AKB48 idol Minami Takahashi has been causing controversy amongst idol fans by complaining about them refusing to let her pursue a normal love life, angering those of her creepy fans who apparently regard themselves as timeshare owners of her hymen.
Her comments came in a recent interview:
“It’s expected for people living normal lives to experience love – in fact, isn’t it encouraged? But nobody supports us experiencing love.”
Idol followers have been quick to point out the basic incompatibility between nurturing a creepy legion of followers with the carefully cultivated illusion of eternal virginity and actually openly pursuing the sort of lifestyle most of their fans hanker after – with most seemingly less than sympathetic:
“But you’re not living normal lives. How much are you getting paid, for starters!”
“Become a normal person. End of problem.”
“Just quit being an idol. You can always try being a singer.”
“I don’t think anyone really encourages this for normal people either.”
“I thought it was AKB48 themselves who made this rule anyway…”
“It’s not weird at all. You milk creepy otaku by selling them dreams, of course they’ll turn on you if you do as you please.”
“If you realise it is weird just switch professions.”
“You chose this path! There’s no law forcing you to join AKB48 and do this.”
“What is she on about – they sell themselves on the basis of being chaste…”
“AKB really have no sense of professionalism, do they?”
“Being a yakuza harlot is no ordinary job, get used to it.”
“Average looking idols selling handshaking event tickets and being supported by hardcore otaku – I doubt foreigners would understand such a business model.”
“To be an ‘idol’ is to date your ‘fans’ – of course they’ll be annoyed if you date someone else.”
“Doesn’t seem to stop many of these idols (and most of them aren’t even punished):”
“Please just realise it is your job to convert lust into cash and stop whining.”
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You know, she might actually be on to something. You let these chicks get hooked up, the fans loose interest, the idol thing dissolves, at least as far as that extreme goes. Creepy otaku get a life, maybe learn to stand up for themselves. And all it took was some public smooching.
Yeah, sounds idyllic, but it'd be a start. Of course, i know better. All the incentives flow the other way.
"Creepy otaku get a life, maybe learn to stand up for themselves."
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Nope.
They willjust find something else. Remember: don't blame the media. Idols are not a cause, but a symptom.
If AKB48 goes down, someone else will rise in their place.
Well, from the looks of it, not just someone but "something" can take their place....like if they come out with their Chobits >.>
"not a cause, but a symptom"
I think they're both, actually.
who is the girl in the last pic #28?
those are Wota not otaku
“Why Can’t We Have Lovers!?”
Because people want to masturbate to you thinking you are their "Precious"
gollum, gollum !
We "Eats it" whole :D
Give it to us RAAAW.
I lol'd at this comment. haha
Yep... sad and true. Unrealistic.
They are paid to sing and dance... anything off the clocks (in their private lives) is nobodys business.
HINT: get a real girlfriend.
Well there's Creepy and then there's Otaku Creepy.... :(
There's are just plain Otakus out there. Not all of them are creepy. XD
It's their fault for marketing that way to those specific "clients". If they want to get keep on getting money and keep on going on with that merchandising and marketing style, then they need to stfu and take it or find some other job where they can have their "fun and normal life". >.>
No it's their studio's fault for marketing it that way. I very seriously doubt these girl's ever get a choice in the matter until they are pretty much Ayumi Hamasaki or someshit. Honestly it's the otaku's fault too for thinking this way. No you will never date her no matter how hard you try. The guy who WILL date her will be the guy who is 100% opposite of every god damn one of you and isn't acting like a damn spoiled arrogant epic waste of good oxygen. You get nothing you lose good day sir.
I agree with you my dear Anon@13:15
couldnt have said better
Pretty much this. The girls they recruit into things like AKB are too naive to realize what they're getting into at the time. By the time they do realize it, they're in too deep, and...well, look at the crazy responses both in the original post and in these replies. It's not the girls' fault for wanting to be able to have a relationship, it's the managers' for marketing this crazy virginal image, and more importantly the fans for having this ridiculous expectation of them. The fans need to grow the hell up.
AKB, You can lover (but only limit to girl)
Your Crazy / Creepy Fans will support YURI for sure.
Why am I know it ? because I somewhat the same with them.
the only different is I fine with you have boy-friend but I still prefer YURI couple.
Because their fans are so ronery so everyone else has to be ronery too!
These Japanese are really fucking insane aren't they?
Seriously, this is some fucked up shit.
If they want to have a relationship, that's THEIR GOD DAMN BUSINESS.
