If Only They Wear Mini-skirts We don't Need Flesh-and-Blood Women Any More!?: Insensitive Man Ch.1

Chapter 1: If Only They Wear Mini-skirts We don't Need Flesh-and-Blood Women Any More!?

Hence, I must accurately restate myself. That is to say, the most important thing is that the inside of the skirt is on the verge of visibility despite the fact that the woman intentionally tries to conceal it.....

*Translation by Jamie Grefe.
*Page numbers in the original are marked by [(preceding page) / (following page)].

    We call the ways of feeling or thinking about sex, which are deeply ingrained in ourselves, “sexuality.” It is hard to study the sexuality of men. Jun’ichi Watanabe talks about sexuality in his essay Otoko to Iumono [What the Nature of Men is Like] (Chuko Bunko 2001, 1st. ed. 1998), however, this is no more than a one-sided assumption about “what the nature of man is like.” Watanabe believes in the idea that the sexuality of men will never change after they are born.
    Against this notion, as far as I’m concerned, my sexuality dramatically changed when I became over the age of 30. This change of sexuality undermined the foundations of my identity and has had a lot of effect on my ways. Through my experience, I personally had a full realization that “what the nature of men is like” is a falsehood. The phrase “the nature of men is like this” means no more than the conspiracy among men such as “Let’s think of the nature of men as this and have fun and take it easy.”
    The study of male sexuality has only recently begun. In this chapter, I want to explore a theme, which I think about daily: the question of “why am I sexually aroused by mini-skirts?” I am going to talk about this based on my own experience. I will do this because not all men are aroused by mini-skirts. Speaking experientially, [12/13] I think I am certain that there are a high percentage of men attracted to mini-skirts.Women in mini-skirts captivate male characters in manga comics.Hostesses and race queens usually wear mini-skirts, too.
    Investigating the sexuality of oneself,one is accompanied by great pain and embarrassment. This would be the same for both men and women. I’ve been wondering about mini-skirts for a long time. Some ideas about mini-skirts have been developed, but there is still a lot that I don’t understand. Sometimes I experienced healing when I solved some of these enigmas.
    To begin with, I’ll introduce two impressive examples.
    We shot a scene at a transvestite club in Shinjuku 2-chome when I had a spot on a certain program for NHK Educational TV. At that club, transvestite men gathered and drank alcohol and had great conversation. The transvestites each had extremely interesting personalities. As I was interviewing them, one of them abruptly stood up from the sofa. Wearing a tight sexy mini-skirt, he had the same curves from the legs to the waist as a woman. When I saw that, I instinctively became sexually aroused. It was a shocking experience. Biologically, I should have recognized him as a man, because I came there to interview transvestite men. [13/14] However, I had a beautiful reaction to seeing that person’s mini-skirt.
    I have known that I really liked mini-skirts. Until that incident, I thought that I really liked women wearing mini-skirts. But, my way of thinking was very much upset. If a man wearing a mini-skirt has beautiful legs like a woman, I become sexually aroused. Why on earth do I feel this way?
    Here is another case from when I was a young man. This involves a young woman sitting on a train. Since she appeared to have a very short mini-skirt, I could not help glancing at her thighs. At that, my heart began to beat very fast and I became turned-on. However, when the train arrived at her station and she stood up, I noticed that what she was wearing was not a skirt but culottes. No sooner had I realized that fact than I cooled down.Also, I felt that my fantasy had been taken away, and it was as if I had been pushed into a kind of hell.
    why on earth did I feel this way? Things like short mini-skirts and culottes are likely to expose the symmetry of the thighs in a similar fashion. In the case of the hemline of short culottes, one is able to see the same square-shaped silhouette as a mini-skirt. In short, there is no change in the visible appearance of the lower half of the body. [14/15] The only change was that of my perception. That is to say, the fantasy that she was wearing a short mini-skirt was suddenly replaced by the disillusionment that she was wearing culottes.

    What can we understand from these two cases?
    My conclusion is that “the function of giving meaning” plays an important role in these cases. In other words, an important point is the act of giving meaning in that what I saw was a mini-skirt, not culottes. A characteristic of the mini-skirt is not merely that the length is short. An important point is that a fantasy rang through a man’s head, specifically, the fantasy that from the hemline, he may catch a glimpse of a woman’s panties.
    In talking with women about mini-skirts, I notice that a considerably high amount of women do not understand my sexuality. When asking women, “why are men sexually attracted to mini-skirts?” the most popular answer is, “mini-skirts make legs look beautiful, don’t they? Therefore, men like them.” Of course, I, too, think that if I see slender or moderately full-figured legs, they are attractive. [15/16] While, at the same time, the reality of my being aroused by mini-skirts is a completely different thing. This is an instance where the expression, “men and women are on different wavelengths,” just slips out. It seems that when we synthesize the views of women, they think that men are sexually aroused when beautiful legs are exposed. And it seems that they desire to enhance the beauty of their legs to be gazed upon by men. However, in actuality, the only thing about mini-skirts that I am really particular about is the possibility of seeing panties.

