Written by TheBigN
Let’s do this again. Other perspectives are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
In real life, gender is more or less definitive: a person is either one gender or the other. As far as many are concerned, that’s about it, and so help you if someone happens to be somewhere in the middle or somewhere else entirely in the gender spectrum. As with any sort of boundaries set in this world, this tends to be very constraining with regards as to the status quo (which is why we need more Shrine Maidens/Gap Demons in the world today). We as humans judge others by appearance, and gender tends to be one of the first things we make a quick assumption on. At first glance, we can mostly tell which people are female and which are male, immediately fitting that into how our social interactions and relationships go. Of course, the inevitable double standards occur concerning the roles that each gender plays and so on, and it seems very hard to change that initial mindset once its, well, set. It’s why sexual orientation and sexual/gender identification has become a big deal nowadays (or rather, still is). Yet one can say that one of the stronger aspects of anime is the medium’s ability to blur the lines of gender in many ways, shapes and forms. To me one of the more interesting forms consists of the idea of the trap/reverse trap.
Anime is a mixed bag regarding gender. Sometimes, one can really see that attempts are made to break the roles that the sexes are supposed to play, from a female prince with a revolutionary power to a male fashion designer who can switch-hit. At the same time, those attempts to shed the label can tend to reinforce them, with characters bucking the trend reverting back into “traditional” roles ever once in a while (but what’s traditional?) , or having those character’s behaviors portrayed as unnatural, eccentric, not normal. In our perspective, the idea of traps is unnatural too, but the beauty (or annoyance to some people) of it is that the “strange” aspects aren’t immediately seen unless they are deliberately revealed in anime. To our mindsets, they really are deceptions, and I like how they can make us think.
The general perception of a “trap” as glorified by imageboards and the like seems to be that of a person who for all intensive purposes seems like they are one gender by way of their appearance, mannerisms, actions, etc, but are actually the opposite gender. To us, they’re one thing, but they’re not in actuality, leading to confusion at the least. If you weren’t told so in the beginning, would anyone watching Otome/Oneesama wa Boku ni Koishiteru actually believe that the main character was actually a guy (Look at his face! See his mannerisms! Does that scream guy to you?)? Or that, if one such Haruhi felt like it, she could easily be a man (in her case, her androgynous appearance seemed to help things a bit)? Of course in those cases (and in the case of one popular Jun from Happiness!), the secret was mentioned at the start, but in other cases such as Shun from Here is Greenwood, we get hit with a brick of bewilderment for a little while. Something we hold to be true at first sight is proven to be wrong, and many of us know how uncomfortable, how unsteady it makes us feel.
This usually perfect switch of gender is good because it makes us think, while it does have its mixed results. Once we know the truth, it’s hard not to think of the situation as anything but weird in some way. Or we tend to block it out of our minds because it ruins the moment, or makes us feel bad/weird if we find we had/still have feelings for the character (some bloggers have sage advice for people who are stressing about it :P). On the flipside, we could embrace it as something extra, something awesome, something cool, something hot, something etc. Yet these people seem to be in the minority (myself included~); either way, it all depends on the viewer.
Traps superficially can force us to challenge our preconceptions that things like the idea that our gendersense can fail don’t happen. Of course we don’t have to think about it any more than just “IT’S A TRAP/DO NOT WANT” or “I’d still hit that” (or even, if s(he) does it with him/her, can it still be yuri/yaoi?), but it raises ideas of what it really means to be a certain gender, or at least it’s a nice curveball that it thrown at us. It’s an unknown (or at least it was until more and more characters have been traps/reverse traps recently) concept, a what-if scenario that people don’t think about until the situation is there.
While we can still be fooled by real life traps as well, anime, with its usually generic body types and facial appearances, can make these situations more palatable. It’s not hard to make a guy look more girly/act more girly or a girl to look/act more like a man in that sense, and it must be working in some way if they’re often used in anime, such as in yaoi and yuri. In that sense, we can easily get into a “reality vs. fantasy” angle here among other things. But with traps/reverse traps, anime can make us wonder, “If one thing we think about someone turns out to be wrong, is it okay to keep feeling the same way about that something?” We can solve that in a way that can apply to our “real lives” as well, and in that way, entertainment can also be a learning experience, or at least different. ;P
TheBigN
nomadotto
dm00
Bloody nice there, pal. Your articles are fun. Personally, I’m a huge trap fan, as you maay know. Take a character like Peppo - I liked her already, but I gotta say the trapness took it to the next level. which goes kind of with what you’re saying.
I would sincerely like to read this piece in its entirety. However, the massive androgynous image of cuteness has ruined the margin line on the left side in my browser. It is distracting. If you would, please resize it? ^_^;
The usual distinction is between sex: your biological status, and gender: which is the customary roles, practices, and expectations society places on people based on their sex. Traps are about messing with gender roles and behavior so that the distinctions between sex are blurred. The discomfort is all based on the fact that at least for the heterosexual viewer, sexual attraction is based on opposites. If sex is supposed to be biological, and therefore relatively stable (and rigid gender roles were intended to maintain that stability), a looseness and instability in those things can be either unsettling or exciting, depending on your perspective. “You mean I was liking a GUY/GIRL all along?!”
I suspect it won’t ever really be mainstream outside a niche of certain animes, though. The harem genre is far closer to the norm, I think.
“some bloggers have sage advice for people who are stressing about it :P”
lol, so is that “sage” advice or “sa-ge” advice?
But seriously, good angle on this issue. I was kind of hoping you would take that premise and develop it into something a little more concrete, though.
