So now and again we get people insist that x title shouldn’t be counted because it’s intended to be viewed as porn (especially if that product is from a country outside the English speaking world… because reasons).
Reasons for this assumption often include:
The presence of explicit fan service or sex scenes
The inclusion of ridiculous double standards
Fans having labelled it as an erotic product on their own wikis
The publisher having actual porn products in their catalog
But generally this just assumes that by shoehorning in some sexualized content a product immediately becomes excluded from criticism. Very few products exclude all content from their own genre (plenty of action movies have a romantic subplot for example).
Generally a lot of the cross genre trends have a pretty basic premise behind them, it helps improve the audience investment:
Comic relief in horror and thriller helps avoid the audience becoming desensitized or burnt out from the tension
Having a love interest can humanize a protagonist (or an antagonist) and increase your ability to get invested in them
Mixing a little mystery with your modern fantasy story reminds the audience of how little we really notice or know about the world around us and makes them more accepting to the idea of secret magic
So, what purpose does having ultrasexualized costumes for female characters and regular arbitrary fan service? Well, mostly it’s because of the general belief that certain demographics need a lot of reassurance that some products are okay for them, and in fact made exclusively for them:
That’s not to say that there aren’t products or stories where including sexual content gives it a boost, but generally you’ll want to do it in a way that makes sense and does actually improve the product and that still doesn’t make it porn.
You can physically eat a lot of things, but just as you wouldn’t call it food unless you buy it specifically to eat it, you shouldn’t call it porn unless you buy it specifically for sexual gratification.
– wincenworks
Given the responses to some recent posts, and the recent responses to some old posts, its probably worth bringing this back – particularly since we’re now more or less out of the “slow season” where companies assume everyone is still broke from Christmas shopping.
The general idea that companies should get a free pass for “its just cheesecake” or “that title/genre/etc has always been like that” is essentially a plea to two well and truly exhausted pieces of rhetoric:
If publishers want to produce porn, then they should be confident enough to own that and to try produce good porn.
Speaking of fandom, just blocked a guy that was complaining about me not liking this figure.
He was complaining about how people like me always whined even when we got what we want, and that we were never satisfied and GW was buying bullied or some shit. Because apparently when you tell a guy “I want new and redesigned SoB figs to come out, without the boob armor and stupid shit and especially without the heels some art has” they hear “I want more SoB figs”. Like no I’m sorry but at this point I’d much rather they stop making them if they’re going to do these pieces of shit. How clueless can you be making the first sororita fig in months and give it a stripper leg ?
Here’s one for @bikiniarmorbattledamage. I keep laughing like a moron just looking at this pic. The armor’s not just impractical and sexualized, it’s gaudy, kitschy, and stupid. Is that the Sisters’ strategy? To distract their opponents with how ridiculous their outfit looks? I mean, I suppose it’s hard to aim when you’re convulsing with laughter.
Some vocal male Warhammer 40k fans probably aren’t part of Toxic Masculinity Brigade, but I haven’t really met one yet…
And since every time something about double standards in WH40k is referenced a tide of Twitter thread-worthy replies arises, I await them anxiously.
~Ozzie
PS: Apparently this design is based on an old piece of artwork… Which is a 0% valid excuse for Games Workshop to produce it now, after years of being called out on perpetuating sexist stereotypes with their figures.
Speaking of fandom, just blocked a guy that was complaining about me not liking this figure.
He was complaining about how people like me always whined even when we got what we want, and that we were never satisfied and GW was buying bullied or some shit. Because apparently when you tell a guy “I want new and redesigned SoB figs to come out, without the boob armor and stupid shit and especially without the heels some art has” they hear “I want more SoB figs”. Like no I’m sorry but at this point I’d much rather they stop making them if they’re going to do these pieces of shit. How clueless can you be making the first sororita fig in months and give it a stripper leg ?
Here’s one for @bikiniarmorbattledamage. I keep laughing like a moron just looking at this pic. The armor’s not just impractical and sexualized, it’s gaudy, kitschy, and stupid. Is that the Sisters’ strategy? To distract their opponents with how ridiculous their outfit looks? I mean, I suppose it’s hard to aim when you’re convulsing with laughter.
Some vocal male Warhammer 40k fans probably aren’t part of Toxic Masculinity Brigade, but I haven’t really met one yet…
And since every time something about double standards in WH40k is referenced a tide of Twitter thread-worthy replies arises, I await them anxiously.
~Ozzie
PS: Apparently this design is based on an old piece of artwork… Which is a 0% valid excuse for Games Workshop to produce it now, after years of being called out on perpetuating sexist stereotypes with their figures.
