I'm no expert on this, but in addition to the other factors people mentioned, I would say that people in Japan seem to pay a lot more attention to high school sports. The Koshien Stadium and the high school baseball tournaments name after it are very famous. I'm not even interested in sports, but I know about them and often notice friends talking about them online. I know absolutely nothing about the college baseball tournaments or where they're held.
Umechan
joined 2 years ago
I prefer the live action TV series, but the Sukeban Deka series is great. It's about a high school girl who works as an undercover agent for a branch of the police that investigates crimes that take place at schools that regular cops aren't allowed to investigate. Unfortunately, very little of the franchise has been officially released in a English. ADV released the OVA in the 90's. The 2000's movie reboot got a release too, but that was the worst version IMO.
Why were they so sure the penguins weren't just roomates?
I knew I was gay when I was 12. I've only ever been attracted to men, and I'll be 40 next week. If you think you're gay, you're very likely correct. Some people's sexualities are fluid, so you may also be "incorrect". Either way, it doesn't really matter. Life is not a quiz. You're under no obligation to give the "correct answer" first time, and it's not too late if you suddenly realize you gave the "incorrect answer" when you're in your twenties, thirties, or even older.
I knew I was gay when I was 12, but didn't really accept it until I was nearly 20.
It was 25 years ago, so I don't remember. Blade of the Immortal was one of the first, if not the very first, graphic novels I bought. Back then, graphic novels were only for back releases, and new releases were typically two or three chapters combined into a monthly Western style issue, so I'm sure I bought some of those before getting graphic novels.
I normally only read Japanese releases. I started Sukeban Deka volume 2 last week. It's a 70's shojo manga, although it has a surprising amount of action and violence for something aimed at girls. One of its spin offs was released recently, so the original series got a reprint.
I didn't say everyone. But even when they're not weaponizing it, how often is it a knee jerk reaction? Whenever people say that someone's choice of labels is simply attention seeking or naive, how often are these people actually listening and engaging with the person's reasoning for identifying with the said label, and show give actual evidence for said attention seeking? In my experience, the only argument I've seen being used against labels that people identify with is "I've never heard of it nor do I understand it, therefore it's not real."
“Some people are weaponizing that language” is a VERY different statement than “anyone who uses that language is almost certainly weaponizing it”.
I never said that. I said people who say things like "queer people are obsessed with labels" and "I'm not cis; I'm normal", which are both disparaging comments, are more than likely doing so in response to encountering identities and experiences outside of cishetnormativity. It's one thing to say that there are a lot of labels used, and you find some of them either dubious or unneccessary, and another to say that people are obsessed or making up labels for attention.
You’re alienating allies by accusing them if being enemies.
All I'm asking is that people think whenever they feel the need to dismiss others and gatekeep identities from people. In my experience, this seems to be based more on people's gut reactions rather than science, facts, or logic, like they claim it is.
Whenever I've seen people disparage certain labels like non-binary or demisexual, they never seem to have actually listen to someone with said identity and engage with their reasoning. It's far more common for them to decide that they're attention seeking, deluded, or mentally ill.
It is being weaponized in that way too. For example, Matt Walsh and Ben Shapiro went on rants about asexuality recently, claiming that labels such as demisexual had no basis in reality and described experiences that are common to everyone. If you follow their argument, people become unable to use labels that communicate their preferences and experience.
Even when it isn't being weaponized, I don't think you should claim certain labels are unnecessary unless you've engaged with the reasoning behind the people who use them and form a reasonable argument that isn't "back in my day people didn't have so many labels."
The rhetoric I described is absolutely being weaponized against people. If you follow the reason behind the arugment that someone is "normal, not cis", then you would then conclude that trans and nb people are not normal. Anyone who accepts that argument would likely conclude that not only are trans women not "normal women", and trans men not "normal men", but that they are not actually real women or men.
As for gen z being infatuated with labels, I will admit I don't understand many of them, but I'm fine with them if they help people communicate their identity better. I wouldn't claim that any labels are redundant or just attention seeking without any actual evidence or reasoning behind it.
It's still what I'd consider late summer here in Aichi, but it's getting there. It's 25 right now, which is still enough for me to break into a sweat, but far from unbearable.