(...) 人口減少の一番の原因は何かといえば、出生率の低さです。なぜ日本は出生率が低いのか。それは根底に男女差別が存在し、育児のみならず家事、介護が全部女性の手に委ねられているからです。こんなに多くの負担を押し付けられて、誰が赤ちゃんをたくさん産もうと思うでしょうか。
(...) レヴィ=ストロースが人間の意識は社会構造がつくると指摘しているように、育児も家事も介護も全部女性に押し付けられ、男はそれが当然だと思っている社会に育った女性が、「管理職になっても辛い思いをするだけ」、「専業主婦のほうが楽でいい」と考えるのはごく当たり前のことです。
社会構造が意識をつくるのですから、先に男女差別をなくさない限り、少子化問題の解決も社会の進歩もありません。
男女差別をなくして出生率をあげようというと、「若い女性の実数を考えれば、出生率をあげたくらいで子供は増えない。だから移民を受け入れるしかない」という反論が飛んできます。しかし、これも不勉強な話です。
確かに、短期的に見れば若い女性の人口が減っているので、出生率を上げてもそれほど人口は増えません。でも長期的に見ると、移民を受け入れたところで赤ちゃんを産みにくい男女差別のある社会では、移民も赤ちゃんを産みません。結局、男女差別にメスを入れなければ、人口は減るばかりで社会は衰退していくしかないのです。
「いままで夫を甘やかしすぎていた」…日本を衰退させている日本人に「刷り込まれた思想」の正体
この低賃金と円安じゃ、移民の方にも来ていただけないですw
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郷土無い
私には地元というものがない。ついでに実家もない。親戚の縁も薄い。今でも交流があるような幼馴染といえる人もいない。義務教育時代の同級生たちは恐らく私の生死すら知らないと思う。幼稚園から高校卒業まで京都で暮らしていたがその間家は2回引っ越し、いずれも借家であった。父も母も京都の人間ではない。2人とも住みだして長いが、三代住まねば京都人と言えないらしいのでうちは末代(おれ)までよそさんである。生まれたのは母の地元・島根県である。それも限りなく山口県に近い。確か最寄りのコンビニは山口県だった気がする。母ですら松江には中学の部活の大会でしか行ったことがないという。
早くから協調性ゼロ・言う事聞く耳持たずの自閉的お絵描き少女だったので両親には猪か山犬の子として育てられてきた。しかし彼等もまたかなり前衛的な人間であった。専門職で休日も本に埋もれた机に向かう友達0人の父に対して庭でインパクトドライバーや鉋を繰り出すDIY主婦の母、そんな2人の新婚旅行はタイとネパール、結婚当初は福井県の田舎で職場の同僚に貰ったジープを乗り回し、これまた貰い物のカワハギを台所で捌いていたという。母曰く「新婚なのに今までの人生で1番隠居のような暮らしをしていた」。確かに私の記憶でも当時の時間の流れは緩やかで、人生の終末に近いものを感じる。そんな若隠居の両親の下、幼い私は車道に横たわり、猿よけの電線を掴んで感電し、スイカを皮ごと喰らうなどして天真爛漫に過ごしていた。そんな穏やかな日々は長くは続かず、訳のわからぬまま京都に引っ越すこととなる。
京都の日々は正直なところ記憶から抹消したいことばかりだ。思春期の毒気が充満する精神状態に加えて己の出自が若干複雑で(ここで詳しく書くことは控えるが戸籍上イレギュラーな問題がある。ただ私の場合さほど差し障りなく生きて来れたのは時代と運が良かったと思う)どこの誰として振る舞えばいいのかわからなかった。中学生の時「男はつらいよ」を全部見たが(勉強もできない、運動もできない、周りと馴染めず友達がいないスクールカースト下層部の人間は他にやることがないのである)寅さんがフーテンできるのは帰る家があるからだと羨ましかった。京都に馴染めたらそれでここが故郷だと納得して楽になれたかもしれないが、それもできなかった。一番ネックなのは言葉だった。主に母や母方の親戚に育てられ、古い漫画を読み漁って言葉を覚えたのでべらんめえ調の標準語と中国地方の訛りが私の基本だった。関西弁が主言語の地域では私は異邦人なのである。前衛的精神の両親とも幾度となく衝突した。彼らは自分たちの思い通りにならずどんどん山犬になっていく娘に対して心の整理が追いついていなかった。人と暮らすことに不信感が募り、全てを振り切るように広島に進学した。島根に近いから関西弁を喋れなくても済むだろうと思ったのである。
来年とても円満な形で一家離散する。田舎暮らしに憧れて島根の母の実家に居候する父、京都でまだやりたいことがあるため残る母、5年前に広島に出てったきり帰る気配のない私というように西日本3拠点に散ることとなった。
それぞれが三叉路に立って「じゃっ!」と手を振り合い、それぞれの道を行くような清々しさである。バラバラで神経質のベクトルが全員違うような家族だ。共に暮らすことはそれなりに無理があったのかもしれない。今、ようやく信頼に満ちた我々にとっての家族のスタンダードができたと思う。どうだろうか。
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Saguaro and 1950s Femininity vs Masculinity
So, I was working on doing another clothing analysis (as I did with Larry’s suit), this time for Saguaro. However, the more I delved into Saguaro’s style, I realized how deep his insecurity lies, just through his clothes! Each piece of clothing connected more and more with the 1950s, the point I decided to make a separate post for the historical references. I will be making a post dedicated to analyzing his clothes though! ^_^
Quick disclaimer: I am not an expert in fashion or history, this is from my own personal knowledge, research, and passion on the topic. If there are any corrections or additions you’d like to make, please let me know!
