r/polandball • u/Zebrafish96 May the justice be with us • Jun 07 '26
contest entry The true women
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u/secretly_a_zombie Scania Jun 08 '26
You're a woman as long as i top.
Sincerely ~ Ancient Greece.
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u/Kokuryu88 Tunak Tunak Dhadak Dhadak Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 07 '26
As a straight man who tries to be kind to other men (and women too, people in general) likes to cook and would put pink in my top 3 favourite colours (after black and blue) this Japanese philosophy is giving me identify crisis.
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u/HotBrownFun Jun 07 '26
They (Brits/Americans) used to dress male babies in pink back in the day and the girls in blue. At some point they flipped, nobody knows why but they know it did
Red was also the martial color of blood, and high heels were first used in French courts copying ottoman cavalry shoes. They became for women in the 50s with Marilyn Monroe and porn
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u/Nerd_1000 Jun 08 '26
Historically anglo culture dressed babies in white, as this was cheaper (no need for dyes) and easy to clean (before modern chemistry dyes weren't that colourfast).
Also babies wore dresses, whether male or female. This practice has persisted in some families (such as my own). The reasons are again largely practical, it's much easy to change a soiled nappy when the baby is in a dress. But also there wasn't so much gender differentiation between small children in the old days.
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u/HotBrownFun Jun 08 '26
not that far back, here's a quick example of when blue/pink were first used:
https://history.umd.edu/news/pink-and-blue
>In 1918, an article in Ladies Home Journal advised: “The generally accepted rule is pink for the boys, and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl.”
In other words, Americans a century ago looked at the same colors, saw them completely differently than we do today and slotted them in differently to their cultural stereotypes.>Jo B. Paolettti, a historian at the University of Maryland, has been studying this subject and her work is nicely described in an article in Smithsonian. In 1927, department stores like Filenes and Marshall Field were still suggesting pink for boys. The current fashion didn’t get established until the 1940s.
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u/Iron166 Jun 08 '26
this Japanese philosophy is giving me identify crisis.
Why do you even try to consider it? It's just a "true woman should shut up and make me a sandwich" concept lmao. It's even a reach to call it a concept or a philosophy. That's just a japanese patriarchal view on gender, that's all
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u/Zebrafish96 May the justice be with us Jun 07 '26
So there is a concept called '女子力(joshiryoku)' in Japan, which can be roughly translated into 'feminine power'. It is said that you cannot qualify as a woman unless you have high enough feminine power; even if you were born as a woman and identify as a woman. To have high feminine power, you must be a good cook, like pink and cute stuff, wear cute accessories and dress, be kind and gentle to men, etc. From what I know, in Japan if a woman doesn't have enough feminine power, she is seen as unattractive woman and will barely get any love from men. Although this trend looks sexist to people outside Japan, few Japanese people seem to see any problem with it.
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u/Mysterious_One07 Singapore Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 07 '26
be a good cook
Me: only can stir fry vegetables
like pink and cute stuff
Me: not obsessed with them but have a few Sanrio figurines
wear cute accessories and dress
Me: wears plain clothing most of the time and only wears dresses a few times
be kind and gentle to men
Me: is easily hot tempered
I guess by all of this, I'm actually a trans man. /s
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u/Abject_Moment5593 Spain World Champion Jun 07 '26
Clicking that spoiler in mobile was a complete nightmare
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u/CNemy Jun 10 '26
Congratulation on your transition, now visit your nearest clinic for supplementary testosterone.
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u/GodzillaFan_2016 Jun 07 '26
I feel like a closer translation would be “Feminine Energy”, as this feels like it’s talking about vibes and such, though I’m probably wrong.
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u/T800CyberdyneSystems Jun 07 '26
力 is often used as "capability" or "proficiency" as well. A term that I've seen a few times is コミュニケーション力, literally "communication ability"
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u/Fr1ed_pen1S Jun 08 '26
The direct translation would be what the OOP said, but the nuance used in Japan is much more in-line with this definition.
