My brother was reading manga when I went to ka-chiow him, so I asked him what he was reading. It was a shoujo manga. I have nothing against a guy reading shoujo manga and as a feminist, obviously, dislike stereotyping people into gender roles.
The thing is, even as he reads mostly shoujo manga, I tend to prefer shounen manga. Not that we limit ourselves. I can’t say for my brother, but I know I enjoy reading most genres as long as the plot, characters, setting etc are interesting.
Still, I’m pretty sure I’ve read more male-targeted manga, and he’s read more female-targeted manga, by proportion.
Coming back to gender roles, I was telling Renny in class that the fact that my family “switched” the traditional family roles (pa as homemaker, ma as breadwinner, sort of) wasn’t a sign of true egalitarianism, but the uniqueness of our situation merely reinforced traditional gender roles, and in turn patriarchal society. (Does that sound Durkheimian?)
Applying that to my brother and I’s manga reading habits, that we seem to prefer manga not specifically targeted at ourselves is both an example of how screwed up our socialisation process went gender roles don’t particularly bother us, and how such categories as “shoujo, shounen, josei, seinen etc” continue to reinforce patriarchy.
Which is why, right now, I’m looking for those gems which don’t have a specific demographic in mind.
5 Comments
April 2, 2009 at 9:06 pm
Point #1: Although I read a LOT of manga, I read mostly shounen (love those creative new concepts and logics and theories those mangakas think of)… a good amount of yaoi and some shoujo. I have some stuff you might be interested in. Remind me about it after exams if you’re interested
Point #2: Applying that to my brother and I’s manga reading habits………………… “I’s”????!!!
April 2, 2009 at 10:40 pm
#1. Maybe, depends. I usually read manga because, like fanfics, they use up less brain cells, so it’s likely that I’ll be reading more fiction (as in novels) after the exams. And lately I’ve been looking for strong female characters (preferably main characters), which seems to be harder to find among plot/action based manga.
#2. I know, puzzled me the first time I saw it too. Wasn’t sure if it should be “my brother(’s) and my(’s)” or “my brother and I’s”. But a cursory check didn’t seem to say either way.
However, I just googled, and Grammar Girl (link: http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-compound-possession.aspx) says:
The rule is if the two people share something, you use one apostrophe s. So if Steve and Amy have the same religious beliefs, it is correct to say Steve and Amy’s beliefs with only one apostrophe s after the last noun.
On the other hand, if Steve and Amy have different beliefs, then you would say Steve’s and Amy’s beliefs.
So in this case, I would seem to be wrong, since we share different reading habits and it should be “my brother’s and my”.
On the other hand, the qualification after – reading stuff not aimed at us – actually puts it back into the first category, in that it’s something we share in common. So “my brother and I’s” should be correct.
April 6, 2009 at 3:06 pm
HAHA. hmm. interesting conversation. now i know abit more about grammar than i did before. but why not just rephrase it as “me and my brother’s”. wouldn’t that take out the ambiguity of i’s? or is “me and my brother’s” grammatically wrong too?
April 7, 2009 at 12:28 am
well, you’re supposed to mention others before self, so technically speaking, “my and my brother’s” would be wrong too.
and jc, i see what you meant about the “screwed by grammar” part. haha.
April 7, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Sheshe’s right. “me and my brother’s” is wrong because it’s just impolite.