Rant on revealing clothes ("fan service")

[Michelle]

In my opinion, it all comes down to how the character feels about their own clothing. If it makes SENSE for the character to want to wear sexy, revealing clothing based off their personality, that's one thing--- it's when these outfits are forced upon a character for the viewer to fap to that things get uncomfortable. This problem is definitely a lot more prevalent in anime, as some mentioned.

And you can dislike skimpy outfits, but good god please don't call these characters hookers. Just because a character likes a lot of sex or wearing tiny clothes doesn't justify slinging out degrading slurs and attacking women's sexuality.

[69Michi]

I fail to see the problem with revealing clothes. Comics are for both men and women's entertaining purpose. For something that clearly target men, revealing clothes on women is a natural thing, and for something that clearly target women, revealing clothes on men is just as normal. If you are complaining about the overuse of fanservice, then okay I can agree a bit sometimes they are going a little too overboard with it. (Ie: High school of the dead, I stopped watching the show because all I see is panty shot and boobs jiggling like they have a mind of their own; but again, that doesn't make the show "bad", it just doesn't appeal to me. If you change all the girls to guys however (hey I'm looking at you Free!) then I as a straight female probably will stick around for more episode)

I see a lot of people complaining about how females are over-sexualized, but it seems like male being sexualized too for female's entertainment doesn't register in people's mind.

Also agree with @Michelle, wearing revealing clothes doesn't mean they are hookers :/

[marygold]

@69Erocento Did you get to the episode where all of Takashi's bullets were narrowly missing every fan service spot on every single girl? That episode made me both sigh and get on the edge of my seat. The zombies were closing in!q

[NickRowler]

Personally some female "sexiness" I don't mind but a lot of the anime or anime inspired stuff sort of bugs me.

Like why do none of the women wear bras? Skirts that short are extremely impractical. Unless she taped herself in, "under boob" shirts don't work like that. Bikinis are OK unless they are impractical and look like her boobs will just slip out.

I dunno, I'm not attracted to women, so I don't get it. But then again, I found Magic Mike to be boring as hell...

[marygold]

Oops. I misread. Haha sorry

[69Michi]

I'm not attracted to women and despite I like sexy guys, Magic Mike doesn't appeal to me either.
Maybe I'm just attracted to 2D guys 😂
@marygold YO Were you talking to me >:D

[marygold]

@69Erocento I have the 2D syndrome as well trololol not just for anime and manga but webtoons as well.
And yes, yes I was. HOTD is a pretty epic anime for several reasons if you just go past all the fan service. In terms of intensity, it kept my interest up much better than the current zombie series Kabaneri of the iron fortress. That anime was awesome and full of hype for the first 3-4 episodes before things slowly started to trickle down the overused-plot idea path....

[NickRowler]

Um...I do like "2D" guys but it is usually the ones that don't try to be sexy (like my stupid obsession with TF2).

Personally, I like it when a man can pull off a good outfit, like a suit or a uniform. I also take personality and sense of humor into account.

[69Michi]

@marygold HOTD was great action wise (heck they have the same animation team as AoT HAHAHA) but yeah it's one of those few anime that COMPLETELY OVERRUN with fanservice and doesn't take anything seriously. The moment I saw the random girl being fed on by zombies while still showing off her panties I just "this is it for me, goodbye, let us never see each other again."

@NickRowler Yeah I agree. Generally I just like 2D guys. I'm not all interested in real life guys probably just because I have little to no intent on being in a relationship left alone romance.

[joannekwan]

I'm okay with fanservice as long as it takes no more than a quarter of the shots in a show/comic. I also prefer it if it wasn't used in a serious series or else it seems even more out of touch and it doesn't belong there. But for some reason I watched all of the first series of Queen's Blade. It definitely knew what it was all about, dem panty and boob shots, and just slapped on a thread-bare plot. I suppose I watched to see who would win. As far as bikini armor goes, as long as the men are in impractical/revealing armor too then that's good for a laugh, shoutout to all those 80's action fantasies! (I may have a crush on the MC of Deathstalker II)
Just look at that dork.

