View Single Post
  #58  
Old 28th September 2015, 06:06 AM
qwertykins76's Avatar
qwertykins76 qwertykins76 is offline
Fired
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: japeville
Total Awards: 3
You're Appreciated! Grey Note Medal INFECTED - B2K1 
Well I've just been to see if anyone else was saying anything about this. I'll quote some other dude.

"The series definitely has some sexist, narrow-minded overtones in how the characters of each gender have certain 'characteristics.' Little boy trainers like bug Pokemon; little girl trainers like cute Pokemon. Male trainers have notably 'cool' Pokemon like Gyarados. Female trainers have feminine ones like Jynx. Almost every male trainer in both the games and the anime has male Pokemon; almost every female trainer has female Pokemon. It's almost like Gamefreak and the anime writers think a trainer using a Pokemon of the opposite gender is a hideous thing; Ash's Bayleef and Aipom (and, again, Aipom eventually got shoved into Dawn's party, and Bayleef stopped showing up after the show left the Johto region) are just about the only explicit exceptions to this unwritten rule.

"Additionally, female trainers are associated with the Normal type (because Normal Pokemon are cute) and the Grass type (because girls like flowers); I think Grass Pokemon have been paired with female characters in almost every major game. The Celadon Gym was 100% women; so was the Eterna Gym. Rosie from PBR was modeled after, and used, Grass Pokemon. Even in the TCG Game Boy game, the Grass Club was all women. Similarly, Bug Pokemon (because girls find bugs 'gross') and Fire Pokemon (because little boys think fire and explosions are 'cool'; not to mention that fire beats plants in general) are associated with male trainers, with almost every major Fire trainer being male (Flannery is the only exception) and the Fire Club in TCGGB being an all-boy's club.

"Pokemon is definitely NOT an explicitly sexist series; indeed, the creators did make sure to include many female characters for both humans and Pokemon alike. However, reading a lot of the things I just posted, it does make you wonder if there's an implicit sexism in the series. That's not entirely impossible: Pokemon is 'targeted' for the fabled 6-12 male demographic in both Japan and in the United States, kind of like the Power Rangers franchise. However, I find this a very interesting topic because, as an American male who was part of both series' target demographic during their respective fad stages, I always found myself not gravitating toward the stereotypically 'male' bits (like using 'cool' Pokemon or liking the male leader of the Power Rangers) but instead toward the more 'girly' parts like the cute Pokemon and the female Power Rangers. "
Reply With Quote