Feminine girls more popular than "strong grrrrls"

[Lockhart]

Hey,

It’s been a while since I completed every route, and a few days ago something became very obvious to me.

It is a fact of life that men prefer feminine girls.

Now, Katawa Shoujo doesn’t capitalize on that directly, in fact it even includes some pro-feminist commentary. This mostly happens in a form of Kenji, clearly a parody to what a MRA (man’s rights activist) supposed to look like: an angry, bitter and slightly insane man, afraid of the world and himself. He does have some positive qualities and is generally well written, so I didn’t mind him.

What bothered me more was that Hisao himself is rather passive and depressed. Now, considering his situation that’s understandable to a degree, but he could often benefit from taking charge instead of just going with whatever’s happening around him. As players we have some amount of control over that, but sometimes all I could do was spam the space key and facepalm.

This was especially common in Shizune’s path, and it’s not wonder Shizune is the least popular of all girls. As KS players we are a colorful bunch, but a large majority of us are men. And, as stated before, men like feminine girls. Girls that don’t bitch, want to follow instead of lead, and are capable of supporting us as women.

It shows in popularity of the girls. Let’s see how.

Emi

Of all characters, Emi and Hisao function together best. She does have issues with her father’s death, but has a good chance to make peace with it. Emi is mentally healthy and even her physical disability - a lack of legs - hardly disfigures her or affects her ability to perform any task. She’s the most normal and the most functional of all girls.

As a person she’s happy, easy going and girly. Really what you’d call “low maintenance girlfriend”, great to be around, but easily capable of functioning alone if needed. She has her own ideas which she’s not shy to present, but at the same time doesn’t try to force anything on Hisao. At her core, she’s a girl that wants a boyfriend she can trust and feel safe with.

Her cutscene sums it up well. These two are perfect for each other.

Lilly

Lilly is a very viable choice. She’s emotionally stable, responsible, and functions well in a role of a leader, but at the same time she’s very feminine in a standard ladylike fashion. A lot like Emi she’s active in pursuing her own ideas, but won’t try to force them on Hisao. The fact that she’s blind makes her more dependant on others, and unable to ever life a trully normal life.

Nevertheless she is highly intelligent and driven, and even though she has a vulnerable side, it really isn’t anything special or to be worried about. There’s no reason to think her and Hisao couldn’t live happily together.

Hanako

Ah, Hanako. A popular choice by many, she’s so shy, even scared. What could be more motivating to a man than to saving the girl from whatever threat there is and win her heart in the process?

Hanako and Hisao could work. She clearly has some heavy issues because of what happened in her childhood, but during the game she opens up to the world a bit, so there is hope for further improvement. Once we get to know her she turns out to be a reasonably intelligent and caring girl that wants to live the life to its fullest, even though she’s not always sure how.

The problem with Hanako is that, well, she has mental problems. Her experience with Hisao helped her, but too much is left unknown to expect a happy ending with full certainty. Alpha endings didn’t make it to the final game for a good reason, but they still give ideas.

Rin

The “deep” girl. Rin is popular because of her complex and supposedly inspiring story, and it does have a certain appeal. A troubled artist girl, what’s going on in her mind?

Well, it turns out nothing too exciting. She has some deep seeded mental issues and, unlike Hanako, is not getting any professional help. Unable to relate to most people, cought up in circles of thought that rarely produce anything useful, irrational, moody. She’s not very feminine at all, in fact she often acts kinda boyish. Generally she cares mostly for herself and what love she holds for Hisao she has trouble expressing.

With a lot of patience from Hisao’s side, the two are capable of forming a kind of relationship. But really, with Rin being the way she is, who knows what can happen in the future? Rin is the only girl I intentionally got the bad ending with, simply because I grew tired of her.

Shizune

Bossy, has trust issues, nearly unable to form meaningful emotional bonds. The whole Shizune story reads more like being friends with benefits, combined with come childish teasing and a lot of thinly veiled manipulation.

She constantly presents Hisao with “shit tests”, which he must pass, but there’s no reward at the end. Just another shit test. They do have sex twice, Hisao being tied to a chair on the first time it happens. But what’s really bizzare is the ending - they don’t seem to even be in any kind of relationship, Hisao just concludes that he’ll “keep chasing Shizune”. Good luck with that.

I have to say that I liked Shizune as a person a lot, since she reminds me of a girl I loved. But the way she and Hisao interract doesn’t look promising at all, she should have toned down her shit tests, and he should’ve been more decisive when facing them. That in turn would make her respect him more and perhaps actually become his girlfriend.

Alpha version of Shizune’s path is somewhat crude, but shows us exactly that - that’s why, in a way, Shizune is my favorite girl, even though I have to place her at the end of this list.

Conclusion

As we saw, there are good reasons why certain girls are more popular than others. Of course there'll always be deviations, but in general the picture is clear. What is there to learn from all that? Well, probably that there are many different types of girls, and that KS does a fair job at displaying that, but also that we all want a waifu that follows and supports us, instead of bossing us around and choking with a never ending stream of mental problems.

