Jujutsu Kaisen is a bit sexist

Well okay, saying "Jujutsu Kaisen" specifically is sexist is going a bit far, but the mangaka's philosophy, shared by other content creators, is definitely an unusual bit of sexism.

There's a notable scene that's caused a bit of a stir where the girl in "Jujutsu Kaisen", the confluence of shape and color called "Nobara", fights a witch thing who lectures her on how women have to be beautiful and punch people in the face or whatever, to which Nobara says something to the effect of, Because I'm strong enough to punch anyone in the face, that makes me beautiful. All this, people say, is some demonstration of "Jujutsu Kaisen's" commitment to feminism.

First and foremost Gege Akutami, the mangaka, is a man, so this is pretty much a classic example of white knighting, which itself is a form of mansplaining. Why the hell does Akutami need to tell women, who in his theory are perfectly capable of speaking for their own competence, that they can be competent regardless of their physical appearance?

Secondly, he's the guy who brought up the idea of women being associated with feminine beauty - if he didn't bring it up, then wouldn't his storytelling and dialogue have proven that thesis in of itself? (I can hear my inner "Hunter x Hunter" fan screaming "BISCUIT FUCKING KRUEGER!") All this in a series where the women don't even look distinct to begin with, so I guess he's saying that women have the right to be boring and pointless like men can be?

Thirdly, why can't women, who, again, in his own theory, are capable of doing anything, redefine what beauty and competence are and their relationship to each other? Why must these two things be antagonistic to each other? Can't they be mutual? Isn't it more empowering if a woman owns her identity and leads the pace in the story, rather than being relegated to the background and by the way that is exactly what Nobara fucking is?

I don't have any formal education in feminism but this just smacks to me of sexism. I don't give a shit about "Moana" or "The Force Awakens", you can lodge a complaint about those stories on the stories alone (which means the feminist perspective is working, because if the story is shitty then how does your box office return depend on the protagonist being a man or a woman?). One would think that in a fantasy story a character's strength of will, charisma and intellect would be more important for overcoming obstacles and defeating the villain anyway, so who gives a shit about the gender of your laser-holding good guy? But by being so on the nose, so obvious in one's messaging, for some character who does nothing in the story, you come off as patronizing for not just men but also women, as if you're saying "Hey ladies, this is what you can be, isn't it great I told you so?" Maybe Akutami didn't intend for the messaging to come off this way, but isn't there a better venue for this type of message that isn't, y'know, fiction? And isn't he taking advantage of the popularity of his series to say this message, which is an unconscious way of saying "What I have to say is more important than what you have to say because it'll be read by thousands of readers"?

Has anyone ever thought the "strong woman" image is less something women envision themselves being and more something men impose on women? (Men imposing their expectations on women? Shocker!) Wouldn't a women say "If I had economic equality with men of comparable skill and experience as me and I get a comparable amount of respect, I'd be totally happy with that? I don't need to be constantly told that my success - objective success - is a great good empowering thing for me and my fellow women?" That's why, in my fucked up way, I always mention how Colette and Yeats are both weird sex perverts on one hand and on the other say they're some of the greatest writers of the last century.

Which is why someone like Akutami should look at what female shonen writers like Rumiko Takahashi ("Inuyashi", "Mao"), Hiromu Arakawa ("Full Metal Alchemist") and Paru Itagaki ("Beastars") and their works, and the way they write female characters as well as male characters, and respect that, rather than patronize the way they tell their stories or write their characters. It's well worth nothing that all of these women, even in the narrow genre of shonen, have written male and female characters of varying personalities and temperaments, not pinning down their philosophy on some shallow, stupid pseudo-feminist ideology. Itagaki, whom I have a great deal of respect for, has both Haru and Juno in "Beastars", who are alternating foils of self-esteem and sexuality. Haru can be seen as the stereotypical damsel-in-distress character... except she is absolutely not. Our perception of her defenselessness is actually something she has incorporated into her identity, and regardless of whether she feels it is good or bad it is part of her character. All of this to say is that Haru is an actual character instead of Akutami's hollow mouthpiece.

So yeah, "Jujutsu Kaisen" can eat a dick, the men, the women, the panda, they can all suck it.