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I find this whole idol culture extremely odd. Interestingly enough it seems like a lot of people never actually have sex (granted the following article is abou
by rjzzleep 7y ago
I find this whole idol culture extremely odd.
Interestingly enough it seems like a lot of people never actually have sex (granted the following article is about japan, but they're not that different). So it almost seems like these extreme stalkers wouldn't actually become physically active, although that doesn't really make it any better.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/08/asia/japan-fertility-intl-hnk-scli/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/08/asia/japan-fertility-intl-hnk...
- ainiriand 7y agoJapan is a dysfunctional society where you can buy used underwear in vendor machines and they have a whole graphic subset for toddler sex (loli). And yet they fail to have real human interactions with the opposite sex.
- baq 7y agobut please note that japan isn't the only dysfunctional society out there, it's just very unlike the west.
- Iv 7y agoPeople tend to generalize Akihabara to the rest of dull, boring Japan. There is one (or two?) underwear vendor machine... in a sex shop. Someone was comparing this myth to the idea that in the US you can have your car washed with stripper boobs, which I am sure you can... somewhere... The loli genre is frowned upon, but there is a slightly different view of pedophilia here: instead of being seen as psychopaths like in the west, they see them more as immature men-child stuck on highschool fantasies. And let's be frank: Japan is far behind when it comes to fight the rape culture. 'They' in your last sentence is a subset of the otaku culture, what you would now call incels in the west. It is creepy as hell, but it is a fringe minority.
- eej2ya1K 7y agoWhile I disagree that Japan is dull or boring, this is a pretty good post.
- ekianjo 7y agoOutside of large cities it is fairly true that Japan can be dull or boring.
- FartyMcFarter 7y agoThis can be true for any country.
- ekianjo 7y agoSure so Japan is basically nothing special unless you talk about Kanto or Kansai.
- starfallg 7y agoDull and boring in a far-off land can also be quite interesting. Much of human experience is relative.
- ainiriand 7y agoThe regulators allow for the toddler sex but somehow normal sex is censored, all this at a national level by regulators chosen by normal citizens. It is the tip of the iceberg reflecting a problem. > in the US you can have your car washed with stripper boobs That is also a reflection of a problem, at least adults are involved.
- eej2ya1K 7y agoI can't believe this needs saying, but drawn characters aren't real.
- mamon 7y agoBut people who watch such animations are real, and the choice of what to watch tells a lot about them.
- claudiawerner 7y agoThe ethnographic research into the consumers of the people who watch such animations would disagree with you; for them, the more unrealistic the representation is, the more desirable. See the work of Patrick Galbraith and Mark McLelland, who are both respected researchers in Japanese culture studies. It is not clear that a desire for the cartoon form extends to the desire for real child pornography, just as it is not clear that playing violent video games extends to the desire to kill people in real life, or reading erotic Harry Potter fanfiction extends to wanting to haves sex with Daniel Radcliffe.
- wruza 7y ago>more unrealistic Some* booru owners complained that realistic 3d tags gained a significant share and views in recent years. I don’t remember if they posted exact percentages. * not going to post it here, but it’s not hard to figure out
- claudiawerner 7y ago
- tomp 7y ago> Japan is far behind when it comes to fight the rape culture. By which metric? According to the first statistic I found online, it's far below most western countries in rates of rape (of course, statistics might be reflective of underreporting instead of actual occurrence of a crime). http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/rape-statistics-by-country/ http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/rape-statistics-b... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_statistics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_statistics
- Faark 7y ago> statistics might be reflective of underreporting instead of actual occurrence of a crime I wouldn't trust (as in compare globally) any crime stat from Japan, as they have a 99% conviction rate [0]. This obviously cannot be achieved unless you set up your process to make sure only safe cases enter the systems. And guess what especially occurs in private areas, without witnesses leading to he-said-she-said? A culture were you don't want to bring shame to your family doesn't help either. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conviction_rate#Japan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conviction_rate#Japan
- Iv 7y ago> of course, statistics might be reflective of underreporting instead of actual occurrence of a crime There you go. Almost all of my female friends who I am close enough to hear about that have been assaulted in their past and they have not reported it (and blame themselves for it of course). On this map, most countries you will see who are below 5.0 probably have some serious under-reporting.
- _-o-_ 7y agoJust think about this for a moment: instead of kinkshaming you could have been installing used underwear vending machines and making a fortune.