Those Japanese comments have a point actually. Now, I don't personally care for AKB48, other than finding this whole situation absurd like many people here do and feeling sorry for these ladies. But it's true, their profession isn't even about the singing, because they basically became "idols" (not even "gravure or AV idols" where their love lives would be more overlooked). I wouldn't be surprised if it was even written in their contract to refrain from "dates", because what these ladies signed up for is becoming part of a product of virginal absurdity. The people who support and lust for them, mostly for simply being "chaste", are their bread and butter. It's sad to say, but this is what they are and what their popularity is based on.
Better to aspire to be a real singer where people will love your actual talent too much to even notice any controversies, rather than become one of these "idols".
Right now, their BUSINESS is to sell their "cute, innocent, and virginal" faces.
It's been beaten to death one way or the other in other comments, but I'll take both sides here and say that they're both right, with the result leaning on the side of the fans.
It's a human right to have love or sex. Doesn't mean you're entitled to it and someone better bring it to you, but no one should be able to keep you from it either. And no one is in her case, technically.
But much of what she is paid for is the virginal pretense. If she has a known lover, her value as an idol crashes and she's out. No one's keeping her from doing it, but it's better for her career that she doesn't.
Finally, if she were a publicly traded company, she'd have an obligation to keep the pretense up to maintain her value to shareholders. Obviously this is not the case, but her contract is no doubt analogous to this: If she can't at least keep her image clean, she's not doing her job as an idol. Go ahead and have a boyfriend or even be as slutty as you like (two very different things, guys!) but keep in mind that if even one paparazzi finds out... it's over, and time to take a normal job or cross over into AV.
Thats shit, the japanase fans are sick, that's it, how can you think you own another people life just because you buy the things they sell?? or even thinking that her life belongs to their fans?? thats is just sick...
It's a matter of perspective, I mean, there are other nationalities who are acting exactly like the Japanese Otaku. It's just the Japanese are a bit...er...well known with it. XD Remember the Deaf Beliebers? totally Beatles fanatics? avid Elvis worshippers? to name a few. XD
"It's a right, doesn't mean you're entitled to it."
But that's exactly what a "right" is...
No, that's an "entitlement". Imyou was quite clear, rights are things you have a right to do, entitlements are things other people have an obligation to do for you. There are many situations where you have a right to do something but no one else is obligated to help you.
You chopped up his sentence. "Doesn't mean you're entitled to it AND (that) someone (had) better bring (give) it to you.
What he's saying is that while she can have love and sex - she cannot expect the fans to say, "Oh you're right. Go ahead and have wild sex with your boyfriend."
“I thought it was AKB48 themselves who made this rule anyway…“
In fact, Other idol groups have a married member.
Which idol groups have married members?
it's a job, you're still human while working a job. It's not their bosses forcing them to be single, it's the creepy, no-life virgin fans that keep herassing them.
Then how do you explain this and they retired her from active duty?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UlzrIgacADU [http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UlzrIgacADU]
Humiliated her online?
YEAH NO!!
They should be allowed to live their lives.
I hate slut shaming.
I hate the concept of "slut shaming"
If you a dishonest, manipulative ho, then you a ho.
But I agree that having a boyfriend or a healthily active sex life does not in any way make one a slut.
Bros before hoes, I always say. XD
Oh, definitely people before farming implements..
"Sluts" are a construct.
So why does it work for western stars? Or why does it work for seiyuus, who also have their fair share of creepy otaku followers? I remember when Mayaa Sakamoto got married her fans were actually happy for her and not planing to burn her at the stake.
It's the shitty managers and company behind them promoting them as virgins and stuff. It's part of their show. The weird part is that this does actually seem to work in Japan, catching an audience for idols with such an image.
Japan also has normal rock stars etc., that work exactly like you'd expect, without that virgin bullshit, so both types of selling idols works there.
I guess the idols and managers and companies are locked into their image, are operating in some weird niche of the market, and would lose fans and too much sales if they would try to change to a sane image.
It doesn't work for western stars. Plenty of old movies that have as a plot device that a star cannot date or reveal wive/husband so as not to upset the fans. There is a japanese tv drama/comedy that has Tsunku in it (man behind morning musume) where a male star has to keep his new wive a secret.
It depends on what the star is selling. A talent or a fantasy. The western teen boy band fantasy where an average teen girl could have one of the band members as her boyfriend. Beatle mania anyone?
AKB48 has taken the "I could be yours" idea of the teen band/idol to new visible extremes but if you followed the british royal wedding, you could just see how many housewives followed it with the idea that they could be kate. How many read Twilight seeing themselves in that role.
AKB48 sells a fantasy and this girl is trying to break that while still wanting to get paid for that fantasy.
