So I realize there's been a topic on this before and that there's a currently running thread for criticisms of One Piece, but I think that this issue can easily be expanded on enough to merit a new discussion. Particularly because Oda recently threw another stick into the fire with the Monet fight. Call it beating a dead horse or whatever, I don't care. At least if this debate has its own thread it can easily be avoided for those who don't want to read it and you won't have to sift through post after post in the chapter discussions.
But anyway. I've been working lately on an essay for college about prejudice, so this topic has been in my mind for a while. I want to talk about how Oda portrays females in the series. I'll be looking first at the Monet fight since it's the most recent offender, but I'll try my best to expand it to the rest of the series so as to avoid this being just a rehash.
Now, without further ado, chapter 687: Wild Animal. You either love it or you hate it apparently. Personally I'm of the opinion that the fight choreography was pretty cool, but of course that's ignoring the true demon here. And man, fuck Zoro. Don't get me wrong, I like Zoro, but he was always portrayed as the guy that would get shit done. No goofing around playing pirates; he always cut straight to the chase. Case in point, the Usopp fiasco in Water 7.
I'm going to try to rebut the most common points brought up in defense of Zoro here, though if I miss something feel free to comment later. I've seen people say that Zoro would have cut Monet if he had to. I agree. However, the fact that he had any reservations in the first place is utter bullshit. He literally said that he would rather not cut a woman if he had a choice. He literally said this. Between this and the “She's a woman!” comment in Skypiea, Zoro's case ain't looking too pretty. You might say that the point of his wild beast speech was to portray him as a fighter who does not discriminate, but really all he was saying is that he attacks if threatened. So there goes that argument.
In fact, that entire chapter just takes a nice steamy dump on Zoro's previous characterization. Think back to the Kuina flashback. Remember when Kuina lamented how she would never be as strong as Zoro because she was a woman? And remember how Zoro told her that's bullshit and that it comes down to determination and willpower? Yeah? Well good, because apparently Oda forgot. Shocking, I know. Practically undermined the entire purpose of that sequence, he did.
And honestly, when has Zoro ever shown reservation in attacking women before this? In his fight with Ms. Monday, he squeezed the bitch's skull until she was foaming at the mouth. Holy shit! That's badass! Hell, way before that he was even willing to cut down Nami of all people, and had to be stopped by Sanji (don't worry, we'll get to this doofus soon enough):
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Actually, the fight against Ms. Monday brings up another important point. Namely, how Oda seems adamantly against depicting “sexy” women being brutalized by men. If you still want to argue Zoro isn't sexist, fine. But let's shift the scope over to Oda himself, shall we? People said the Monet fight was consistent with Zoro's character, what with going easy on opponents he knew to be far weaker than himself. Some even compared it to Zoro vs. Mihawk. Ignoring the fact that Mihawk was mocking Zoro if anything, fine; I'll take it. Like I said, I agree Zoro would have taken out Monet if he absolutely had to. But would Oda ever actually depict something like that? Sadly, the answer is a big resounding no.
There were like, what, a whole four female enemies before this that were fought seriously? Forgive me if I'm forgetting something really obvious, but I can only recall Ms. Merry Christmas, Ms. Doublefinger, Kalifa and Perona. We'll be looking at each of these in more depth.
So we've got Usopp's fight against Perona. Opponent is a typical Oda “sexy” woman ("But, but, she has different eyes!!!!11")? Check! Beaten with minimal damage? Check! Oh boy, off to a great start already. It fit with Usopp's fighting style and the battle itself was really cool, but he literally just left her lying there. She even goddamn woke up and was up and running again. Good job, Usopp. What if, instead of running away, she had gone after the other Straw Hats and beaten them again? What then, Usopp? All because Oda didn't want a female character being physically beaten by a man.
And don't you tell me the Ms. Merry Christmas battle mitigates this. Look at the woman. She's a fucking mole. She's pudgy, she's ugly. And look again at Ms. Monday: she's the goddamn Batman Hulk. According to Oda, it's okay to beat on ugly women but not on pretty ones. I mean, look at Big Mom. She's clearly being set up as a villain Luffy will fight in the distant future. Oh, but wait. She's a grotesque overweight drooling tub of lard. Of course. Because of that, it'll be okay for Luffy to hit her! Same with Alvida. What's that, Alvida? You were overweight and not conventionally attractive? Never stood a chance.
The only female fights you could conceivably call brutal are against Kalifa and Ms. Doublefinger, the latter more so than the former. Even glossing over the fact that the Kalifa fight was almost entirely fanservice – a sin in and of itself – it wasn't nearly up to par in terms of physical damage. Overshadowed by pretty much every other fight in Enies Lobby. She was practically the 'token woman' of CP9. I feel bad having to coin a term like that, but it's true. Likewise, Hancock is pretty much the token woman of the Shichibukai and her portrayal sure as hell ain't flattering. But I digress. Who was Kalifa, along with Ms. Doublefinger, beaten by? Nami. Despite what Lola may have you think, she's not a man. Surprise!
While we're talking about Kalifa, let's look at another moment from that arc. If you were thinking about Spandam's blatant abuse of Robin then BAM, there goes my entire argument. Or not, like, at all. Think of what the purpose behind that was. Clearly we were supposed to cement in our minds that Spandam is a despicable asshole. He's a self-promoting cowardly dickhead. Funny how the only actual female abuse in the entire series is used as a ploy to get us to hate an unambiguously evil character.
And then we have Sanji. Don't even get me started on this guy. He gets enough flack around here as it is and I don't really have anything new to add in this regard, but how can we forget this gem:
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Classic Sanji. Lo and behold, it's even from chapter 687! That chapter is a freaking cornucopia of shitty character moments. And I can't even begin to forget the stain that is Sanji vs. Kalifa.
It's sad, really. The only possible defense I could see is that back in the days of pirates, women really were treated as inferior. And in fact, female pirates simply weren't as common as their male counterparts. This excuse is still bullshit, of course. Naruto is likewise based on a period where women were treated as inferior to men, but it still gets the shit rightfully beaten out of it for pulling that crap.
Now before some of you get defensive, let me make this clear. Am I calling Oda sexist? Hell yeah, bitch. Does that mean he's a horrible person that actively looks down on women? Nah. He does, however, show sexist tendencies, which I suspect he's probably not even aware of. That's just how prejudice is in real life. It usually stems from not knowing any better, ignorance/apathy, lack of proper sensitivity towards the subject or any combination of the above rather than from outright loathing. Unless you think all racism stems from a KKK-like mentality. Even if you are aware of your own subconscious tendencies, it's very difficult to suppress the inherent bias that has been programmed into you by the status quo.
With that said, I think I'm done for now. I'll be looking forward to your responses, so fire away. Hopefully my monolithic rant can stir up some critical analysis in here. I don't claim to be an expert on this stuff, and in fact I often think I'm too naïve to be dealing in this shit. So post your thoughts. Enlighten me. Or if not that, then I hope I was at least able to enlighten you in turn.