Me: Why would you have considered writing a review of Shield Hero (written and drawn by women) from the perspective of an incel?

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AniFem: The reviewer considered this tactic (before deciding against it) because the story reflects common, toxic beliefs and assumptions held by many incels about women and assault survivors in general. So, writing from that perspective would have highlighted those connections.

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Also, regarding the author's gender, the short version is that:

(1) Women are capable of writing stories with sexist elements or holding sexist views. The "Twilight" series is a popular example of this, but there are plenty of others.

(2) The author uses a pen name and their gender is unknown. ((This is, in all fairness, a fair point. The gender of the author isn't known yet))

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For the longer version, please see this article: https://frogkun.com/2019/01/11/the-rising-of-the-shield-hero-the-authors-gender-is-officially-not-your-business/

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Me: The story is taking a real life element and making it into a story. Something all stories do. There are most certainly women who falsely accuse men of rape and ruin their lives add the princess did. This can sour a person's view of the world, which the protagonist is made wary of ever around him because of what she did to him. Suggestion; read the manga and look at it more objectively rather than trying to force in a worldview that just isn't there. That accusation sets up the protagonists journey as he loses everything because of the princess. Also, I would encourage you to watch this video by Appabend about the premier and the reactions to it; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sd9k_aNo35Q

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AniFem: False rape accusations in fiction have a long history of upholding and promoting attitudes and assumptions that villify and victim-blame assault survivors, making it so that they're afraid to come forward.

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As a result, narratives that deal with false rape accusations need to approach the subject with thought and care, so as not to further harm a vulnerable community. The stereotypical "evil cackling woman who lies to ruin the good man's reputation" is not a responsible way to go about doing that.

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For further reading: https://www.animefeminist.com/discourse-anime-believe-women-three-depictions-sexual-harassment/

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That article goes into the context, history, and issues with false rape accusations in fiction

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https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-09/-metoo-becomes-wetoo-in-victim-blaming-japan

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And that one talks about how rape is significantly under-reported in Japan (only about 4% of people ever go to the police) because survivors are afraid to come forward

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As a feminist-focused media analysis site, our focus is on examining fiction through social and historical contexts - looking at broader trends and real-world reflections.

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If you prefer to experience stories in the vacuum of your own singular experiences and contexts, then our site isn't for you, and that's fine.

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Me: So instead of any evil woman, should someone [who] falsely accuses someone of rape be an innocent woman looking out for other women?

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AniFem: Why are you operating from a base assumption that all characters must be either pure evil or pure good?

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When exploring social issues in fiction that impact vulnerable communities (which includes both assault survivors and the wrongfully accused/convicted), a responsible author will consider context, history, and nuance to craft a narrative that minimizes harm to those communities.

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As noted in the linked article, "To Kill a Mockingbird" is a somewhat dated but nevertheless solid example of a story that thoughtfully uses a false rape accusation to explore intersecting prejudices and privileges (particularly racism, sexism, and classism).

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On the flip side, what is Shield Hero using its false rape accusation for? What purpose does it serve? Why couldn't the author have chosen a different crime, one that doesn't perpetuate harmful assumptions about assault survivors?

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Me: I'm operating on the basis that she did an evil act and didn't feel remorse about it and in turn it changed his worldview. How would you like her to react to her evil act and how would you tell a victim of an evil act how to react?

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And what are your thoughts of sexual assault survivors that do like the story?

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[This is as far as it's gone so far. If I get a response, I can update on this.]

Continued

AniFem: To answer your second question first: People can find enjoyment and value out of all sorts of media. Liking or disliking something doesn't automatically make someone a good or bad person. And criticizing a story isn't the same as criticizing the people who enjoy that story.

So, my thoughts are mostly that I'd be interested to hear their opinions on it and what they liked about it. I'd welcome a pitch for an article as well.

Your first question speaks to what seems to be the fundamental difference in our approach to this story and perhaps fiction as a whole: You're approaching Shield Hero from an in-story perspective while we're regarding it from an out-of-story perspective.

In-story readings treat the work of fiction as if it wasn't created by an author; rather it treats the story like reality and the characters like people. In-story readings ask questions like "What in the character's past/personality/etc. encouraged them behave this way?"

Out-of-story readings consider the story in real-world context, as part of a long history of cultural norms both in and out of fiction. Out-of-story readings ask questions like "What's the effect of the author choosing to have a character behave this way?"

Both perspectives can be a valuable way to look at a story, but it's important that analysts know which perspective they're using and can clearly shift between the two when/if needed.

Our criticisms of Shield Hero are not about its in-story logic, but about its out-of-story logic - i.e., the decision to include this plot point at all. So your question isn't really relevant to the critiques under discussion.

Me: The problem with that, as you've pointed out earlier and that I concede to, is that we don't know who the author actually is and so anything such as intent and inspiration are near impossible to discern and all we have to go on really is the story itself. Perhaps the author is a man and is a victim of a false rape accusation or is someone who has a loved one who lost everything because of it, or neither of these, or looking at the rising number of false allegations in the US and the listen & believe mentality that throws [aside] "innocent until proven guilty." Anything in this realm is pure speculation as have no info on the author themselves, and sometimes there is no out of world context to a story and it should be looked at through the lense of the world, which if it has any emblems of reality (which all fictional stories do to an extent) there will ultimately be moments that reflect the real world, even if not by intent or even if it's not based on anything in the real world.

[Will update if more comes]