SHADOWTEXT'S PROFILE

author=Feldschlacht IV link=topic=1492.msg23389#msg23389 date=1215722583

I think that, because of their lack of a cultural 'sex == the devil' attitude, we hear about it more.

Christianity set back our sexual actualization 2000 years.

But Japanese people have as much sexual repression as we do, like you said. Christianity hasn't much to do with it because sexual repression to some degree (and more) exists in all (or a lot at least) cultures. So why is their release so much more "stranger" than everyone elses?

Very few cultures have been as repressive sexually as those derived from Britain, and especially Victorian cultures--and America was stuck in the Victorian mindset for two hundred years after the British empire forgot about it.

Japan has always been socially and emotionally repressed, and continues to be so, but sexually it's much less so, and has been for some time. Most of the "sexual repression" you could apply to Japan these days is really just an aspect of their social repression. As an example, Japan has little taboo on homosexual behavior or fantasies, but has a huge problem with the idea of same-sex relationships*--not because they think it's sexually deviant, but because it's socially deviant.

Basically, it all comes down to Queen Victoria. She was ashamed of her sexuality and told everyone in the empire to be ashamed, too. It's not necessarily a result of religion--there are plenty of Christian cultures that are much less repressed than Britain and America--France comes to mind, as well as Brazil.

That said, I think that the issue isn't so much that Japanese people are any more weird than the rest of the world sexually, I think it's just that their kink is much less hidden than the rest of the world. The prevalence of doujinshi culture (which, contrary to the belief of many, does not necessarily mean "pornographic fan comics," but rather can mean self-published media of any genre) and the Japanese spread of technology mean that basically everyone with a fetish has some way of putting it out there for the world to see. Hell, they invented the prototype for 4chan--look at what we've learned about how twisted the Western World's minds are from that!


Also, yes, there are plenty in Japan who consider a lot of this stuff weird. There have been movements to ban certain genres of pornography on several occasions, and well-known names have spoken out against the misogyny that runs rampant in Japanese erotica--Hayao Miyazaki (noted for his feminist leanings), for example, has chastised the entire porn industry, and he's far from alone.

* - At least among adults. Young girls are more or less expected to form friendships that resemble dating other girls, but staying in those relationships is considered a sign of immaturity or just being a freak. This is why there are so many girl-girl pairings in anime that people mistake for lesbian couples, but which are usually broken up by a guy. Watching it in America (or whatever), we've got more rigidly defined sexual orientations and get confused by the practice--and often interpret it as an attempt at fanservice. Not that it isn't, a lot of the time. These relationships are often non-sexual, even if it'd be hard to convince most gaijin that was the case. For more, check Wikipedia Or (you knew it was coming) TVTropes.

Whether Him's right or not, to maintain a trademark you have to be seen to be enforcing it whenever that trademark is infringed upon, so Squenix was obligated to set their lawyers on those guys when they found them.

But the classy thing to do would've been to send the cease and desist, then hire those guys and publish their game as a budget title or something.

Professional interest and a weekly paycheck can do a lot to increase one's motiviation, I reckon.

This seems like a no-brainer, but a preview button on Articles, Tutorials, what have you would be killer. I've just submitted an article and went back and editted it....and then found another edit I wanted to make AFTERWARDS.

Now I mean I do that all the time on Forum Posts, but because articles resubmit for approval when you edit them, I assume you guys just got three messages about my article within a minute of one another.

...also, it's handy for checking formatting. I hate using an italics tag and not realizing I forgot to close it until the thing's already been submitted.

Keep in mind that when I pushed back the start time to next Friday, I also pushed back the "Have your character sheets in by Thursday" period to the thursday before that, so you don't have to have character sheets in until the 17th now.

I'm with Darken, but to put it in slightly less combative terms, this sort of thing seems like it would basically just end up fostering an unhealthy spirit here, encouraging the tendency to try to measure ways that one member's better than another. I don't care for the sort of atmosphere that breeds, personally.