I can only speak for myself, but I certainly don't want to take things I like away as a concept (I am literally typing this while alt-tabbed out of a visual novel, I'm pretty close to peak weeb in the media I consume) but I do think it's important that one be both self-aware and aware of the impact that the media you consume can have on other people--it's part of general critical discourse and it's usually healthy to be critical of the stuff you enjoy. I've watched, from a position of mostly unchanging enjoyment, as JRPGs genre-wide have shifted toward pandering almost exclusively to 20-30-something male otaku and teenage boys. I've watched Atelier, which once targeted at a primary demographic of women, begin targeting the male otaku market for supplementary income with gradually increasing intensity over the years. I've watched as friends struggle through the changes that ongoing series make, and eventually fall out of love with them because the content that makes them uncomfortable starts to eclipse the things they enjoy.
I think that's a shame, and something very much worthy of criticism. Most women are not asking to be able to play Senran Kagura without being uncomfortable if they don't fall into the target zone--they're not asking to play Dead or Alive, either. They're looking at entire genres that have increasingly alienated them over time and lamenting that things that they liked do not want them anymore. People do not want to take things you like away in the context that they don't want them to exist at all, but they do tend to wish that they could actually play reasonably successful, critically acclaimed JRPGs and Fighting Games without being slapped in the face periodically. I don't think that's an unfair ask.
I can't walk two steps without tripping over anime tits, and I don't need them in everything I consume. I'd rather the stuff I like that isn't fully contingent on them be enjoyed by the largest possible audience, because I don't need literally every work of media I consume to pander to me sexually, and as Japanese media is concerned very nearly ALL OF THEM try to. AAA western games have unquestionably gotten way, way better over the course of the last decade, though they're not all the way home yet. But, like, it is NOT EASY to be a woman who likes JRPGs and doesn't want tits shoved in her face on a regular basis right now. You only can play like 20% of the genre's output at that point. And as the western market is concerned JRPGs are one of the most popular genres among female players last I checked, so it's a pretty huge global market disconnect.
This is a pretty accurate representation of my headspace too. For my part for a couple years after I "woke up" to this kind of shit I wasn't able to enjoy trashy fanservicey stuff, but I eventually let myself sink back down into desensitization enough to return to enjoying my garbage while also criticizing media trends. I feel like it's been a more enjoyable place to be mentally since making that transition, but it'd be difficult to speak to whether it's a healthier place to be or not--to just be able to open with a "Jesus Christ, guys" and possibly a facepalm, and then let it go until I'm reflecting on the work later.Whenever I see a sexualized female character (again, excluding ridiculous stuff like Xenoblade snow lady) it's like my brain immediately starts fighting with itself lmao. I immediately get assaulted with thoughts of "oh no she's hot" and "goddamn it, not again". It's quite the experience, really. Though I imagine it's a similar thought process to that of straight men who care about female representation.
I wish I could just relax and enjoy sexualized female characters like most straight men do, but there's always that nagging feeling of "why do women get sexualized so much? why can't women characters just not be sexy sometimes? why do so many men see us as just walking holes instead of equal human beings?".
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