For God’s sake, I cannot do the “kame-hame-ha” inside the kitchen!

"Don't get your feelings hurt, but I'm still a lot stronger than you are." Those words belong to Number 18, a female android, talking to Krillin during a battle many years before they got married and had a daughter. If you ask me, this was the real and captivating essence in the female characters of Dragon Ball anime, and if you don’t believe so, take a look at the first episodes and you will see that I’m not so wrong. Failing that, keep on reading.

During many years, topics in most cartoons and films for little girls and teenagers had been about princesses, the charmed love, stories too pink and about the sense of playing safe. As a consequence of this stereotype, a little girl with different tastes to those expected by the majority of adults in western society was labelled as a butch girl, being stigmatized during her entire childhood. However, after a few years of female silent expectation, a huge phenomenon arrived to the screen in our country, Japanese anime. One of the most relevant cartoons of great success in Argentina was Dragon Ball, created by Akira Toriyama. Around 1994 till 1998, the saga reached its highest peak of fame. The most striking and curious fact about this cartoon was how the female audience, little girls and teenagers, were totally hooked with it. In fact, this is a reality that is still observed due to the fact that Dragon Ball has included female characters, being the most interesting of all that they are strong fighters, very passionate, totally independent and they love to take risks. But careful! There’s more behind the images you see! Because unfortunately, over the years the saga evolved, and despite the fact that Dragon Ball had tried to break the gender stereotypes including strong and independent fighter women, it ended up giving priority to the male characters. Is evident that our dear friend Akira couldn’t avoid the female stigmatization and in some way, he resigned himself to the implicit popular belief of many men, which claims that women can be really strong and independent BUT we don’t have to get tooooo excited with the idea. 

Take, for instance, the case of the main male characters of the saga, Son Goku, Son Gohan and Vegeta. They belong to a race of super warriors called Saiyajins, when they are too furious or exploiting their maximum power during a battle, they transform themselves in blond blue-eyed fighters, wrapped in a bright golden aura and a spiky hair is the icing on the cake. But what is really surprising is that although there are women with Saiyajin blood, they never reach that amazing power and what is more, they never suffer that kind of transformation. Now, this is relevant. The implicit message here it's that there are certain parameters that would indicate the extent to which women can be powerful and independent, even in cartoons. It's clear that the hegemonic ideology of men over women can't be eradicated completely, no matter how hard one tries.  

Another point to consider is that from the very beginning, women in Dragon Ball go over a process in which they are growing up and maturing, but leaving aside their real nature. Most of them end up married with the strongest guys (these Saiyajins warriors) turning into devoted housewives. Characters as Milk, Son Goku’s wife, Number 18, Krilin’s wife, and Videl, which is Son Gohan’s wife, are portrayed as dedicated mothers that make the house chores while their lovely and brave husbands fight saving the world. In some occasions, these female characters are allowed to witness the different fights but they never participate as they used to do when they were, let’s say, “single girls”. As a result, they adapt the role of faithful cheerleaders and all those qualities that once were so intriguing for the female audience, evetually disappear.

It’s well known that Dragon Ball's success can't be denied. The anime allowed little girls and teenagers the option to choose how they wanted to be represented and the possibility to find something different to what was being watched on T.V. programmes for little girls. Nevertheless, what it seemed to be a clear innovation about gender role stereotypes, ended up being more than what was being observed, the reinforcement of the idea that men are the only ones who have power, courage, strength and the chance of taking risks. In addition to this, women have to stay at home washing the dishes and watching from their passives roles, that have been imposed, how men save the world, taking over all the fun. 

If you've come this far, it means you've followed my previous advice. Now, the possible questions are: Will you support this “innocent” reproduction of gender role stereotypes? Are you going to let your little girls enjoy the anime even though they are exposed to this negative conception about the role of women in society? Try to give it a thought.