Haze-man wrote:

In both cases, lesbians are there and they really have no purpose but fan
service.  This is rather cheap, but it make you wonder what the appeal is.

Fanservice is there for..<gasp> Eye candy for the fans. Do you understand the
meaning of Fanservice now?

The first should be obvious:  all lesbians are female.  The majority of the
comics and animation audience is male, nonwithstanding, women are
aestetically more vilupscuous.  Females have curves, which is more special
than one might think.  While men are usually basic straigt-lined in their
designs, women can acheive an "hour-glass" figure.  Curved lines are more
pleasing to the eye then straight lines and sharp angles.  If you look at
car designs in the in the past fifty years, you'll notice that cars that
had square designs are now completely lacking in straigt lines.  It is more
than areodynamics, even the interiours have been modified to have curves.

On a more beastial level.  Lesbians perpetuate the popular male fantasy of
having two women at once.  Or at least the ability to watch women having
sex without seeing "some guy's buy" as Masamune Shirow put it.  The true
appeal of lesbians is still being debated by phsychologists.

Its a common male thing, true, but as a whole, the male gender and most of the
human race is greedy for something. It may not be money, it may not be power,
but its something that means something to them. Now, understanding this, sex is
a driving force in the human race, without it we're basically non-existent.
Being the driving force that it is, what man doesn't want to have
more?(Rhetorical question there people). I'll full on admit I wouldn't mind 2
women at once and making them bisexual is fine with me too. Its a cheap fantasy
I've always had and it'll stay that way.

That said, what do we do about it?  I get angry.

And rant about things that shouldn't matter in the anime genre

Nothing has enraged me more than gratuitous lesbians.  If it wasn't for the
gratuitous cross-dressing, I would  have ceased watching El-Hazard after
the first episode.  During "Maze", I was yelling at the screen constantly.
Apparently no one disaggreed with me because no one told me to shut up.  I
made the club president promise to never show "Maze" again.

Promise never to show Maze again? O_o What kind of crack are you smoking?
Without seeing the TV, without knowing anything about it, its just fun eye
candy. I agree that a president should listen to the concerns of the people
that come to his\her club every week\month and watch said anime. 1 person vs.
I'm not gonna bother guessing how many is crap. Last time I checked, the U.S.
was a democracy and most minds will offer the vote to the rest of the club. If
he didn't..well, that's just his\her problem and I'm sure he\she upset a few
people.

  I stopped reading GEN 13 after issue #2.

Awww..Only after #2? Then you're jumpin da gun there a bit. I do the same thing
with my male friends, we know its a joke but it would look completely serious
to someone who didn't know. As far as Gen 13 goes, they're still debating on if
she is even bisexual. You missed the issue where she and Burnout had
intercourse. So, I suggest you not use facts on things you have no idea about

What makes gratuitous lesbians so offensive to me?  I am a normal
heterosexual male aren't I?

Dunno. Are you? I'm a normal heterosexual male and I don't get so uptight about
this. I don't go into mindless rants about something that'll never be changed.

What I detest about them is that they perpetuate a facade.  A
misinterpritation of reality.  In all said instances, only "Lipstick"
lesbians are shown.  What about the "Butch"?  Aren't they people too?
Don't they exist?  And what about homosexual males?  Where are they?

Yup. See most other replies for that answer. (Shoujo Ai must exist damn it!)

They also fail to show the harsh realities.  Where are the couples living
with AIDS?  Were are the women who are denied jobs or promotions because of
their sexuality?  Where are the lesbians who are harrased by mobs of angry
Baptists?

Well, Anime is usually an escape from the real world where real people die
every year. I know during my hardest times, Anime was my only real escape from
everything. So, putting AIDS and such in there destroys the escapism Anime was
there to create.

It's so fake it makes me sick.  Sometimes physically sick to my stomack.
It's OK to have a comic or animation with lesbians, but why leave out the
realities?; especially when they make such good story material?

See above answer and plug in said Story, Comic book or Anime in

My point here is, next time you're watching anime and you have a chuckle at
seeing one girl gloom onto another, maybe you should stop and think about
the things they are NOT showing you.  In a world of more than ink and
paint, they would have to pay dire consequences for their way of life.

I don't think about that because I don't want to while I'm watching\reading
said Anime, Story or Comic book.

Haze

--
mo ichido futari de weekend
kami-sama kanaete happy end
genzai kako mirari mo
anata ni kubittake

Power for those who can fuck it
Freedom for those who can find it
Sex for those who can buy it
Television today...never lies...  -Atari Teenage Riot


-Moeru moeru@worldnet.att.net