Posts Written by TokyoPlum
By TokyoPlum • 13 years ago

Confessions of a Former Stick Figure

Up until age 30 or so, I was thin without working at it. I attributed it to a couple of things-lucky DNA, no taste for fast food or soda and only minimal chocolate / sweet cravings, and living for six years in a city where I did LOTS of walking. One thing was for sure-I wasn’t thin through hard work or will power. I exercised, but minimally. I ate what I liked. I didn’t really understand why people around me (okay, mostly women) stressed so much about their weight, because I’d never had to.
Ever since I was an adolescent people had complemented me on my thinness. Of course they were just being polite (have you ever noticed how much women complement each other on being thin, or comfort each other when one of them is feeling less-than-thin?). But their complements suggested that my thinness was an accomplishment, and I gradually started to think that it was one. I was proud of my thinness, as if it was something I’d worked for.
After college I started to learn about all the bullshit that surrounds the thin ideal. I learned that thinness is valued in women because it’s a sign of fragility and weakness-thin women are attractive because they’re easier to dominate. I learned about the relationship between thinness and consumption, realizing that every exercise video, surgical procedure, body-shaping underwear, fad diet, and photo ...
By TokyoPlum • 14 years ago

“Caprica” features marriage between two men

I apologize if this has already been posted, but it certainly caught my eye.

I was watching the Sci-fi (all right, Syfy) channel’s new series “Caprica” (a Battlestar Galactica spinoff) recently. During a scene where a gangster-esque character takes his nephew on a tour of the neighborhood, one line of dialogue made me do a double take:

“Yeah, your Dad and I used to come here a lot, he was always looking for a job and I was always flirting with some dude…”

Whoa…really? A macho gangster on a mainstream TV show flirts with dudes?

Turns out this gangster character is married to a dude, and no one ever uses the word “gay”–this is, after all, an alternate universe and a much more ...

I apologize if this has already been posted, but it certainly caught my eye.

I was watching the Sci-fi (all right, Syfy) channel’s new series “Caprica” (a Battlestar Galactica spinoff) recently. During a scene where a gangster-esque character ...
By TokyoPlum • 14 years ago

The Hostessing Boom

In response to the New York Times’ recent article on Japan’s “hostessing boom”:
The New York Times recently ran a piece on how the economic downturn is causing more and more Japanese women to seek jobs as hostesses. For those who aren’t aware, hostesses work in bars that cater to male clients and are essentially paid to flirt with and lavish attention on the customers. They can make anywhere from $20 to $150 an hour, depending on where they’re working and how popular they are. Sex usually isn’t part of the package, though at the seedier clubs women may be pressured into having sex with long-time clients, and some hostesses choose to sleep with clients ...

In response to the New York Times’ recent article on Japan’s “hostessing boom”:
The New York Times recently ran a piece on how the economic downturn is causing more and more Japanese women to seek ...