And just watch the fallout for Lance Armstrong. He sold a dream, that without drugs a guy given a dead sentence through cancer could win through. Then it is found out to be a lie and everyone spits him out.
Don't sell yourself as a virgin if you want to date.
Well, I think she's totally right...
Of course she is!!!
one of the main reasons they aren't isn't the fans it's the parents of the younger girls. The company likely rightly believes that if the parents of younger girls see the older girls as active young woman they'll fear they'll corrupt their little ones.
Wota could live with idols having girlfriend, well all the wota that don't get highlighted by all the retarded whack jobs that write shit like Sankaku anyhow...
Minami: why can´t we have lover!?
Creepy otaku: Because... you are mine... MY PRECIOUS!
*gollum, gollum*
It's like a nun complaining she can't fuck.
She knew what she was getting into.
EXACTLY! They signed up for it and they're getting money for it. Either follow the guidelines or gtfo and the next girl in the assembly line will take their place >.>
Not really, to be honest with you, because the no-dating rule came into effect a few years after AKB started.
Ave Maria!
It is humorous how she doesn't understand why she can't just behave like a common slut.
She's being specifically paid for NOT BEING A TOTAL SLUT. Nothing is enough for some people.
That's not how I understood it, though I may be wrong. I thought she may not even have one single partner, so it's not even about not being slutty. She would not even be allowed to have a relationship like in a fundie Christian's wet dream, with her first kiss being in church after the wedding vows, etc.
She doesn't want to behave like a slut, she just wants to have sex with men. That is not the same as being a slut, it is something that all heterosexual women enjoy doing.
If she was a homosexual then she would be having sex with other AKB48 girls, in the dressing room after their shows, where the papparazzi never find out about it.
whats wrong with sluts?
Just because a woman has a normal sex life (or wants to) that doesn't make them a "total slut". I know virgins like yourself have a hard time understanding that but maybe one day when your balls drop you'll understand.
Yuri, you make a valid point.
I still think the whole thing is bullshit though.
Many boyband members have relationships anyway, the record labels and fans don't have any right to say anything about it.
Because Human Rights > Business.
At least in civilized countries.
And I totally get that, but if you want to be a normal woman with a sex life, then don't be in AKB48. It's one or the other. She could just quit.
If the question is "Why men demand virginity from women?" the simple answer from evolucionary psychology is that men have no way of knowing if their children are trully theirs soy they tend to marry preffer prudish women as primary mate aka wife.
If the question is "why japanese idols?" then it's more interesting. The illustrating data is that American are very accepting of celebrity relationships, with the exception of boy bands.
What do western boy bands and japanese idols have in common? Answer: Moe. In other words oxytocin related stimulation.
Western celebrities titillate their audience sexually. Boy bands and J-Idols stimulate their audience **romantically**.
Why can't you dear idols have lovers? Because you don't sell yourself on your singing talent but on your girlfriend potential.
never ;P
lunatic alert
Yeah seriously.
If she is really asking such a retarded question then I bet she wouldn't be able to get a better job anywhere else.
It's not like those mass produced idols are special anyway or skilled, really.
This is the best job she could ever get and all she has to do is pretend to be pure, fuck god damn it what wouldn't I give to have such an easy job and she is complaining!
shes not its a rhetorical question
Creepy Idol Otaku Detected.
Yeah, that's why you're a creepy Idol Otaku :)
maybe if you hot idol whores tried hooking up with average guys instead of always wanting to experience love with your JP version of edward cullen we would support it. Idol fucks JP twilight guy= we're angry, Idol fucks otaku= still mad but you go man! At least that's how I am, if the ugly guy gets the hot girl then I don't mind losing.
But if the catholic priests can, what's to stop a nun?
They can't have lovers cause all their beta male followers will never get a chance to fuck them.
They'll never get a chance to fuck them.
LOL. Those beta male followers will never get a chance to fuck them anyway. Get real.
"If I can't have them, no one else should either."
How incredibly pathetic, emotionally stunted, and childish do you have to be to actually believe that shit?
They have NO obligation to be yours. You do not know them personally. You've never talked to them. They've never talked to you. You are strangers.
let me tll you something. If I'll never get a chance to fuck them, so does everyone else. that's why i want em to stay virgin. how hard is it to understand this simple logic ?
In many religions nuns are allowed to have a family anyways.
Hey, catholic priests are into shotas, not money grubbing 3D women >.>
It's like a stripper complaining that guys just want to see her naked all the time. You're selling a fantasy and being an "Idol" is like going to college- NO SEX till you graduate!
i think you got that statement wrong <.<
... wait, what? college is *the* time to have sex! XD