    Now, for a different viewpoint, I’m going to explore tennis wear. As an extreme version of the mini-skirt, whenever there is movement, the “underskirt” becomes fully exposed. But, frankly speaking, this doesn’t “turn me on” at all. To me, it is pure and simple sportswear. So, from this, I wonder how sexy mini-skirts and tennis wear differ? The professional tennis player Martina Hingis intentionally printed a company’s logo on her underskirt. This becomes one clue. The style of tennis wear dress openly allows the public to see under the skirt. Therefore, I am not aroused. [16/17]
    In short, my sexuality is constructed in the way that something intentionally and apparently exposed does not arouse me at all. By that statement this may actually be similar to the sexuality of a person who commits rape. The rapist is particular about raping a woman who is averse to being raped. It is said that the rapist is not so aroused by a woman who is not averse to being raped. There might be a great similarity between the rapist and I in that the rapist is particular about whether or not the woman is averse to being raped, and I am particular about whether or not the woman conceals her body or openly reveals her body.
    But if I really like the inside to be concealed, it means that the long skirt should also be appealing to me because the long skirt perfectly conceals the body. But this is not true. Hence, I must accurately restate myself. That is to say, the most important thing is that the inside of the skirt is on the verge of visibility despite the fact that the woman intentionally tries to conceal it. In the case of Martina Hingis, despite what amount of the inside of the skirt may be exposed, it never arouses me because she doesn’t have any intention to conceal it.
    In the early 90’s, trendy “body conscious mini-skirts,” were a kind of clothing that excited my sexual inclinations. I feel embarrassed to reveal that I like them, because I am conscious that they are tasteless. The profundity of the body conscious mini-skirt is that whenever a woman would walk or sit down, the hemline of the skirt would be raised. This is because it is made of elastic materials. [17/18] Here, we see the extreme form of the mini-skirt. Namely, that no matter how much women may try to lower the hemline of the mini-skirt by their both hands, it naturally begins to rise against their will. Despite lowering the hemline of the skirt so as not to see, the skirt is naturally becoming raised so as to be able to see farther up. When my eyes are involuntarily swallowed up in these circumstances, sexual arousal to mini-skirts appears in my heart.

    At this point, I seriously wonder what is being concealed on the inside of the mini-skirt. Is it merely the female sexual organ? However, the answer is not so simple. What if a woman wears nothing under her skirt? At this point, we come up against a difficult problem, because “a mini-skirt and no panties” can work as one of men’s sexual arousal devices. I, too, can understand that sexual device. Hence, we will have to explore more carefully here.
    First of all, imagine a case that when I see a woman wearing a mini-skirt, I could directly see her sexual organ under the skirt. In this case, would I be sexually aroused? The answer is, “no.” I would not be sexually aroused. In the realm of the interior of the mini-skirt, my sexual response is limited to white panties. Speaking of my sexuality, panties in the mini-skirt must be white, and the female sexual organ must be covered-up with it. [18/19] It must be covered-up by the white cloth solemnly in a way that we cannot tell what really exists behind it. And this whole situation must be on the verge of visibility under the hemline of the mini-skirt. Namely, the point is that the concealed figure itself is on the verge of visibility.
    If this is the case, am I particular about the female sexual organ, itself, covered-up by the panties? This doesn’t seem to be the case. Here, I wish to recall my recently discussed episode. There was the same sexual arousal concerning the mini-skirt of the transvestite. At that time, I knew the person wearing the mini-skirt was biologically male. Therefore, I never imagined that there would be a female sexual organ inside the panties. However, sexual arousal occurred.
    But at the same time, we should keep in mind that the man wore “women’s” clothes. When men in Scotland wear micro-mini kilts, am I sexually aroused? Most likely, I am not.
    Thus, the point is the relationship between a woman’s skirt and a woman’s panties. Namely, the most important thing is to get the visual image that there is a woman in a mini-skirt before my eyes. There are no problems even if the person wearing a mini-skirt is a man, as long as that person looks like a woman. [19/20] This is because I am not sexually aroused toward a flesh-and-blood person who wears a mini-skirt.
    Of course, a feminist interpretation would be that men who see defenseless women wearing mini-skirts or high heels feel superiority and control, and these emotions sexually arouse men. This is certainly an understandable interpretation. However, in the case of the mini-skirt, is the interpretation of superiority and control a sufficient reason? I think those explanations would be good for rape and sadomasochism, but in the case of the mini-skirt, I don’t think that is a good enough explanation.