If you read this entire thing, you are awesome. I'd also like to hear your thoughts on this post, surely you agree completely? Or do you perhaps think I'm not entirely right? Maybe I'm a backwards caveman virgin idiot? Do tell!

[Atario]

Oh, this should be fun

[forgetmenot]

Can't tell if trolling/10

[Comrade]

"Guys are attracted to feminine girls"
Biology is a bitch

[KeiichiO]

"Guys are attracted to feminine girls"
Biology is a bitch

Not all guys.

[LordMarluxia]

Waiting to see if someone's jimmies are rustling. *I hear nothing*
You big meanie where's Misha in that post?

Feminine girls can mean a lot of things. Strong girls can also mean a lot of different things.

Emi is a strong girl like Shizune albeit in different ways. Rin and Hanako are not what I would call feminine, but they do not appear as a "strong independent women who takes no shit from yall yo" kind of person. Lilly is obviously feminine and lady-like but she is not typically (for nowadays) feminine. Misha is feminine, but clearly plays on a different league compared to Lilly.

[Comrade]

"Guys are attracted to feminine girls"
Biology is a bitch

Not all guys.

That's sentience for yeh

[brythain]

I prefer strong grrrrls when I'm upset. People shy away when I direct a strong grrrrl in their direction.
My throat sometimes hurts after releasing one, though.
At the same time, I note that girls are by definition feminine, and I quite like them that way.

[CoffeeDrive]

I think im one of the people who prefer his girls strong willed over shy and feminine. Of course, basing of looks, i prefer them very feminine.

[Zarys]

I don't see the connection with the fact that they would be more or less feminine or not.
The "weakness" of Hanako and Rin is not really related to their femininity (especially Rin because I doubt that a male Hanako would be seen in the exactly same way so his behaviour would be maybe more influenced by his sex than a male Rin but it does not change that the two characters would be the same if they are males)

Shizune is less popular because many people don't like agressive personalities, it's all.
After Shizune is more than competitive, Hanako is more than shy, and Rin is more than weird, so I think you can like who you like without being sexist or for superficial reasons like "I like shy girl" or "I like competitive girl",ect...

The five girls are feminine tought. (even Emi is a sporty girl and not tomboyish at all, and Shizune has just short hair and glasses, they are little less traditionally feminine than Lilly or Hanako but not less)
The appearance of Rin is a little less feminine in a neglected way, but like the others girls, her personnality is not really defined by her gender. (They don't have many stereotypical female behaviors, ok a little Lilly and Hanako but you can appreciate books and tea without being a female and Hisao did it too, soo it's more Hisao who is don't afraid to be a little feminine himself)

[bhtooefr]

I'd just like to note that Akira's the KS character closest to my type.

Hanako is someone that I can easily understand and empathize with, and I have to deal with some of the same problems that she does, especially with anxiety (nowhere near the same extent, though, in most cases). And, I'd venture that among the kind of people that would look at Katawa Shoujo, seeing Hanako as a reflection of themselves is a quite common thing.

[Silentcook]

It is a fact of life that men prefer feminine girls.

Flawed premise right there.

we all want a waifu

And unclear, but highly debatable, conclusion there.

[SpunkySix]

There's too much here to even begin. Like... what?

[Megumeru]

Huh...not sure?

But from what I've read, I think you're not far off from that (aside from your description of Shizune that makes me want to go start cherry picking; that is way off common misconception. Also on Rin.). We're kinda looking on the psychology of most male characters (I mean readers, not Hisao or Kenji), and I can see where you're heading.

You're not wrong--pretty warm, maybe. It's in our 'programming' to control or to have something to follow us, in particular the opposite sex. So, when you have someone else who challenges your thoughts most of the time (especially that of the opposite sex), most will often go 'lalala didn't read/not listening', others will go 'that's not it, and I'll double dare you motherf--' and again that all depends on the individual, mostly. I actually like Shizune and is my favorite girl since she's the one who challenges my thoughts the most (followed closely with Rin), while there are those who prefer the other way around (easy to understand, not challenging, etc.)

It's usually the tug-of-war between 'toodeep4u n tooshallow4me'-kind of thing.


But anyway, from what I've read I kinda' feel you're more or less generalizing the entire community--which is small, considering we still have those lurking around and are as silent as a mice (COME OUT NOW! THE REGISTER BUTTON IS AT THE TOP RIGHT! CLICK IT! CLICK IT!)

EDIT:
Silentcook actually pulled off a great one here to summarize:

It is a fact of life that men prefer feminine girls.

Flawed premise right there.

[Zarys]

I precise : I don't like more GUYS like Shizune, so it's not that I dont think that a woman cannot be agressive, it's just that this kind of person are annoying for me. (and they tend to find me boring anyway)