Mabuta # 22
Kanoma's notes in parenthesis ( )
Translator's notes in brackets [ ]
22nd installment
Preconceptions
When looking at advertisements hanging from the trains and at other weekly publications, sometimes I'll see a headline like: "Stewardess gets naked while on duty!"
When seeing a headline like that, I'll usually inadvertently think, 'What does their job have to do with it?'
Well, for example, if on a TV show or in a magazine, the topic was about a stewardess, and if that stewardess was to get naked, I could see the propaganda value in a headline like that. But in the advertisements and weekly publications like I wrote about above, there isn't that element involved in their headlines.
There's many people in the world who have a fetish with certain types of clothing. There especially seems to be a tendency for guys to be attracted to girls who cosplay. In reality, I know quite a few people like that around me who tell me that girls who go about looking like high school girls, or nurses are great. But to these people, the most important factor is that the girl has some type of uniform. If my lover was to wear clothing like that, I suppose I'd be satisfied with it, but I wouldn't be concerned about the job connected with the clothing.
Furthermore, I really don't think that there is any relation between a person posing naked for a photo, and their clothing. Maybe, to make the clothes have a real point, the headline could say something like: "Professional nude model wears a nurse outfit, and then takes it off!"
But the first element that these magazines and articles are trying to pull your attention towards is: "XX gets naked while on duty!" Saying that, I've even seen a headline like: "Student from XX university gets naked while on campus!" Which brings me to ask, would guys be attracted to a headline about someone working an unusual job?
"A wagashi* [*Japanese sweets] chef gets naked while on duty!"
"A person in charge of the breeding program at the zoo gets naked while on duty!"
"A telephone operator gets naked while on duty!"
Hmm... What would that be like? I think it's more impactful than the nurse or stewardess, and it would be an interesting headline. But say, just for argument's sake, that a person who worked a job like [ wagashi chef, zoo breeder, telephone operator ] was to pose nude for a photo, people would probably just label it as: "Amateur nude photo!"
That's just discrimination. Nurses and stewardesses, and other occupations like that are completely detached from the viewpoints of the countless other jobs out there, and have become associated with a sexual image.
It's not just a fluke that men are fascinated with these types of occupations. That's probably the number one reason why these articles put together headlines like that.
Let's look at the occupations that a lot of guys are attracted to.
There are job titles that certainly are very popular. Model, idol, stewardess, private secretary, kindergarten teacher, receptionist, esthetician, and others like this.
First off, models' and idols' biggest weapons are their outward appearances, though I don't think that the sole reason for mens' obsession with them is their looks.
If you think about it, it's fairly easy to understand. If you take a model who looks a certain way and acts a certain way, and balance her against a woman who works at home who looks exactly like her, and acts exactly like her, it's pretty certain that a guy would prefer the model. This is something you could ask both men and women, but there aren't many people who think past the status gained from who you are intimate with. Going out with a beautiful model far surpasses my dreams over just going out with someone who is beautiful. I'd like you to imagine this:
"One day, you have the option of being intimate with Koike Teppei (it really doesn't matter who you pick, it can be any performer you want), or with a man who has his face and his exact personality. Which one would you rather be going out with? Their incomes are the exact same."
Honestly? It can't be helped that most people would pick the performer.
Let's clear up why women in occupations like receptionists, private secretaries and estheticians are so popular. It's because connected to these jobs is an image of a beautiful person. For example, as a receptionist for a company is the contact person for that entire company, it seems like they'd have to pick a beautiful person to do the job. As well with estheticians, as their job is to make another person beautiful, it's only natural that they must be beautiful themselves. At matchmaking parties, if women come from any of those popular professions, I don't doubt that the men will perceive them as beautiful women. It's these preconceptions that make certain occupations advantageous, regardless of the person in front of them. What I'm trying to say is that a person will be thinking "Oh, this person is a private secretary, so they must be beautiful," and they really believe that's what they see in front of them.
A stewardess fits in with this pretty well too. In addition with the image of a stewardess being beautiful, there's also the idea that they have elegant and proficient language skills, as well as have received training on how to thoroughly take care of their customers, so simply put, they're gifted with both beauty and intelligence. This is the image of a stewardess that your average guy holds on to tightly. There's no reason why this wouldn't be popular.
Varying a little from the other examples I've given are the occupations of kindergarten teacher and nurse.
Guys aren't necessarily attracted to females of this occupation because of their appearances, but maybe moreso because of inner qualities such as: 'They're so sweet', and 'It's great to be taken care of.' But actually, even if they're good at taking care of something, if they're not patient, they're really not fit for that type of job. Possibly, guys who are attracted to women in these jobs are searching for a motherly figure.
So guys that yearn for a woman with these types of occupations have preconceptions that completely ignore individual personalities. According to this, there are probably people who would benefit from this, but for the average girl, I think it would be somewhat of an annoyance.
At any rate, it can be easy to mistake the whole male population as being sleazy [because of these things], but I think that's what these adult headlines are trying to do.
