"Why do fangirls like men that look like women?"

[Alice]

Why do fangirls like men that look like women?

Originally, that was posted by Impact on the PONDER thread.

Changing that to "Why do *some* fangirls like men that look like women?", I shall attempt to answer.

Not sure if he meant it seriously, but I plan to post my thoughts on the subject, for what they are worth.

(Clue: what you pay for them.)

So, feel free to immediately bombard the thread with death threats... or whatever. It'll take me a little bit to get what I wanted ready.

[Debitt]

Because we do.

Kan-chan doesn't look womanly, but I openly confess to thinking that Kuja and Sugino are rather attractive, too. xD;

[Ingemar]

AHHHHHHHHH! I'm sorry, don't ban me!

[Mave]

@_@!!! Ingy, don't direct link those pics! I don't know what image I'm seeing but they're TERRIBLE!

EDIT: Thanks! I hope no one else saw what I did. I'm terribly traumatized. (>_<);;;

[Ingemar]

don't ban me don't ban me don't ban me don't ban me don't ban me don't ban me don't ban me don't ban me don't ban me don't ban me don't ban me don't ban me don't ban me don't ban me don't ban me don't ban me don't ban me don't ban me don't ban me don't ban me don't ban me don't ban me don't ban me don't ban me don't ban me don't ban me don't ban me don't ban me don't ban me don't ban me

[Otaku10]

Oh My, please get rid of that. Those images are inappropiate.

[AngelSakura]

My innocent eyes...

[kazekami]

Seisshoumaru looks girlier in the manga then in the anime. heh heh. And kuja is definatly girly.

[Alice]

To a lot of girls, men are like aliens -- fascinating, unknowable, and sort of scary. Anything that makes men more accessible, more understandable, is likely to appeal to them, whether it's a good thing or not. (Case in point, romance novels where the men go on and on about their feelings in an unrealistic manner.)

Different standards of beauty: Women are indoctrinated by culture to think a certain standard is beautiful in women (i.e. thin body, appealing face, slender waist, excellent hair). If a girl sees a drawing of what you might think of as a "girly man," she might not think of him that way. She might see a slender man, with a nice, sort of open or appealing face, and nice hair, she won't usually think "girly." She'll probably think "He looks nice." Or "cute."

I do not read x/1999 anymore, but at one time I owned the first volume. I showed it to my mother one day, and when she saw Kumai on the cover, she said, "Oh." (Can't do the inflection in writing. But it was like my own reaction when first seeing his face, a deep, visceral gut reaction. I thought, "It's genetic!") I think the appeal is in the eyes, the expression.

More later...

[Alice]

Oh My, please get rid of that. Those images are inappropiate.

I missed something somewhere. Guess I was too busy working on my response. I have no idea what happened! Well, back to writing.

[Otaku10]

Trust me it wasn't pretty or appropiate but thankfully he removed the mistake.

[Alice]

Glad to have missed it, then.

On with my speech...

If men in comics are 'girly,' it's partly the society. Back as far as the 50s C.S. Lewis mentioned a trent to feminize men and masculize women. He was talking about stuff like the flappers movement (when women wanted to look more like men), and also stuff like the way facial hair (for men) was now frowned upon or out of fashion. Etc.

(I, myself, don't care for facial hair on men, so I guess I'm part of that trend.)

Men who are supposed to be appealing are often drawn to be very expressive. That may make them seem 'girl' to some men.

The thing with long hair -- it can have a softening influence, making a man look more approachable. It can be a mysterious thing. And sometimes it just makes him stand out.

Orlando Bloom, when asked why he thought his character Legolas was so popular with 12- and 13-year-old girls, said, "There's nothing sexually threatening about an elf." And he was right.

Sometimes in anime and manga, men who look or act expressively, or have long softening hair, gentle eyes, etc., are appealing because they are "other," (male, and therefore interesting to women), but safe, and in some ways familiar. In other words, the artist has created a man who is understandable to women.

[ashfire]

I have an idea here. Compare women's novels to men's novels.
I have never myself read a women's novel but look at the front of some of them then you have wonder what these story have in them that women go for. Remember Fafveo. Manly but yet feminine looking with all that hair.
I have read a couple of detective novels and you got " I saw this dame has she layed on that lounge with a bikni that would make men's heads turn" and acourse things get all steamy and this happens and that happens and the guy leaves faster than it started. Acourse the guy looks like his face was on fire and someone beat it out with a shovel and an axe in the stories from all his fights and run ins during his detective work.
Luckly I read nothing but Star Wars, other Sci Fi books, a few Jake Grafton novels, fire department novels and numbers of manga now.

[Joshua Christopher]

I don't like manly women.... Maybe because fangirls are insane. ; )

[Alice]

Feelings, and beauty, can make men seem like they make sense (to us women). I think both men and women artists do that with the opposite gender, changing them to make them more accessible or understandable (less 'other'). It's not necessarily a good thing, but I don't think people even realize they're doing it most of the time. And it's much easier to do that in drawings than in some media.

Unrealistic female characters really annoy me, but I don't think I notice quite as much with men. I don't think I've ever read a whole romance novel (Christian), without bursting out laughing at the male characters.

I spent a lot of time with my brothers growing up, so I have an advantage over some girls who never spoke much with boys until they were interested in them. But I don't always have realistic male characters in things I write, either.

I do think artists in any medium have a responsibility to create realistic characters and not set boys and girls up for confusion and disappointment. But to create, one should understand... and that is a journey itself.