    Keeping this in mind, let’s advance with another point. If I am not truly aroused toward a flesh-and-blood person, is it possible, for example, that mannequins wearing mini-skirts arouse me? It is probable, but the amount of arousal will reduce. The reason for this is that mannequins are not in motion. Therefore, the dynamism between the motion of concealing and the motion of exposing, which is an important characteristic of the mini-skirt, becomes hard to see. Hence, in the case of mannequins, I have to reinforce that dynamism with my personal imagination. [20/21] Without intelligence, one cannot taste the sexual attraction of mannequins wearing mini-skirts.
    However, in the case of the “real doll,” which is made by Hollywood’s specially designed silicon materials, especially when it wears a mini-skirt, I might be aroused easily. Actually, there seem to be some people who are trying it. Then, what if we have mannequins wearing mini-skirts that can mechanically walk or sit like humans? In this case, I would be aroused just as in the case of a real woman. Since “real” female high-tech robots are already in their research stage, it won’t be long before they are available for retail consumption. Moreover, I think that there is a large amount of men who would like to see one wearing a mini-skirt. In Federico Fellini’s film, “Casanova,” there was a sex scene involving a moving female doll. “Casanova” selected a moving female doll as the final destination of a love affair filled journey. This really makes me think.
    Things like this are of course present in anime and manga and can be sexually arousing. In anime, movement can be represented. In the anime, “Neon Genesis Evangelion,” women usually appear wearing “micro mini-skirts.” Particularly, the character, Misato Katsuragi’s mini-skirt is impressive. We have to keep in mind the fact that in this anime masterpiece, which fully depicted the psychological drama hidden in the depths of young people, female characters were wearing very revealing mini-skirts. The sexuality of this new century’s men is built upon anime like this. [21/22] Even though they cannot find flesh-and-blood women, if they have characters like Misato Katsuragi, they can be easily aroused.
    Regarding mini-skirts in manga comic books, an introduction of this movement is needed. An example of one successful manga is Hiroki Yagami’s “G-Taste” (Kodansha) series. Yagami is also particular about his women wearing super tight mini-skirts. The bodies of his colorfully illustrated women feature uniforms and body conscious outfits. It is rare that his women are nude, and this is not what he wants to illustrate. His women always wear something. His aim is to create captivating illustrations of women’s outfits. Yagami developed his technique by illustrating countless creases in the mini-skirt for the purpose of introducing movement in manga. Actually, it seems unlikely, but the use of countless creases granted movement to the mini-skirts and, in this way, he succeeded in representing the dynamism between the motion of concealing and the motion of exposing.

    Panties are for covering the sexual organ of a woman. Why am I so utterly sexually aroused by the times when the cloth that covers a woman’s sexual organ flickers into possible visibility? It is extremely difficult to answer that question. The only thing I can say is that expecting the “possibility of seeing” a woman’s sexual organ does not sexually arouse me. [22/23] Quite the contrary, I get sexually aroused by the fact that even if the mini-skirt waves in the wind, the female sexual organ is covered-up by the panties and “seems impossible to see.” There is the thought that, “no matter how hard I try, it seems impossible to see,” and this situation makes me feel aroused.
    One more thing is the arousal of an almost religious emotion that we feel when faced with the circumstances that panties are on the verge of visibility. This is because people have traditionally sensed the appearance of “gods” in the sublime being of that which we can only catch a glimpse of but cannot, in our existence, grasp. This is the reason that the panties under the mini-skirt must be “white,” a sacred color. We can feel an unspeakably religious atmosphere in the scene that something covered by white cloth is on the verge of visibility under the hemline of a mini-skirt.
    The reason why men are so attracted to mini-skirts is that they can feel as if they are seeing a glimpse of something amazing in the shape of panties, namely, something transcending this world, inside the mini-skirt. During those times, flesh-and-blood women in mini-skirts, that is to say, real women who have will and emotions, are just an eyesore for men. The reason why men who gaze at mini-skirts are displeasing to women is not that the women feel they are looked on as prostitutes in mini-skirts, but that the exclusionary gaze, “as long as they wear mini-skirts, flesh-and-blood women are not necessary,” comes as a piercing gaze toward women. [23/24]
    We call the man who emits this gaze the “insensitive man,” and contemporary pathologies of rorikon and uniform fetishism are deeply connected to men’s insensitivity of this kind.