Quote:
Originally Posted by MMM
You haven't addressed my points in that respect and why gender roles work in Japan.
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I didn't mean to ignore your points, I just felt you'd gone astray arguing if discrimination is good or a necessary evil or unavoidable etc, as opposed to if it exists or not.
Black people would still be slaves if we assumed that racial roles were an affordable evil due to the good they caused economically, which it really did do.
To address your points though.
Gender roles work very well in Japan, they cause this society to be a very well oiled machine and it's almost exemplary, many men and women are happy to play their roles.
Those gender roles are very strong in fact, it's because of that that Japan does so well with them. People follow them without a fuss and seem quite fine with them.
At least until the overworked man commits suicide.
Or until the bored housewife loses all romantic interest in her virtually non-existent husband.
Or until a woman wants to have both a career and a family.
I'm not in a position to argue whether or not this is good, Japan has thrived under these conditions, but it's been the cause of a lot of anxiety and also it's frowned upon by most westerners who see it from the outside.
With regards to discrimination, I'm not talking about the kind of survival discrimination we all use daily. I'm talking about the kind of discrimination that takes away freedom of choice or even the awareness of that choice.
Just to be clear, I see nothing wrong with a woman wanting to be a housewife.
What I do see as wrong is a woman typecasting herself as a housewife without the option of considering a career. Or if she does have that option, to have a much more difficult time doing it than a man.