E M I N I N O M E N O N
VISITING SOUTH ASIA AS A PLUS-SIZED WOMAN : THE REAL GAIJIN STORY HOW WOMEN EXPERIENCE THE WORLD OF SPORTS DIFFERENTLY CHAPPELL ROAN: THE RISE AND FALL OF A MIDWEST PRINCESS
NAME
DAISY
like the flower.
22 AGE 01-02-2002 Aquarius ♒
UNI STUDENT
I’m a final year student at the University of Kent, studying English Language and Linguistics.
I lived a year in rural Japan as a part of my degree and studied Japanese language and culture. NO.3
FITNESS PAGE 4
Masculine men threatened by women in sport - an insight into being a women in sports compared to our male counterparts.
VOYAGE PAGE 7
Being a fat tourist in rural Japan - the real Gaijin experience - a personal memoir of living in Japan as a plussized person.
ICONS PAGE 5
Chappell Roan: The rise and fall of a Midwest princess.
IT’S NO SHOCK THAT THE TENDRILS OF THE PATRIARCHY HAVE CREPT THEIR WAY INTO WOMEN’S SPORTS, GIVEN THAT SPORTS SUCH AS WOMEN’S FOOTBALL ONLY BEGAN PROFESSIONALLY IN 2009 WHEN THE FA INTRODUCED CONTRACTS BUT THERE STILL WAS NO PROFESSIONAL LEAGUE UNTIL AS LATE AS 2018. THE SPORT ALONE HAS FACED SOME OF THE MOST BRUTAL BARRIERS OF DISCRIMINATION INCLUDING A MAJOR LACK OF FUNDING AND A 50-YEAR BAN DUE TO THE THREAT IT POSED TO MEN’S FOOTBALL. ALTHOUGH OTHER SPORTS SUCH AS WOMEN’S RUGBY HAD EARLIER ROOTS IN ESTABLISHING A LEAGUE, THE ENGLAND WOMEN’S RUGBY TEAM BECAME THE FIRST TO GO FULLY PROFESSIONAL WITH CONTRACTS IN 2019, WITH MANY TEAMS STILL HAVING UNPAID PLAYERS DESPITE PLAYING FULL-TIME.
NOW WHILE I LOVE THE SPORT AND LOVE TO TAKE PART IN THE GREAT STRIDES IT’S MAKING FOR WOMEN IN SPORT AND THE WAY WOMEN ARE VIEWED PROFESSIONALLY, IT’S NOT TO SAY THAT THE CULTURE AND IDEOLOGIES ARE STILL DEEPLY FLAWED. RUGBY EPITOMIZES STEREOTYPICALLY ‘MASCULINE’ CHARACTERS, SUCH AS AGGRESSION AND COMPETITION, AND WHILE THE ARGUMENT OF WHAT IT MEANS TO BE MASCULINE OR FEMININE IS GAINING TRACTION, WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION AND PUSHING OF THESE BOUNDARIES CHALLENGE WHAT IT MEANS TO BE MALE OR FEMALE IN TODAY’S SOCIETY. FROM PERSONAL EXPERIENCES, IT SADDENS ME SOMEWHAT THAT PEOPLE’S FIRST REACTION TO WOMEN PLAYING RUGBY IS ALONG THE LINES OF “I COULDN’T POSSIBLY DO THAT, IT’S FAR TOO AGGRESSIVE” OR AN ANECDOTE SUGGESTING THAT ONLY QUEER WOMEN WOULD WANT TO PLAY A “SPORT LIKE THAT” WHEN PEOPLE OUTSIDE OF THE SPORT FURTHER PERPETUATE THE STEREOTYPES AROUND IT, IT MAKES IT 10 TIMES HARDER FOR THOSE IN IT. LIKE MANY OTHER ASPECTS OF LIFE, WOMEN ARE SUFFERING THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE ATTITUDES OF THOSE IN THEIR COMMUNITY AND OUTSIDERS
IN AN ARTICLE WRITTEN ON RUGBYPASS RECENTLY, THE AUTHOR LEADS US IN WITH A STATEMENT THAT SUGGESTS HE’LL DISCUSS THE HARDSHIPS WOMEN RUGBY PLAYERS FACE WITH “MISGUIDED PILE-ONS DO MORE HARM THAN GOOD TO WOMEN’S RUGBY” BUT SPENDS THE MAJORITY OF THE ARTICLE TALKING ABOUT THE ENGLAND MEN’S CAPTAIN, JAMIE GEORGE WHILE IT LIGHTLY DISCUSSES HIS INPUT ON COACHING THE WOMEN’S TEAM, IT IS MOSTLY COMING TO THE DEFENCE OF MEN’S RUGBY AND THE SUGGESTION THAT HE’S BEING USED AS A PR STUNT TO BRING DOWN THE IMAGE OF MEN’S RUGBY. THE AUTHOR PROCEEDS TO CONCLUDE THE ARTICLE BY