8. Japanese Feminism (or Lack Thereof)

Why, then, are Japanese women content to be part of a screaming horde? Why are they content to worship male idols? Why aren't they stopped by a niggling sense of embarrassment – a sense that their behavior is, at best, making them look silly and, at worst, actively impeding feminism and sexual equality in society at large? Don't they feel frustrated by the massive amount of sexism still present in Japanese society, and long to combat it?

Sadly, they certainly don't seem to. I believe that the lingering sexism of Japanese society is one of the things that created the Fangirl Phenomenon in the first place, but compared to Europe and North America, the awareness of feminist thinking in Japan is still extremely low. No country on earth has yet succeeded in achieving total gender equality, but the level to which certain traditional gender roles are adhered to in Japan is likely to surprise Western visitors.

[Note: the word “feminism” means activism aimed at total equality of the sexes in all aspects of society. It does NOT mean “female supremacy” or “hating men and believing they should die,” or “you must be an unshaven bra-burning lesbian in order to be cool.” If you're angry because I'm using the word “feminism” in this article, please go read a summary of what feminism actually is and come back to NGS once you've educated yourself a bit.]

To be fair, in some ways, Japanese women have it better than women in the US, for example. Abortion is legal, available on demand, and carries no religious stigma, and as a secular Buddhist country, Japan has a loose and practical attitude toward sex – sex talk is usually kept private, but outside of the entertainment industry, there's relatively little in the way of the slut shaming or obsession with virginity found in countries dominated by Christian or Muslim values. Low crime rates mean it's safe for women to walk alone at night with little fear of street harassment, and catcalling is virtually unheard of.

And yet, in a lot of ways, the Feminine Mystique is still alive and well in Japan, and while some Japanese women are working to change this, they remain a small minority. Women are still raised to believe that marriage and children is the ultimate female life goal leading to ultimate female happiness. Female business executives are as rare as unicorns, there's a severe under-representation of women in government (and female politicians are often subject to tremendous sexual harassment), the slut-shaming double standard still applies in force to female celebrities caught up in sex scandals (Minami Minegishi, Becky), the pay gap between men and women is still wide open, there's still tremendous expectation that women will shoulder domestic labor almost exclusively, and women are still required to take their husband's surname upon marriage, for fuck's sake.

Beyond this, Japanese women themselves are contributing to the problem by conforming to gender roles rather than challenging them. Japanese women tend to flatter, suck up to, and defer to the men in their vicinity, and are also seemingly endlessly willing to play caregiver to those men while the men kick back and have fun.

It's easy to understand why they do it. The traditional ideal of Japanese womanhood is the so-called “Yamato Nadeshiko,” who is intelligent and wise but doesn't assert herself. Rather, she uses her gifts to take care of her household and family in such a way that nobody even notices how much work she does – everything seems to happen on its own, by magic. Oh yeah, and the Yamato Nadeshiko keeps her bad moods and bad hair days to herself – nobody wants to see her acting surly or looking anything less than her best. She's the epitome of “good wife, wise mother” – everything she does, she does for other people. She's supposed to take the ultimate pleasure in serving her family and ensuring their health, happiness, and satisfaction. Her own needs and desires don't really matter.

Even in this day and age, the majority of Japanese women I've met still have a profound complex about pursuing their own desires and dreams, if they've got a family. They seem to think that to do so would be tantamount to shirking their familial duties. Beyond that, if they don't have a family, they tend to be put under massive pressure to get one. Men, on the other hand, put their own needs first without fail.

I have no doubt things will change in the future. They are changing already, as we speak. But it's happening slowly. Living in Japan as a woman means being subjected to a whole lot of sexist expectations – and these sexist expectations play into Japanese fangirl psychology in a profound way. It's true that if Japanese fangirls don't demand respect, it's probably because they were never taught to respect themselves, but that doesn't make their behavior any less problematic.

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