- _wolfie_ 7y ago> toddler sex (loli) Wut? Wikipedia states that > A toddler is a child 12 to 36 months old. And based on > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolicon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolicon Most of it is probably elementary school, with some from middle school. I think putting equal sign between `loli` and `toddler sex` is a bit misleading to put it mildly.
- ainiriand 7y agoToddler sex exist but you can name it differently. Maybe my denomination is wrong but the problem is still there. Generally speaking when someone points at the moon looking at the finger is not a good idea.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- flippinburgers 7y agoSpoken like someone who has never been here I guess.
- BurningCycles 7y agoThis comment is like judging the entire US because of the case where a crossdressing kid was stripping at a bar for money. And I have to say that fictional underage characters being sexualized is not something that bother me, on the other hand, REAL kids being sexualized does bother me a great deal.
- dang 7y agoNationalistic flamewar is not allowed here. Please read and follow the site guidelines when posting to HN. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- Iv 7y agoThe idol culture is extremely unhealthy. This is objectification turned to 11. They get a pass in the US because it seems so distant and Japan is "odd and cool" but it is actually really creepy.
- claudiawerner 7y agoAt what point does one differentiate between obsession with idols and obsession with pop stars in other countries? In my experience, J-idols appear to put a lot of work into their personalities as part of the group and their "talent" which goes beyond the fetishization of beauty we usually associate with objectification. In other words, do we know that Japanese fans view idols as people tending to objects?
- PaulHoule 7y agoHow is it different from Katy Perry or Taylor Swift? President Reagan was shot by a lunatic obsessed with actress Jodie Foster. Sometimes I think the Japanese are attracted to the idea of their exceptionalism.
- throw0101a 7y ago> How is it different from Katy Perry or Taylor Swift? For many teen musicians and actresses, they are generally marketed towards fellow teens. The fact that adults focus on them is incidental (IMHO). That is not necessarily the same with certain Japanese niches: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junior_idol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junior_idol
- nothis 7y agoI don't even think that's the issue. I saw a documentary on Japan and they visited one of these idol "talent agencies". It's an incredibly creepy structure that's just not comparable to anything we have in the West.
- lonelappde 7y ago
- eej2ya1K 7y agoIf you disregard immigrants from Africa, the Middle-East and Asia, most European countries have birth rates at the same level or lower than Japan.
- baud147258 7y agoI think that with the current access to birth control and abortion, you can't exactly extrapolate sexual activity from birth rates in Western Europe.
- imtringued 7y agoWhen I hear fertility crisis I always wonder how it is possible to differentiate between people having children later in their lives and people not having children in the first place. As long as the age of child rearing is rising fertility will appear to go down until it spikes up one day.
- Retric 7y agoOutside of a 30 year window female fertility drops to essentially zero. aka you can be reasonably sure looking a few million 55 year old woman that they are not going to have significant numbers of kids. As the drop below replacement rate started in the 60’s it’s easy to verify the trend is real.
- rolltiide 7y agoGiven that female humans are the only female mammals with this egg limitation I bet we can crack this with stem cells too In the mean time freezing is subject only to cultural stigma, effort and cost. Should just offer to freeze some every 20 year old’s eggs just like tetanus shots are offered to children. Younger eggs being more viable than a young 30-somethings trump card. Then people don’t have to make a conscious decision to do it and boom replacement age increases by two whole decades if we feel like it
- londons_explore 7y agoIf this became common, I would be worried for the future of humans. Both sperm and eggs are produced in quantities millions of times higher than apparently necessary. Nature doesn't waste resources without good reason. There's a very good chance the large number of inactive sperm and eggs are part of an as-yet unidentified selection/evolution mechanism. Freezing eggs might break that mechanism, and we probably wouldn't see the problem for many generations until human evolution suffers...
- rolltiide 7y agoI mean you could argue that about actually curing cancer and extending our average longevity, maybe there is some additional cellular state we aren’t aware of that is being selected out So that’s not a good enough reason for me to say “lets not pursue these obvious ideas we already have the technology for”
- rasz 7y agoOver 90% of Japanese pr0n is about sexually assaulting someone, might have something to do with this.
- eej2ya1K 7y agoNot even remotely true.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- p3rls 7y agoWhy does everyone feel entitled to give their opinion on Asian idol culture when they clearly have the barest of exposure, usually consisting of watching a documentary or reading a CNN article... Really irritating stuff
- mike00632 7y agoThe Netflix anime Kakegurui describes a lot about idol culture in Japan through one of its characters. It doesn't try to justify or judge the practice but it presents it thoroughly.