As far as Magic Mike went, I think it would have been more entertaining if it didn't try to be so serious. It just should have been a campy good time. Haven't seen the second one.

[Kura]

Honestly, my biggest issue with revealing clothes is if what the character is wearing goes against the character's personality.

Bayonetta with her very sexual personality and clothes that disappear as she's fighting (because it's what she uses to fight with) is perfectly fine, I absolutely love the character. She's fun and the outgoing often overdone sexuality about her fits her character perfectly.

What I don't like is if you present me with a character who is super shy and reserved around people, gets embarrassed when people look at her too long or is uncomfortable with how they look, maybe even keeping herself for that special someone, so WHY GOD WHY would you dress her in a short hardly skirt and top with a thong and fishnet stockings????

[indagold]

It is truly jarring.
Kate Beatons interpretation of it always makes me laugh though.

[bakasama25]

Some people just have a fetish for women getting humiliated and embarassed.

[indagold]

The clothing were designed to look specifically like hooker clothing or stripper clothing? I don't know how that is degrading one's sexuality if they were designed under the pretense of selling sex, not real and possibly by someone who isn't even female. And honestly even if there was a female behind it it doesn't justify it either. They're just perpetrating the same thing as men.

[Michelle]

@indagold My statement was that using words like "hooker" "slut" "whore" etc when describing women in revealing clothing is an underhanded way of saying that a woman who has a lot of sex has a lesser value. You generally don't hear someone being called a "hooker" in a nice or neutral way.

My understanding based off the original topic is that we are NOT discussing sex workers (and with word choice like "bikini sexy shit" "pink panties" and "pervy old men" my assumption is the argument is largely concerning female fan service.)

Yes, men are objectified too, and no one here is excusing that. But to say that women and men are objectified in the same way and to the same extent is reductive and overlooking a lot of factors.

[niinasalmelin]

I actually can dig this if the characters are rocking the clothes. It needs the attitude to go along. Most of the time it can be missing and then it gets weird.

[indagold]

Okay I just explained that in this context it makes sense because the creators intent was to make them look like hookers/strippers. Your argument really does not make sense because it's not directed towards sex workers or real living woman. These creators specifically want these characters to look like sex workers. That's the whole point of fanservice. It's pretense is selling sex!

Sure woman may be objectified more than men but it makes no difference as to how. A comic made by a woman with objectified men is no different from a man doing that do the same to a woman. It's basically just the reverse of the same problem.

I would actually be more happier of people showing healthy views on sex. Objectification doesn't help on either side.

[Michelle]

@indagold My argument doesn't make sense to you because I wasn't talking about your scenario, I was talking about the original post.

Just because objectification is not focused on a real woman does NOT mean that objectification doesn't effect people's real-world ideas about sexuality and consent. Where do most views on sexuality come from? Television, movies, advertisements, video games, comics--- all largely consisting of things that aren't "real" in the literal sense.

I'm not talking about literal sex workers here and I think you are wildly missing the point.

I would actually be more happier of people showing healthy views on sex. Objectification doesn't help on either side.

THIS is what I am saying, and we can both agree on that. And a healthier view on sex means not equating women expressing their sexuality or preference for revealing clothing with calling them hookers.

[indagold]

yeah I am talking about the original post. I don't see it as offensive. It makes sense because clearly people who make fanservices intention for the characters to look like hookers. I've even see people who design these characters with the intent for them to look like hookers. The original poster was not insulting woman, they were insulting the fact these artists can't represent woman without imagining them as looking like hookers. I can agree with that. these characters do look like strippers or sex workers. It was the creators intention anyway, it's how they view women.

[scythe]

Oh shit, looks like I kicked the hornets nest here. Good. This issue needs some of that. There's so much hypocrisy and cognitive dissonance surrounding how people react to portrayals of women in media, it's getting beyond a joke.