STATING “I’LL BE COMPLETELY HONEST. I STRUGGLE WITH THE WOMEN’S SIX NATIONS […] IT DOES NOTHING FOR ME.” AND SAYS HE HAS “NO MORAL OBLIGATION TO LIKE IT”. IT’S NOT LIKE WOMEN’S SPORTS NEED FURTHER CRITICISM UNDER THE GUISE OF AN ARTICLE SUGGESTING ITS SUPPORT. HE JUSTIFIES HIS OPINION BY STATING THAT “WOMEN’S SPORT HAS MANY, MANY ADVANTAGES OVER MEN’S SPORT” WHICH I THINK SUMS UP HIS MISCONSTRUED PERCEPTION OF WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A FEMALE ATHLETE SUGGESTING THAT WOMEN’S SPORT IS MORE “FAMILY-FRIENDLY” IS NOT THE COMPLIMENT YOU THINK IT IS, IT’S SO DEEPLY ROOTED IN MISOGYNY AND YOU’RE COMPLETELY BLIND TO IT
I’M SO EXCITED FOR WHERE THIS SPORT AND WOMEN’S SPORTS IN GENERAL CAN GO AND HOW POPULAR WE ALREADY SEE THEM BECOMING BUT BEFORE WE GET THERE, WE MUST TACKLE THIS FALSE IDEOLOGY THAT WOMEN’S SPORT, IN SOME WAY, THREATENS MEN AND THEIR MASCULINITY. WOMEN ARE NOT WEAKER OR LESS ATHLETIC THAN MEN WOMEN DO NOT NEED TO CARE ABOUT HOW PHYSICALLY ATTRACTIVE YOU FIND THEM WHEN THEY PLAY SPORTS. THEIR TALENT SHOULD TRUMP HOW YOU RATE THEIR APPEARANCE. WOMEN ARE ALLOWED TO BE MUSCULAR AND FEMININE. THIS SOCIAL PRESSURE ON WOMEN IN ALL ASPECTS OF THEIR LIVES NEEDS TO END 64% OF GIRLS QUIT SPORTS BY THE TIME THEY ARE 17 YEARS OLD DUE TO NEVER FEELING GOOD ENOUGH. WOMEN ARE GOOD ENOUGH AND WE DON’T NEED TO STANDARDS MEN HAVE SET TO TELL US SO
Opening Olivia Rodrigo's SOLD OUT Arena Tour:
“This is, like, my fourth or fifth artist I've opened for. But for an arena tour, I just needed to gather my nerves I think that's the difference between any other show Like, F , there's 20,000 people out there right now. I've never performed in front of that many people. I don't know what this emotion is, and I just have to tame it right now.” - Grammy Awards Interview with Chappell
BILLBOARD HOT 100 - “GOOD LUCK, BABE!”:
Marking Chappell’s first single on the Billboard Hot 100 List, “Good Luck, Babe!” is a nostalgic 80s synth-pop song that explores self-acceptance in queer relationships. This week marks 68 million and increasing streams on Spotify making it her most streamed song on the platform
Coachella debut:
Chappell made her debut at Coachella by playing both weekends on the Gobi Stage She performed tracks from her debut album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess along with new track “Good Luck Babe!” for the first time She stated that she loved every second and it felt like she was performing with her fans rather than to them.
Roan’s debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess released on September 22, 2023. The album consists of 14 tracks: Femininomenon, Red Wine Supernova, After Midnight, Coffee, Casual, Super Graphic UItra Modern Girl, Hot to Go!, My Kink is Karma, Picture You, Kaleidoscope, Pink Pony Club, Naked in Manhattan, California, and Guilty Pleasure The album has gained several positive reviews from critics and is said to cement her career as Pop music’s next big queer icon
Gaijin (外⼈), outsider, alien — a current controversial term that Japanese speakers use to refer to foreigners. Whether you choose to be offended by the term entirely depends on your own experience.
