My problem is when people will read a book and say something like “why in a world with fantasy powers are men more likly to persue magic than women when their both equally capable of this must be proof that the author hates women”
I think a really good example is how naruto fans claim the author is sexist because most of the female ninja are weaker than the male ones and never “got” to persue their ninja job like the men". (note i do think the author of Naruto is sexist i just don’t agree with this reasoning.)
When, in the Naruto universe, men and women don’t have the same social norms as the real world. Not only are women in naruto from the clans are expected to and are forced to be ninja (essentially child soldiers) Most of early Naruto is literally both them the women and the men in the story lamenting the fact that being a ninja has stolen their lives away.
The women in Naruto going against the cultural norms of their society and actually freeing them selves from constant violence is not them conforming to patriacal standards especially not in universe its literally the exact oposite of that. It literally blows my mind that people make that point.
The sad thing about Sakara isn’t the fact that she never became as strong as Sasuke and Naruto. The sad thing about Sakura is the fact that even after multiple years to think on the problem she still thinks that she could have solved Sasuke’s emotional problems and trauma by punching him hard enough that he is forced to stay in the leaf. She never actually learned to communicate with other people outside of power and dominance and because of that is never truly able to empathize with either Naruto or Sasuke.
Also i just tend to look at fictional socities from a martrial realism point of view rather than a sociological
I’ve never watched a single episode of Naruto, so I’m only going off your post here.
Yes, in-universe it is going against societal norms, but by going along with real-life societal norms. That matters. What is the message there?
Having your women be on equal footing with the men in terms of career path only to then have them follow real-life patriarchal standards as a way of “going against societal norms” seems… odd. It essentially reinforces real-life patriarchal standards in that way.
I don’t think you can always view a story purely in its own context. The mangaka created that universe in the context of the real word and his beliefs. He has control over what their universe looks like and how going against the norm looks like. Here it does sound based on less-than-stellar views on women (which was more common at the time).
Naruto does have sexism, especially in objectifying women (Jiraya, Kakashi, sexy no jutsu), portrayal of violence on men, (The biggest sucker Tsunade), etc. etc…
But you’re correct that our sexist reality doesn’t mean otherworldly sexist concepts should be appplied in fictional settings, or that of the author’s. Both have merits in observations, both have gags and tropes.
But let’s not say there isn’t sexism in Naruto‘s universe.
Literally their first mission deals with conflicts that arise when dealing with a male kunoichi.
