I Need People To Stop Glorifying The 4B Movement In Korea, From A Western (white) Perspective. Stop It.

I need people to stop glorifying the 4B movement in Korea, from a Western (white) perspective. Stop it. If you are blissfully unaware of this (having not been on TikTok) - in theory, it makes sense. No sex with men, no dating men, no child rearing with men, and no marriage with men. But. BUT. Feminists in Korea are problematic AF. I know this from both personal experience (having been on the receiving end of their ire online) and everything I've read about them, in Korean. I see all these white TikTokers (and even some in the Korean diaspora) fawning over how "we" in the US need this and, no. If your feminism is transphobic, hates gay men, hates men in general, that's not the feminism I'd endorse. Why is Korean feminism transphobic? In 2020, Korean feminists ACTIVELY CAMPAIGNED AGAINST a woman who was accepted to Sookmyung University. An all womens' university. But she was a woman, you say. What could be their problem? According to Korean feminists, they didn't want a "man" in their space. Because she is a trans woman. This is not unusual for Korean feminists. Having lived there for 5 years, to some extent, I understand their anger against misogyny. But if you are truly against the toxic patriarchy that exists in Korea, you must also help dismantle military conscription because that is where a lot of men become radicalized, bullied, etc etc and "grow up" to be the most toxic form of men seen on this earth. But Korean feminists don't give AF about that and in fact, I've read a lot of them express that it's good for men to suffer. Guess what? That view is internalized misogyny and toxic patriarchy, too. And I don't want to hear it about the movement being so "young". Korean women have stepped up to the plate before in our history. We are capable of better than this fucking nonsense. It's a bunch of transphobic, gay hating radicals that have hijacked what was supposed to be about social justice. WOMAD (link is to the Wikipedia article, not their site) and Megalia are the two sites they stem from. It is the most toxic group of people I've ever had the displeasure to encounter online. Any form of criticism is, at best, ignored and worst - I've been "called out" for being Korean-American, and therefore, to "butt out" of "Korean issues". Amongst other bullying I've personally received. And yes, not just on forums but on public articles that I've commented on.

I know it's a catchy title and it appeals in theory but please, please do not glorify these transphobes and TERFs. They don't deserve your attention.

The Osamu Tezuka crossover that almost nobody talks about

Everyone in Brazil knows Monica’s gang, it IS the Brazilian counterpart to Peanuts and Little Lulu in many ways, especially Little Lulu, considering it also happens to have a strong, opinionated 6-7 years old girl who typically wears red as the main character.

Anyways, I’m not here to discuss the cultural impact that Monica’s gang had on us Brazilians, I’m actually here to talk about a lesser known spin off with a manga inspired format called Monica Adventures.

The main characters(including Monica herself) now are 15 years old and usually deal with typical teen drama while having many crazy adventures at the same time, the most popular arc of the entire series is the infamous end of the world saga written by Emerson de Abreu, most notably the umbra arc.

However, I noticed that there’s a certain crossover series that nobody talks about, not even the most hardcore fans of Monica Adventures.

And no, I’m not talking about the immensely popular crossover with the superheroes from DC comics.

I’m talking about this crossover:

If you’re young and doesn’t know what I am talking about, there’s an actual Monica Adventures two-part comic called "green treasure" which is about a crossover with many Osamu Tezuka characters, including Princess Sapphire of Princess Knight, and the titular characters of Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion.

Monica’s creator, Mauricio de Sousa, was friends with Tezuka back when the latter was alive, and they were planning to make a crossover like this for a long time now.

However, most people(especially kids who grew up with 90s and 2000s anime and manga) in Brazil didn’t exactly grow up with Osamu Tezuka’s works, while SOME of his more well known mangas were released in the country during the early to mid 2000s(most notably Princess Knight, which released in Brazil before it did in the USA), the anime adaptations aren’t that well known, only the 2003 Astro Boy anime and the Princess Knight 60s anime were dubbed here as far as I’m concerned(I know Don Dracula did have a Brazilian dub but it is most likely fully lost media or at the very least only partially found), but even then, they aren’t considered as being extremely popular with anime and manga fans here in the country like Dragon Ball and Sailor Moon are, especially back in the early days.

There’s also the fact that most people who typically read Monica Adventures are kids between the ages of 9-12, yeah, it does have its fans who are older teens and young adults but my point still stands, most of the actual demographic obviously doesn’t know who Tezuka is and would unfortunately care less about his historical importance in the manga industry, I know that because before I even read this crossover back in middle school, I had no idea who Tezuka was and I barely knew anything about his works except maybe for the Astro Boy american animated movie and YouTube videos discussing how The Lion King ripped off Kimba the White Lion.

But then, I’ve actually read this crossover at age 12 and re-read it multiple times throughout the course of my life, all I can say is that while it’s not exactly a masterpiece, it is actually enjoyable and well structured, I did wish it was longer and some plot points felt unnatural like the fact that the main reason why all the characters met each other was because of a visit to a lumberjack business, which actually exists in real life and felt too didactic at times, but other than that, it is an alright crossover.

Would I recommend it to an Osamu Tezuka fan? I guess so? While Astro and Kimba are definitely in character, Sapphire’s initial characterization felt unnecessarily brasher than usual, but she still remains a kind, loyal, strong and decisive heroine like she was in the 60s manga and the anime adaptation(who is also from the 60s), Dr. Tenma and Atlas being antagonists was expected considering their respective roles in the 2003 Astro Boy anime, but what wasn’t expected was Rock Holmes’ appearance and the sudden Black Jack cameo but I digress…

Overall, it is a decent crossover, while it isn’t anything very special and can be very generic at times, the story does pay a nice homage to Osamu Tezuka and his characters, so it’s not outright bad and it does have plenty of good moments.

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gloomy-octopus

9 months ago

“While many people think fanfiction is about inserting sex into texts (like Tolkien’s) where it doesn’t belong, Brancher sees it differently: “I was desperate to read about sex that included great friendship; I was repurposing Tolkien’s text in order to do that. It wasn’t that friendship needed to be sexualized, it was that erotica needed to be … friendship-ized.” Many fanfiction writers write about sex in conjunction with beloved texts and characters not because they think those texts are incomplete, but because they’re looking for stories where sex is profound and meaningful. This is part of what makes fan fiction different from pornography: unlike pornography, fanfic features characters we already care deeply about, and who tend to already have long-standing and complex relationships with each other. It’s a genre of sexual subjectification: the very opposite of objectification. It’s benefits with friendship.”

— Francesca Coppa, “Introduction to The Dwarf’s Tale,” The Fanfiction Reader (via francescacoppa)

Someone put it into words. I gotta sit down

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