21centurydigitalboy: It was great seeing people denying that Peppo was actually a guy. Interesting how much they increased his character’s role from the book.
storymode: Should be fine now, hopefully. Click on the picture to get full good size!
Mike: That’s what I was trying to get at. Shake up minds a little bit, or at least show them something out of their perspective.
I also don’t think that it’s a very mainstream thing. It’s nice every once in a while, but how can you up the ante more than just “she/he’s not what I thought they were?” You could do something like Utena and expand on how gender rules and roles aren’t as concrete as we think, but it might be hard to sell.
Orion: So you noticed. :V
I can only lead the way. At least until my opinions become more definitive.
The weird thing is, even though I’m bisexual, traps creeeep me outtttt. They don’t even have to be real traps, they can just be dudes with really girly character designs. I like both genders to be dudes and girls with thier respective aesthetics and i get flipped out when that’s challenged. And of all people, you’d think I should care least, :-p Well, actually, reverse traps are hawt because girls in boy clothes is sexy. Double standard, lol.
Challenging the ideas of gender stereotypes is certainly a step in the right direction, but I think it won’t be until more traps gain leverage as more than mere joke characters that they’ll truly challenge perceptions regarding what gender means in terms of identity, instead of merely attraction. Traps challenge how we see the concepts of attraction and gender, but overall they tend to reinforce ideas about gender and identity (I.E. Guys that are “girls” act like girls, etc.)
Great post. My own experience of a ‘trap’ was Kino’s Journey…in my first review of the series I admitted that I wasn’t sure of the protagonist’s gender (it turns out she’s a girl but took her name from a man…I’ll leave it there for fear of spoilers).
It had me wondering if her androgeny had something important to say about her as a person - as an innocent bystander/just passing through type of character, was her gender deliberately poorly defined to draw attention to her neutrality? In the Life Goes On prequel movie, she even projects this neutrality in certain scenes when she uses dialogue grammar that’s associated with either male or female speakers. Odd…
Maybe there are other cases such as this in other shows too…?
bettynoire: That reinforcing of roles is there, but the important point is that it’s the opposite gender that reinforces the role, and that confusion is the point. At the same time, there are good roles that challenge what’s been shown. Kino from Kino’s Journey is a great example of that (check it out if you haven’t already). Or so I’d like to think. And open your mind a little more.
Martin: I’ve seen Kino, so you don’t have to worry about spoilers in my case. I think that the androgyny was just androgyny in her case. Kino is Kino, and that’s one of the points that remains throughout the series. Though it’s a nice representation of who she is, I’d like to think that it’s not a main point of her character. It is something I haven’t thought about till now. Thanks.
TheBigN: Well, it ain’t like there’s a few traps I’d totally appreciate being attracted to. Bridget, anyone? It’s just an aesthetic, the girly girl thing, that bothers me. Typically I don’t even like really girly females, so I think it’s more a rejection of the stereotype that was expected of me as a kid. Needless to say, I didn’t like it then either. :-p Good point though, Since a person of the opposite gender is acting out the opposite stereotype, it does raise questions as to whether that stereotype should be considered to have any relevance regarding gender. It’s a subtly different way of thinking about it, but it makes a lot of sense.
Martin: You make me want to put Kin’s Journey at the top of my to-watch list.
Martin: I have to mention this. Though I haven’t seen Kino No Tabi, I know about Miyazaki.
I am going to take a shot in the dark and say that Kino’s perceived androgynous ways aren’t androgynous at all. Miyazaki is a hardcore feminists who prides himself on perpetuating the role of the strong female persona in the midst of all the cutesy, typical, and stereotypical smut that comes from single-minded creators on a mission to create characters that sell. Miyazaki also has an opposing sense of what is moé by portraying powerful, level-headed females in a way that makes them more desirable, quite possibly, by simply the fact that they can stand on their two feet without having to trip, fall on their face, then apologize in a high-pitched voice. In other words, the fact that you were indecisive at first about Kino’s sex by way of the masculine gender roles she follows proves Miyazaki’s point about the way the male is programmed to view a woman, whether real or 2-D.
Oh, and there are plenty of examples of females using masculine cues in their [Japanese] speech. Just watch more Miyazaki films, and check out my anime references in my blog response to this article. ^_^
@Fatestaysmart: You’re abolutely right about Miyazaki’s portrayal of women in his movies: I’ve seen pretty much all of his apart from Kiki’s Delivery Service, and I cited the Miyazaki Heroine in my own post as an example of how some of the trends are being broken. I get a strong pro-feminist (or more accurately, a strong equality) message from a lot of his work, which is very refreshing and inspiring. As for this observation you made:
“In other words, the fact that you were indecisive at first about Kino’s sex by way of the masculine gender roles she follows proves Miyazaki’s point about the way the male is programmed to view a woman, whether real or 2-D.”
It’s more to do with how we as anime viewers expect a character to be portrayed - Kino doesn’t show many of the mannerisms and characteristics of the ‘anime female’ stereotype (e.g. exaggerated breat size, high vocal pitch, unpractical hair length, and so on). The writers and animators who worked on Kino’s Journey didn’t follow the normal course of portraying the protagonist’s gender, which takes the viewer by surprise. It’s an unconventional show in many ways too, which is why I enjoyed it so much!
This was a very well written article. :3 I already believe you know my thoughts about traps. x3 I really need to watch that Kino series, but haven’t gotten around to it. From what I’ve read just now, though, it’s moved up a bit on my to watch list.
I love girly boys. Draw em’ every day. Hiii Haruhi!