Men can seem "safe" when they're drawn. Even the villains. (Yeah, you know that was coming. )

Oh, and another thing... I think men are quicker to judge whether a guy character looks like a girl. To a girl, a guy is manly... simply by being a man... at least until he proves otherwise in words or actions. That's my opinion, although it could be wrong. ^-^

I think that's about all I have to say... at the moment. So, yeah, let me know what you guys think about it. ^-^

Oh yeah... and I don't think the anime guys I think are cute are girly... at all.

[Alice]

[quote="Impact Alberto"]I don't like manly women.... Maybe because fangirls are insane. ]
Oh, I didn't mean women that looked like men... I meant, with the interest of men. (For instance, sometimes one sees anime all about girls and their cars... or girls and their big guns... stuff like that.) I didn't mean looks.

[kazekami]

Orlando Bloom, when asked why he thought his character Legolas was so popular with 12- and 13-year-old girls, said, "There's nothing sexually threatening about an elf." And he was right.

That reminds me when a friend and I went with our University fencing club to see the first Lord of the Rings movie on opening night. When we saw Legolas we said to each other. "BISHONEN!!" Ok so we are silly eggs. But he was looking good.

[kazekami]

I spent a lot of time with my brothers growing up, so I have an advantage over some girls who never spoke much with boys until they were interested in them. But I don't always have realistic male characters in things I write, either.

I had lots of guy friends as a kid. And I still have one good male friend.

Oh yeah... and I don't think the anime guys I think are cute are girly... at all.

I agree too. They are manly. heh heh.

[desperado]

hmm i do agree with the masculization attraction with men to women. see i would be in heaven if i found a girl that knew what i ment with cars or was into martial arts or such. a lot of guys do like the girl that understands what there talking about but dont like a masculine looking girl, for guys its the personality of a tomboy (not insanely tomboy but just knowing her way around a guys activities and understanding some of the stuff us guys do) but the looks of a girl. most of the guys i run around with like this, but we all hate the super feminist, the annoying girly girl (some guys like girly girls though but its not as common as a girl whos personality they can relate with)
hmm i fear im rambling but i will give an example, there is a girl in our youthgroup, she dreams of owning a vett, has worked on cars, and does sports. but she looks like every other girl out there, most of us guys adore her due to her personality.
so i see where this parrells somewhat (even though its personality not looks) for the girls and bishonen

[kazekami]

well in real life I like guys with good personalities.

[Alice]

hmm i fear im rambling but i will give an example, there is a girl in our youthgroup, she dreams of owning a vett, has worked on cars, and does sports. but she looks like every other girl out there, most of us guys adore her due to her personality.
so i see where this parrells somewhat (even though its personality not looks) for the girls and bishonen

I think I understand.

To be honest, cars and guns don't mean much to me (like most girls). My brother talks to me about them sometimes, but he has to explain himself a lot. ("So... that's bigger than the V8...?")

[Lunis]

Girly guys?! What are you talking about?! (see pics below) XD

All I have to post is the conversation Yahshua SigmaKnight and I had.

<Lunis> WHY DO GIRLS LIKE FEMMININE MEN?! XD Even I do, yet I don't know why!! o.o
<SigmaKnight> because.. the other men are drawn as ugly as possible?
<Lunis> probably...
<Yahshua> Hm I believe there is a Psychological experiment that they do to determine what type of face to people find most attracting to.
<Yahshua> And as it happen both Male and female prefer the face that is almost girlish looking.
<SigmaKnight> people tend to like curves more as well.. cant remember where i read that though.. and girls and girlish looking characters are drawn with more curves

[Yahshua]

Been in the Sociology which is a type of Social Science we study people behavior in scientific term so for understanding why fangirls like men that look like women or why do male perfer the female facial feature. Social Psychologists did do an experiment on that in which they take a group of people both males and females of various background and across culture with other nations beside the US and it seen that all of the culture perfer the female facial feature which was explain that because when we are born that we associate female with the idea of caretaker or protector so that is why they say we perfer the female facial feature of it.

[Stephen]

I guess I am weird...but I think men should look manly, and women womenly. *laughs* I love trying to figure out what some Jpop singers are. Its like a sad gameshow, NAME THAT GENDER.

[Joshua Christopher]

Well unfortunately I do not look girly.

I miss the old days of anime where men looked like men.


That's a real guy. : P

Look, sorry I don't have big sparkly eyes and long flowing hair, okay?

You see that? That's me. I'm sorry that I don't look like a girl.

[Alice]

Who asked you to?

I prefer men who look like men. I'm just trying to express my thoughts on the subject, and start a thread.

For instance, Hiei (who looks like a boy), is much cuter IMHO than Kurama (who looks kinda girly). (Kurama's the one with red hair.)

Besides, you don't look so awful.

[Joshua Christopher]

:( Who asked you to?

I prefer men who look like men. I'm just trying to express my thoughts on the subject, and start a thread.

For instance, Hiei (who looks like a boy), is much cuter IMHO than Kurama (who looks kinda girly). (Kurama's the one with red hair.)

Besides, you don't look so awful.

Hahaha, sorry, I reread that post and I did sound a bit angry, but honestly I wasn't. It was more sarcasm than anything. : )

[Alice]

Ok, that's good. ^-^

Can't believe I hunted up that picture of Hiei for nothing.

[Maledicte]

Unrealistic female characters really annoy me, but I don't think I notice quite as much with men. I don't think I've ever read a whole romance novel (Christian), without bursting out laughing at the male characters.

You have matched, nearly word for word, my sentiments on Christian romance novels in general.

[PrincessZelda]

I Don't! >_<