I know it's not just this issue, but I do think we're taking the scenes with the diaper wearing, pacifier sucking weirdo trying to act like a man while disregarding little bratty girls cause "they don't know bout real romanticism, love and the world of man" and "who wants that disgusting kind of love?" (quotes from this chapter) a bit too far. Actually, the fourth crying princess calling out for her brave prince is far worse. Specially after we were told she was incredibly mean spirited and many other things. Rebecca or Vivi are much braver than this so-called "mean spirited" princess.
Far more worrisome are Oda's real life thoughts of giving girls their DF abilities based on what everyday women need. That's retarded. And even more retarded when we see DF's like Baby5's, Hina's, Jora's, Perona's. . .which would actually be kind of awesome if that was the whole fucking joke ("oh, I do think modern day women need the ability to turn their arms into scimitars and their legs to gatling guns. That's what they all should be able to do!"), but it's not. At times like this, Oda seems kinda clueless, and it's very puzzling, considering he wasn't like this before (Miss Monday not getting any pity from Zoro, Belle-mere being able to combine being a mother AND a kickass marine, Hina handling strong martial artists easily in a 1 on 1 (Mr 2), Kuina, Vivi being a brave princess with a strong initiative to do things on her own, Sanji not being an utter lecherous pervert but more of a gentleman, etc. . .).
Now, what I know is not helping are the idiots coming in here and using such sound arguments as "lol, take that Social Justice to another place! I don't wanna feel intimidated by stuff that frightens me and might hinder my enjoyment of this kids manga! out with you!". That's pitiful. It isn't even a critique directed at you or anything you did, it's directed at a multimillionaire and hyper successful manga artist. Coping with this should be an easy task, me thinks. And I don't think Oda is in desperate need of some knights in shiny armor to guard his honor and dignity.
@Zar:
I just wish that Oda could one day introduce a new Dadan - a badass woman who wasn't pretty, but still somebody you liked. As for sexism in general, I'm tempted to say that its gotten worse after the time skip (did the ship really need four perverts swooning over Robin and Nami in towels, even if temporarily? Worst part is that Kanjuro is probably going to fit in that category as well) but then again nothing stands above Absalom's… advances. IF robin and Nami get a proper fight, get beaten and bloodied and stand up on their own legs, beating their -hopefully-not-female-and-weakest-villain-of-the-group- on their own, I'll see past most fanservice. And at least the fanservice isn't as bad as other mangas.
But that's precisely what Oda seems to be pretty good at: creating "Dadan's". An ugly woman who can have shining moments on her own. I honestly think Dadan facing the Flashback's "boss" (Bluejam) out of selfless reasons, and Dadan hiting Garp from the bottom of her heart are among the best character moments in all of the series.
What Oda doesn't seem to have that good of a grasp is on creating pretty women that don't go around asking for help or crying or being emotionally weaker than their masculine counterparts. I can already picture had Manshelly been an ugly old woman, she wouldn't have been crying, but maybe shouting to the guards to go fuck themselves. As soon as it's a frail, young, pretty lady, the tears start running down their cheeks. And truth be told I don't even dislike Rebecca: she tries her best, acts on her own impulses, and she's gone through a lot. Being revealed in the span of one minute that she's in front of her mother's killer AND that she's had a father all along is understandable to see her crying. The problem is when she does that. . .all the time. And, again, she's not even that bad compared to, say, Shirahoshi.