Perhaps against my better judgement, lets try this again~ How might herbivore men be viewed when seen from the perspective of feminism? Japan’s contemporary feminism began in the 1970s. A structure exists in which, within both society’s public and private domains, “men” shape norms to which “women” are then subordinate, and a major task of feminism has been to dismantle this structure in all its various dimensions. Viewed from this perspective, I think the appearance of herbivore men can be seen as a victory for feminism; herbivore men are men who feel constricted by a “manliness” that means creating norms and controlling and protecting women and who are attempting to release themselves from its spell. As this comes from an internal motivation and not as the result of condemnation by women, is this not indeed quite close to the new type of man feminism is seeking? I think that for feminists herbivore men can at least be seen as potential allies in the struggle to change this society’s gender order rather than men who must necessarily be treated as adversaries. If even this is disputed, surely it can be said that, from the point of view of feminism, herbivore men are not as bad as the traditional type of man that has been prevalent until now. They want to engage in careful communication with their female partners and make various decisions together. Is this not something feminism has forcefully demanded of men? Of course, the appearance of herbivore men does not mean that society’s gender constructions and norms themselves will be dismantled. But to therefore conclude that because herbivore men are men they can only be seen as vessels of male authority, is, I think, to be excessively in thrall to prejudice. I hope that these articles are more verbally pleasing, despite being translated from Japanese, to Korean, to English. Japan, arguably, being the authority of this topic. Again, this is not a jab at feminism. (I agree that the last article could have taken a better approach, but it was a realistic one, written of personal experiences and opinions.) The above quote is taken from section 3 from this, rather long, article: lifestudies.org/herbivoremen01.htm This, much shorter, article is more about the initial observance and less about impact and definition than the above: lifestudies.org/herbivoremen01.htm
Posted on: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 10:38:21 +0000
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