@Milennin I can see how it might be true in Fairytale, but FYI a lot of the things you're pointing out as female oriented fan service are actually male oriented wish fulfillment. Not intended for girls at all. Girls are wired differently though, a guy in a great tux is at least as sexy as a half dressed toned man (bulky muscle isn't a general attractor for the majority of women, most of us prefer slim and toned). So our fanservice is going to look different.
Not exactly true.
There is a whole industry about the objectification of men. Its actually a very interesting topic and I feel that it is often plagued by regurgitated misconceptions, which I'll go into in a moment.
The problem is that what we call
Fan Service is often more about the
Power Fantasy. Like you mention, women want different things to men generally. Its genetic. People like to argue that there is no sexual dimorphism in our species but those people are typically ideologues. At the end of the day men want to be the strongest, the alpha, they want power and achievement. This drives them on a very deep and primal level. It is why men are so much more competitive than women.
On the other hand, while men desire strength, women desire beauty. People will try to say this is because of objectification and rape culture, but its also observable in primates so its much more likely (if we're to be practical) that it is just how our brains are wired. Strip away the social niceties for a moment and think about the kind of things that gets a man's engine going in the bed. He wants to be told he's strong, not beautiful. While women want to be told they're desired and beautiful, not strong. There are exceptions of course, but we're not talking about them, we're talking about common human experiences.
As a result, we have a situation where men are more ascetically impressed by a beautiful woman than a strong one and more impressed with a strong masculine man than a scrawny beta. Likewise, women are typically more attracted to muscular (or toned) men with athletic builds, wealth and social influence. This is just a natural part of our instincts and what we look up to.
So as a result, the power fantasy archetypes essentially gravitate towards powerful men and attractive women. This is largely the reason that early anime heroes looked like westerners and possessed a great deal of bulk (and beards were not uncommon). However, in recent years as Japanese men have become progressively more feminine and asexual we have seen the trend shift to more slender and boyish heroes. While the woman available are not those who must be conquered or won over by the man's masculinity, power or ability, but rather those who are essentially infatuated for seemingly no reason at all or otherwise sexually vulnerable.
This is because on a deep psychological level, the male viewers can no longer relate to the powerhouses of old. They know they are weaker and less competitive. And Japanese women (for the most part) do not watch anime into adulthood because there is a stigma around it. Again, I'm speaking generally, there will always be an exception or two.
I think the sexualization of under-aged girls is also linked to the "Beta-ing" of Japanese men, who are largely the target demographics for the medium. Its a pretty heavy talking point, but my assertion is that weak and emasculated men who lack the confidence to approach women in real life are more predisposed to prey on younger girls and thus, more prone to foster these sexual proclivities. After all, according to the accounts of many Serial Killers they start off small with minor perversions and then grow them as the prior thrill is lesser and lesser.
I believe that this is the problem in the medium, more than the impossible body standards.
I do not think there is any shame in men with arms as thick as tree trunks or women with perfect bodies, so long as we understand that they are ideals... aspirations... and dreams.
The problem comes from a (albeit subtle) lowering of standards and expectations. Everyone likes sex and there is nothing wrong with that. But when the sex is injected to appeal to deviancy and perversion, rather than as part of the story, that is the problem -- again -- not because of the content but because of the consequence.
Like I mentioned in my first post, I come from an era where
Amon, Apocalypse of the Devilman was not too far from the industry standard. The OVA includes gore, child murder, rape, full-frontal nudity but it didn't glorify them. Rather, it served as a cautionary tale about a society without inhibitions... ironically... the world largely as we see it now.
Where women are expected to be like men to be powerful, rather than to be powerful by being feminine and embracing womanhood. Where men are fragile and frail cowards and perverts and story and substance is second to subtext and sluts.
I doubt anyone will read all this but I just wanted to get it off my chest. Maybe my perspective will help folks some. Who knows?
