Forum - View topicThe Heart of a Girl
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
 Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
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I noticed in many manga with a male protagonist who is female in appearance and refers to himself of having the heart of a girl, it's very rare that you'll come across one who is into other girls (romantically or sexually). Which can statistically be expected since most comedy/romance manga with actual girls, they tend to have a crush on a male character.
But I was wondering something about what I call "the heart of a girl" theme and the kind of implications about sexuality in Japan as seen through manga. What I'm curious about is whether the Japanese almost always see a correlation between having "the heart of a girl" and an attraction to men, regardless of birth sex? On a side note, in manga a lesbian orientation is not always seen as true and legitimate even when that lesbian happens to have been born male. Furthermore, homosexuality as a whole is commonly seen as just a behavior, fetish or phase by the Japanese. Therefore with that limited viewpoint, any character declaring themselves as having "the heart of a girl" exclusively implies that they are only attracted to men. But to me "heart of a girl" is more accurate in describing someone who is female in spirit/soul/mind etc. In which cases that person can either lean towards males or females in their sexual attractions. But most of the manga I've read seem to stress that is not the case. Which might explain why there are so few "heart of a girl" yuri romances. As far as I know Kashimashi may be the only one. Thoughts? |
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Faiga_Raisa
 Posts: 283 |
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Having the 'heart of a girl' reminds me of herbivores:
http://articles.cnn.com/2009-06-05/world/japan.herbivore.men_1_japanese-men-men-and-women-girlfriend?_s=PM:WORLD Japanese young men that no longer focus on having sex. Which includes getting girlfriends. After all the only point of humans 'dating' is finding a partners to reproduce with (or attempt to with same-sex ones) over time. Companionship is what we want to think of it but biologically, dating is really just testing someone out before copulation. I think old Japan thinks of men with 'heart of a girl' more as a weak man rather than as homosexuals. Their definition...a man should be strong, work to feed his wife and children, be respectable, and uniform. How about Otomen? Heart of a girl with the cooking, sewing, and affinity towards cute things but the guy still does kendo, other sport clubs, studies hard, and is an overall bad-ass to keep up appearances. Yet he still falls in love with a girl. The new generation of Japan---like the new generation of America---is completely okay to different sexualities (or lack there of) and gender identity. Genderless boundaries. Love the person, not the gender slogans. We see that in a prime example of clashing old Japan and new Japan with Wandering Son. Kashimashi is definitely a good title to bring up in this but it seems like the clash is really with the individual and Hazumu's friends. It's rare for anything like that to happen without the repercussions of society bearing down. I.S. is another gender ID manga. What happens when 'the heart of a girl' for an intersexual clashes with the want to have babies. Trying to find a partner/donor/and everything wrapped up in it. |
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
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All very good points. Although I don't think herbivore men is directly pertinent to the phenomenon of traps and transgendered kids. I suppose I should have pointed out more the purpose of my thread: I want to know what others think is the meaning of "Heart of a Girl" in manga.
Does it specifically refer to the character's sexual orientation or their gender identity? I think it's gender identity because if it's only sexual orientation, then there is no need to have a non-gender conforming character. I mean you'll still always have the occasional trap who loves being girly but a boy who decides to live as female shouldn't do it for love, they should do it for themsleves and love will come naturally if they are true to themselves. |
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population_tire
 Posts: 588 |
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Girls don't have hearts.
/thread |
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
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Umm ok, well thanks for bumping my thread anyway.
I've seen remarks about manga along the lines of boy meets trap claiming that they are shounen-ai or yaoi. Why do people say this? |
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Alan45
 Village Elder Posts: 10383 Location: Virginia |
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@Past
Probably because it bothers them as much as the real thing. Just for the record, could you provide a defination of trap? I've only encountered this usage on the forum here. I gather it refers to someone who poses as a member of the opposit sex well enough to fool people. Does the term require that it result in sexual attraction? To the same sex or can it be to both? Does the attraction have to be intentional? |
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 10383 Location: Virginia |
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@Past
Thanks, the word has appeared in several threads and had me curious. Further questions, does trap have its origin in the concept of "to capture" as in wolf trap? If so, why? I suppose it could be short for "trappings" meaning clothes and stuff. |
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
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If you have any further questions or want to delve more into the issue of attraction towards traps and the implications of this, just PM me or offer your input in the thread. |
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