Yet another notable unfortunate girl story arises from a series of graphic narratives we underneath the username (menhera girl). Due to the fact 2013 Momose provides tweeted one to example 24 hours, offering a mouthless girl during the a good sailor match (college consistent). Rather than Kotoha (2012) manga that’s used a cartoon structure, Momose’s work is one panel comical you to portrays good girl suffering loneliness, depression, and you will anxiety. Really photographs are accompanied with a number of verbal lines of menhera girl’s monolog or an initial dialogue ranging from their unique and you will private individuals that relatively don’t understand what the girl was battling with. Though it isn’t described whether or not the menhera girl provides a diagnosable intellectual diseases or the causes of their unique anxiety, self-burns (arm reducing) is depicted in order for the menhera girl to deal having inner soreness or even to manage a dissociative effect while making sure the woman is still alive (Profile 1). As of , Momose’s Fb account has actually more 85,000 followers while the distinct their unique illustrations was published inside a text entitled “This new Voice out of a gray Girl” (Momose, 2016).
Contour step one. “Does not hand-reducing hurt?” “It will not harm (to my personal center).” A picture narrative i (). Image reproduced that have consent in the author.
Such sad girl narratives signify the fresh new slang considering the fresh founders that have a fairly natural as well as-surrounding label in order to portray latest Japanese girls experiencing the pain out-of life style. They deserves appeal that sad girl menhera embodies stereotypical Japanese femininity, eg submissiveness, self-handle, and you will free of selfishness. Momose (2016) mouthless profile eloquently suggests that the menhera girl endures in silence; whatever you see and read about her is through her inner monolog full of despair and stress, however, she’s got no sound to boost. Self-burns try depicted as an easy way so you’re able to externalize and cope with their internal problems, unlike connecting their unique angst in order to anyone else. Momose’s portrayal of one’s menhera girl since the an excellent “grey girl” is very advising in this regard. In her study on media portrayals off food issues and you can mind-harm among Japanese women, Hansen (2011) asserts that women inside the modern-day The japanese have a tendency to deal with “the fresh new paradox from navigating contradictive womanliness into the a grey zone between the typical plus the disordered” (p. 57). As “the nice and you can clean girl” demands Japanese female to work out tight worry about-control over their bodies to help you “suppress the fresh new worst” in themselves (Hansen, 2011, p. 61). Regarding the sad girl narratives, self-damaging methods particularly care about-induced regurgitation, starvation, and you can care about-reducing try portrayed once the a borderline disordered work performed by more youthful women attempting to navigate brand new contradictive femininity.
Intriguingly, in lot of manga, comic strip, and you may games, menhera girls is first lead just like the pretty, loveable, and you may nurturing to their like passions
Paradoxically, the web link anywhere between menhera and stereotypical femininity have lead to menhera’s abrupt rise in popularity, eg within this manga/comic strip emphasizing men audiences. For example, Last Menhera (Amano and you can Ise, 2016) is actually a great seinen manga (younger men comic) that comes after a high-school boy shedding crazy about an effective gorgeous classmate just who self-incisions (Shape dos). On story, the fresh woman engages in repeating wrist slashing so you can “endure the pain sensation from life style” and you can “postpone the fresh , p. 56) which leads other characters to help you name their unique menhera. The male protagonist pretends which he, as well, self-injures to attract their unique notice and you will passion. Through the protagonist’s men gaze, this new heroine’s marked muscles gets the object away from affective usage which self-burns off presents their own vulnerability, helplessness, and you will deformity, hence entirely comprises a perverted sexual appeal (Seko and you can Kikuchi, 2020).
The brand new Furious Woman
Whereas, this new sad girl story domesticates feminine madness since the vulnerable and you can potentially sensual, brand new mad woman exaggerates their own abnormality and derangement, especially in the fresh framework from intimate relationships. Within narrative, this new menhera was obsessed with their unique love focus and you may makes devastating efforts as with this individual vakre Karibia kvinner. not, whenever a 3rd people goes into the fresh formula, their low self-esteem manifests because the possessive viewpoint and you may measures, overprotectiveness, and tall envy that appears eccentric and you will frightening in order to someone else (Kato, 2018). As opposed to the new unfortunate girls which walking a beneficial tightrope within typical and disordered, the mad woman solidly inhabits the industry of madness.