Japanese herbivore men – Soushokudanshi

16 Oct 2011 Leave a Comment

by thebaboose in Japan – Modern Trends Tags: feminine Japanese men, herbivore men, Japanese men, social trends in Japan, Soushokudanshi

Japanese herbivores men

The topic of Japanese herbivore men (soushokudanshi)  has been in the news for the last few years in both Japan and oversees news outlets and blogs. Many of these websites have a plethora of information on this cultural phenomenon. However, very few news sites and blogs, if any, cover why these men choose to not proactively seek romantic relationships. The goal of this article is to cover this gap and to clarify some misconceptions on soushokudanshi.

The term soushokudanshi (soushoku = plant eater Danshi = male), or herbivore men, is  a male who does not proactively seek women for a romantic relationship. In its place, these men tend to focus more on their hobbies.

Here are some common misconceptions and poimts i would like to clarify on herbivore men:

1. Soushokudanshi does not translate to grass eating man. It simply means herbivore. the misconception comes from directly translating the kanji to English.

2. Soushokudanshi are feminine men. Some men behave femininely, but this is an individual preference and not a defining characteristic of the group. These men are simply males who do not proactively seek women for love relationships and a good number of them do not prescribe to the
hypermasculized model of how a male should behave.

3. Some articles claim that these men are not interested in sex. Really?! Do I really have to respond? These men are highly interested in sex, as all humans are, but chose to not proactively seek a relationship with a woman.

4. There has not been an effort to clearly distinguish soushokudanshi from males who simply lack the self-confidence to approach women. I have read interviews with men who claimed to be soushokudanshi but their reason for not proactively seeking relationships were based on self-confidence, and not, a lack of interest in seeking romantic relationships. To ensure the term has a clear definition, i propose that it should only be used for men who lack an interest in romantic relationships for reasons other than self-confidence. Also, it should be noted that the term soushokudanshi has a much lower stigma than being called a “man with low confidence.”

Why are herbivore men not proactively seeking a romantic relationship with women?

1. Soushokudanshi avoid proactively seeking women is because of social expectations on men in relationships. If a soushokudanshi has a long-term relationship with a woman, she will expect him to have a stable career and that would ultimately end with him being a wage slave with very little social, personal, and work freedom. The very thing these men are rebelling against. If more Japanese women were comfortable with a lifestyle based on freedom to live your life the way you want and not on social status, there would be more men actively seeking women for romantic relationships.

Additionally, many Japanese men are exposed to parents who are in a love less relationship or even worse, where the wife feels the husband is a nuisance around the home when he is not at work. Also, it is not uncommon to have parents in their 50s+ who sleep in different beds. Seeing their father’s work long soul draining hours to come back to a home where they are not wanted probably has a negative psychological effect to any children in the home.

2. Soushokudanshi also avoid proactively seeking women because having a girlfriend is time consuming and expensive. Going on dates, movies, zoos, etc and hanging out together can cost a lot of money and take up a lot of free time, so soushokudanshi opt out by using time and money on their passions.

3. The INTERNET – men now have 24 hour access to a plethora of naked women and sex videos on the Internet. Rather than watching bad film quality 80s porn and looking at your dad’s playboy to get your hand solo grove on, you can easily view a wide variety of races, genres, and sizes of porn at your fingertips. With men out of juice to chase the goose, the desire to seek women for romantic relationships decreases – these men don’t need a women to get sexual pleasure.

4. Everyone has emotional needs, but many women are extremely needy and want a guy who will meet all their emotional needs and insecurities. Being with a women who has a lot of insecurities and emotional needs can be extremely draining for a man

5.

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