she opened her mouth. For about an hour, I got to hear about how the animation industry in Japan is primarily run by men (which is true), and how they use their influence to make Magical Girl shows to disempower young girls*. Also I learned that girls only watch Magical Girl shows for the storylines, and boys only watch shows like Madoka (specifically) because they are sexually attracted to illustrations of middle-school girls. When she mentioned this last point, the following discussion ensued:

Lecturer: "And the only reason Madoka is so popular with young men is...this." (shows a slide of borderline rule 34, and goes on to explain sexualized middle-school girls, and the men that love them)
Guy in my class: "Ok, those images make me pretty uncomfortable. I watched Madoka, and the reason I did was because of the way it turns the traditional idea of Magical Girl anime on its head, and the story was engaging. So, there are reasons other than pedophilia that guys watch Madoka."
Lecturer: "Well, my thesis is that there aren't."

Also, there was a lot of (painfully outdated) Freudian psychoanalysis going on. Did you know that when a man looks at a woman, what he sees is a castrated male, symbolized by an eternally-bleeding wound? Well, it's true, 'cause that's what old Sigmund had to say, apparently (I don't remember him saying that, but I admittedly haven't read the guy's entire published works). I would have spoken up and called BS on lots of it, but getting into a yelling match with a lecturer who is friends with your professor is not the best way to get an A, and as such I just sat there and took being called a pedophile instead.

So the next time you hear someone say "hey, whoa, I support equality between men and women, but I'm not a Feminist", rest assured that it was probably due to some **** like this.

*And here I thought that watching Card Captor Sakura kick a monster's teeth in would be empowering, but apparently it's instilling the message that young girls will never amount to anything without superpowers. Naturally, if the hero were a boy instead of a girl, it would be a pro-boy power fantasy, which is just typical of the privileged little bastards.

I'm minoring in Japanese, so it's actually useful to take. We don't just do animu, manga and vidja games, we mainly do stuff that Japanese people know about (A.K.A. stuff I'd never heard of before taking this class).

Should have added that its storyline contained excellent Faustian parallels, providing a depth to the story far beyond the shallow interpretation that the lecturer had given it. Mostly because every college professor I've ever known in any kind of literary field always seemed to take a keen interest when Faust was mentioned.

Actually, a different guy brought up Faust in relation to Madoka later on, now that you mention it. And yeah, one side of me regrets not speaking up at all, but the part of me that wants to get a good grade is glad I didn't shoot my mouth off.

Sounds about right.

I agree. I was in a snippy mood, so I would have likely strayed away from being respectful the first time she said something like she did earlier, so I think it was the smarter move to not say anything.

Also, she really wasn't inviting discussion. She didn't seem very happy when the guy who spoke out originally did so, and his argument seemed to have no effect on her viewpoint. I can only assume anything I said would be similarly dismissed (because a person can't give a meaningful critique of reasons why someone would like a show if they haven't watched it, any guy who watches Madoka must be a pedophile, therefore any guy giving a meaningful opinion on Madoka has watched it, and is therefore a pedophile. And who wants to hear pedophiles relate why they're not actually pedophiles? If they really weren't pedophiles, they wouldn't be standing up for a show only pedophiles like, obviously!).

lolfilters

Well, you don't make Assistant Professor in the Film department if you don't know seriously know your psychology, so I must be. I guess I'd better schedule an appointment with a shrink.

Mods probably got sick of conversations about pedometers, and took the easy way out.

It's that kind of close minded, moral crusading feminazi that makes me cringe any time I hear the word feminism.