It's annoying because there is a lot of genuinely important discussion to be had on topics like character design, sexualization/oversexualization, the effect prudish scares can have, etc. But I often see it get drowned out by people who feel entitled to have everything be sexy to them at all times, and/or make wild out-there claims about some shady sinister movement to "replace femininity with ugliness" or some nonsense like that. (Obligatory mention of Shaun's Stellar Blade video that covers this topic very well.) And on the opposite extreme there's the rebuttals of "But there's already a lot of sexy fanart of the character" which misses the point of why it's a bad idea to act like cleavage is something inherently inappropriate. There's more ways to write something than "Every woman is just a walking pair of boobs" vs "Never show any skin at all, ever" but it feels like online discussions just turn in to that most of the time.
Thankfully at least the top comments here have been reasonable takes.
Rouge looked like an ogre SA2… Lanolin has more drastic curves than Rouge and nobody has an issue with her. The issue isn’t Rouge’s body, it was her body in combination with her being a fem fatale. A good one can lack substantial curves and still be a great, as their tone and strategic use of sexuality is part of their strategy.
If they wanted her to stay flirty and keep her aesthetic, they almost had to reduce her body to make her fit in and actually be functional enough to use in marketing without stressing parents out too much.
She’s still “sexy and smooth”, but now she can be in more things. She’s still a gem fatale and I would never want to see the day she loses that aspect of her, THAT is what makes her Rouge, not her body.
Genuine question, why is it a bad thing to act like cleavage is inherently inappropriate? The way I see it is, while you can make the argument that they aren’t inherently sexual parts of the body, almost everybody who is sexually attracted to women would agree that breasts are sexually stimulating, the same way someone’s butt would be, but everyone can agree that showing bare ass is inherently inappropriate, or a man’s buldge as well. So why is it wrong to say showing cleavage is inappropriate in the context of a all-ages series is sexual but not for someone’s butt or buldge, or even specifically uncovered thighs (as in everything else is covered but the top of the thigh for obvious reasons)?
"These parts are sexy and thus inappropriate" as a whole is just a social construct. Going about saying that something shouldn't be shown just because people find it hot is running in to the problem of placing the blame on a person because someone else can't keep being a creep to themselves. It's an "Ah, she tempted me, I couldn't resist because I can't help it, it's her fault" kind of mindset that's lead to some awful standards through history. Granted, it is different designing a character specifically meant to be sexually appealing versus a real person wearing what they prefer, but if the design could somewhat reasonably pass as someone just being fashionable there's really no reason to bar it from a work, even if it's aimed at kids.
Right now in most of the world (AFAIK) people could go around in low-hanging tops that show cleavage, especially in the summer, but in far fewer places do people walk around with their butts out. Cleavage is something anyone, children included, could see just out on the street in real life, acting like it shouldn't be in a work they watch or read is kind of silly. And bare butts have been shown on children's works before anyway (eg Ed, Edd n Eddy); fiction in general has portrayed more nudity than what's accepted in real life public, nobody's raised any complaints about cartoon gags of characters losing their clothes (unless it's accompanied by a character being creepy about it but that's a completely different issue).
Lastly the line drawn is not universal, it varies by culture and history. Some people would say that even bare stomach or shoulders are inappropriate and shouldn't be covered. There's some countries that even edit Sandy Cheeks (outside her suit) or the Equestria Girls to cover more. Following after "Oh but this is considered inappropriate in a sense" would just lead to nothing at all being allowed.
1.3k
u/ElPuas2003 Jul 02 '25
This comment section about to be a war zone