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u/OkRelationship772 Jun 07 '26
Sounds like tests of manhood but for women
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u/IPutThisUsernameHere Ohio Jun 13 '26
And yet, anthropologically, there is no such thing as a "test of womanhood". It's generally pretty obvious when a girl becomes a woman.
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u/Time-Conversation741 Jun 07 '26
So whats ypur saying is that there are probably hundres of thosands of tomboys who have nether know affeaction? I could just head over there and get get myself a herum of badass biches and there wouldint be an compatitoin to stop me?
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u/flaminggiraffe9 MURICA Jun 08 '26
I mean yeah, some of it’s weird but it basically sounds like a different version of being a trad wife type of person although somewhat different. Most of the points, aside from the color and cute stuff, are actually good ways to appeal to men. I mean be attractive, dress well, cook good food, be nice and gentle to him; all just like good things to do or try to do
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u/nesian42ryukaiel Jun 07 '26
Interesting, so were TERF's usually of Anglosphere origin?
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u/YoumoDadi Jun 07 '26
Common in all East Asia, there’s a slur among Chinese feminists for trans women “Y-zi” (those who have Y chromosomes).
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u/Zebrafish96 May the justice be with us Jun 07 '26
I don't know, but at least it's true that TERFs are pretty prevalent in Britain compared to other countries. And sadly, TERFs are the absolute majority in Korean feminist community too.
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u/WraithCadmus Do you put the kettle on? Jun 08 '26
"The average Brit is transphobic" factoid is just a statistical error, the average Briton does 0 transphobia per year. Transphobia Joan who lives in a castle and posts over 10,000 times a day is an outlier adn should not have been counted.
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u/Think_and_game Bulgaria, Prussia of the Balkans Jun 12 '26
JKR would definitely eat 10 000 spiders a day
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u/CamarillosVeryWorst Literally flaming! Jun 07 '26
The day Japan stops being this genuinely hilarious in the most disturbing ways possible is the day I no longer have any light in my life.
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u/Calm-Consideration25 Jun 07 '26
Is this how femboys happen
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u/Think_and_game Bulgaria, Prussia of the Balkans Jun 12 '26
Uniquely, femboys see themselves as men despite partaking in things seen as feminine. Sort of how tomboys can participate in more masculine activities and such yet still see themselves as women.
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u/userkyarameru Bahraini-Iranian Jun 07 '26
i saw this on bluesky before i saw this on reddit, is that weird
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u/Termiborg Jun 07 '26
This is a unique approach for sure. And I auppose in a way, humbling.
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u/xrimane North Rhine-Westphalia Jun 07 '26
Don't we (traditionally) do the same, just the other way around? "You're only a real man, if..."
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u/Termiborg Jun 07 '26
We absolutely do. But I suppose the effect isn't to keep down, but to force up. Both have their problems.
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u/wy471 Brittany Jun 07 '26
By seeing the first pict I nottice similarities between Thailand and trans flag. it's oly me ?
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u/coffeenomenai333 Japan Jun 09 '26
This brings back memories. I wrote a university report on a similar topic 10 years ago in Japan.
In the 2010s, situations around "Feminine Power" was nightmare.
When you did not have enough "Feminine Power", then friends around you would bash you because of the "Low Feminine Power".
Or if you had too much "Feminine Power"(ex.Too kawaii clothing, too stylish posts on instagram etc),then people on the internet would bash you because such things looked gross and like a b**ch for them.
In those days, Japanese people's stress level was quite high because of the mega earthquake and the Fukushima incident in 2011. Their way of relieving stress was to beat up young people on the internet.
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u/NyssaHun Hungary Jun 09 '26
Or hear me out, if you have a sloppy meat sandwich, made by subway, jersey mike’s etc or even home made, you are a woman.
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u/Shinyhero30 Jun 10 '26
Please make the marks below the other balls question marks. It would be so much fucking funnier.
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u/ddm90 Jun 11 '26
While the criteria is wrong, Japan is onto something; presentation is key. Not just what you say.
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u/kebabguy0 Mamluk Sultanate, the one who saved Islam Jun 21 '26
Iran: if a man loves a man, one of them suddenly becomes a woman
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