by axxxm
3/June/2023 in Tokyo
Something I noticed in Europe was straight men are somehow quite afraid of being considered as gay
Apparently the same fear exists among straight men in Japan
But, the same type of fear exists
it doesn't mean the level of a fear is the same
Seems to me it's much higher among male Europeans
Sometime it seems, extraordinarily
The reason behind would be religious values, or various cultural/historical notions, or etc etc etc blah blah blah, and so I don't find any unusual-ness here that the level of a fear differs
And obviously this is not about which is better or which is more backward/advanced
But something I occasionally find unbearably boring in Europe is men's fashion
"Muscle is men's clothes"
"Being a mam means having muscle"
"Paying attention to one's look is not manly"
.......all these notions produce another notion;
"A man who is fashionable is gay"
And fundamentally, a man who is more fashionable than his woman is not appreciated
As a result, boring look men are overflowed in the city
Here, we realise "the level of a fear of being label as gay" shares the same root as "the level of an obsession of being a man"
The same obsessive notions exist in Japan, as in
"Being fashionable is not manly" or "men should be like this and that"
But still, the same thing exists, it doesn't mean the level of an emotion attached is the same
It differs quite a lot
A beauty standard is different, simply put
Often Japan is seen as a conservative traditional society
But some ideas about men, especially men's physicality & appearance, are often very liberal
Seems an idea of "manly" is related to only their inside/mentality, and no strong pressure to express it through their body
Either way, as a result, every day I can enjoy seeing good-looking cute Japanese boys on the street in Tokyo