Pokémon has lately been experimenting with more cultures outside of Japan, and has long history with Pokémon US. Even in the original Red and Blue, we have Lt. Surge aka the “Lightning American.” This trend continues within Saguaro, whose outfit immediately struck me as being inspired from American 1950s fashion.
The pink, yellow, and purple of his blouse is reminiscent of the 1950s color palette. These colors dominated interior design, fashion, and cars. The vertical stripes in his blouse were also a booming design trend in the 50s. French fashion was a huge inspiration to both Europe and America at the time, so it appeared in women’s clothing a lot. Now, the pink and yellow stripes give off a nearly-dated and sentimental look. But with his pants and shoes, he pulls it together in a contemporary, cute outfit (my future fashion analysis will go in-depth on this).
He wears a pink hair bow and his apron is adorned with a purple one. Again, bows were all in the rage in the 50s, especially as film stars like Audrey Hepburn influenced the fashion world. The bows were subtle and dainty, decorating the hair, waist, and neckline. It’s very significant that he wears an apron, one that even has a homemade touch. See the cute patches? The stitching on them implies he must have sewn them on himself. Anyways, the apron is practically the symbol of the 50s housewives.
When you think of the American 1950s, the image of the Housewife is probably what comes to mind. And although the role of the Housewife was, in reality, grueling, the romanticization still had a huge impact. America was in the Post War era, with men returning to their homes and families. As such, more women began to return to the household, as during the war, women took up the empty positions in the workforce. Not only did American ideals wanted people to revert back to the perfect family, the 50s was the period of the Cold War. It was basically a culture battle between America and Russia, which gave America all the more reason to spread their propaganda of the perfect, nuclear family. And as such, the feminine, submissive homemaker who kept the house tidy and had dinner ready with a smile. All while keeping up on latest fashion trends, of course. This was the made-up norm, not the reality, but the way it influenced gendered roles was irreparable.
This is not to say that Japanese culture has nothing to do with though. Quite the opposite in fact: it’s the key to understanding Saguaro’s insecurities. Post World War II, Japan started taking more influences from Western culture than ever, the boom starting around 1945. The Sengyo-shufu (専業主婦) was rising in popularity, meaning the “full-time housewife.” However, this was met with a controversial reception by Japanese women.
In 1955, an essay critiquing the housewife was submitted to a feminist magazine called Fujin Kōron (Women’s Review). The housewife, according to this essay, was a lazy consumer that only gossiped with other housewives, while her husband did all the dirty work. (I’d like to note how Saguaro says his classroom is a place where students gossip. He also considers his Home Ec classroom is be a “palace.”)
This sparked a scandalous debate (ronsō) in the magazine through essays, nicknamed the Housewife Debate, primarily between women. It went on from 1955 to 1979, through AT LEAST 33 essays. Since it was a feminist magazine, both Japanese working women and housewives were reading through this debate of what their role should be. Several essays defended housewives, while others took a neutral stance and said the home, kitchen, and work place weren’t gendered places. But as these were a product of passion, both working women and housewives were heavily insulted and criticized in these essays, pitting both sides against each other.
But what does Saguaro have to do with the 1950s and housewives??
Everything.
Saguaro symbolizes, and is a product of, the Housewife Debate and American propaganda. The pink, the apron, the bows: Definitely a subversion of what you would expect from an imposing man like him. But these aspects play into the image of the 1950s housewife. And as he’s the teacher of Home Economics, I don’t think it’s a coincidence.
But wait, (somehow) this isn’t all! Back to his outfit, let’s consider the loafers and suspenders. Generally masculine fashion that’s considered old-fashioned. Saguaro gives it a contemporary twist with the silver buckles, but it’s still very traditional, very gentlemanly. I’d like to note how the suspenders are holding up the apron.
With everything I discussed, you can see the conflicting ideals in his outfit; the mesh of traditionally masculine and feminine pieces. Saguaro is stuck in time with his perceptions of what a man is supposed to be, and his clothing reflects his beliefs. It’s why there’s references to the heavily-gendered 1950s
I know for a fact it isn’t a coincidence, because in this amazing post by @shinyhappydigistar, I learned that in Japanese, Saguaro uses an archaic pronoun: wagahai. It was used by masculine authority figures that demand respect. It’s also very arrogant. He’s trying to project his idea of masculinity as an attempt to hide his feminine interests.
Saguaro is deeply insecure about himself and the role he’s “supposed” to play as a man. It’s clear he loves what he does, but when it comes to how others see him, he’s terrified of others finding out. He even says so himself that he has some narrow-minded views. Embarrassment over liking sweets and cute things doesn’t come out of no where.
Here, he says “I’ve spent my entire life trying to maintain the image that others have of me.” It’s an insecurity stemming from his childhood, as something he must have experienced from the adults around him. Of course, we know very little of him in canon, but these lines imply incredibly important things about his character.
The history is important to consider in a multi-faceted way, because these subjects are complicated. Especially with characters like Saguaro, who seem to have grown up with a strict binary of gender expression. He is the “gruff yet homey” Mr. Saguaro, and he’s having trouble accepting both sides of himself. He’s pitting his perception of masculine and feminine ideals against each other, instead of accepting the fact he likes both.
I hope this provided some character insight, I was really shocked the more I broke down his outfit! But maybe that’s just me haha (*⁰▿⁰*) It bums me out that character design, especially clothing, is underestimated in media communication. There’s A LOT to be said in a character’s clothes- deliberately drawn. Pokémon is a shining example of this, as I’m also learning through this analysis journey. Saguaro is an incredibly complicated character built from complicated history and self-expression. A lot of love was put into all of the SV characters, each going through their own journeys in life, making them more real than ever. I hope you liked it! ^_^
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