Before you venture to travel or move to another country, wherever it may be in the world, we’re all guilty of doing our research especially on how we will be perceived when we arrive My own experi-ence involved months of consuming negative media about how people who looked like me were received in the lead-up to packing up my life and moving to rural Japan at 20 years old.
Even if you’ve never travelled to East Asia, I’m sure you’ve heard about the harsh beauty standards citizens impose on themselves. And if you haven’t, I suppose it can be summarized into four charac-teristics: extremely thin, extremely pale, blonde hair, and an impec-cable sense of style. Emphasis on the thin.
March 5, 2024
We’re often told in the Western world, that while the Japanese are a very respectful race, they are not very forgiving of the tattooed and larger-bodied foreigners, and while this is somewhat true, it’s not in the ways you might think. Now don’t get me wrong, the world is changing, and people of all body types are slowly being accepted worldwide particularly in tourist-heavy destinations. And while moving to Japan to study was the greatest decision I’ve ever made; I can’t say that it didn’t come with a cost.
While I don’t like to consider myself an easily influenced person, I was very much guilty of adhering to Japanese diet culture (skipping meals and living on Yakult), dressing more modestly every outfit is revealing when you’re a curvy woman and becoming more re-served, so I don’t stand out against my skinny friends
facialA‘Purikura’photoboothinJapan.The Japanesewarpingismeanttoemphasize beautystandards.Thereisnooptiontoremovethisfilter…
And yes, it negatively affects your mental health, for a long while it seems.
I moved to a rural town in the south of Japan (Beppu, Oita) in September 2022 And while I had the support of my home university back in England and my host university, it was incredibly daunting The world doesn’t work the same way, at the same speed, as it does in a city in the south of England and I probably learned the most valuable lessons of adapting within the first few weeks. My com-mute to campus every morning involved scaling a mountain on a bus probably made in the 50s, where you board on the back, grab a paper ticket, and exit at the front paying in cash a similar journey into the nearest town (otherwise a 2-hour walk)
Despite the blazing heat and tropical humidity, I quickly learned after a few stares from Obaasan’s that as a curvy woman, it was NOT acceptable for me to wear short sleeves or to have my shoulders out The stares alone were uncomfortable enough for me to conform to dressing more ‘modestly’, and I suppose it helped that my Japanese wasn’t yet good enough to understand the comments they had to have been making
When my Japanese improved, I learned to stay quiet in public The attractive Japanese university boys were not interested in me, some stares and photograph taking could be excused as the fact they weren’t used to seeing foreigners in person, but most often they were directed at my very beautiful and beauty-standard conforming friends
On the occasion that they approached us to ‘practice their English’, I learned that they wanted an excuse to talk to my beautiful friends, and why wouldn’t they? I don’t blame them of course, but over the course of a year, it begins to rub you the wrong way. Once you pick up on one thing, the rest of them begin to make a lot more sense
My friends, bless their hearts, are often oblivious to the struggles of living in a larger body, why should they concern themselves with it? But with this, they were frequent in making suggestions of ‘getting out there’ and “just go talk to them, what’s the worst that could happen?” with regards to the dating scene in Japan since it was go-ing so well for them And while I was happy to be chatting on Tin-der behind the security of my phone screen, I was NOT going to ap-proach the very handsome, very muscly Korean man who frequent-ed my local Starbucks. As a consequence, post-Covid, it still took me an embarrassingly long time to remove my face mask
It’s not to say that every single member of Japanese society is ex-plicitly judgmental or to deter you, as a tourist, from visiting rural Japan Despite my own anxieties, I still very much encourage every-one (if ever given the incredible opportunity) to visit Japan espe-cially rural, authentic Japan While it made me look at myself and my body type through a critical lens, I learned so much about my-self and what I’m capable of just by exposing myself to a culture so vastly different from my own And now back in the UK, I find myself developing a sense of style and confidence I never had before, albeit a slow process, sometimes throwing yourself in the deep end (and experiencing the harsh realities of alternate cultures) teaches you how to live
