I found an interesting article on Slate.com about Japanese Herbivorous Males, or soushoku danshi in the romanization.
I thought this was interesting because at the 2012 Hawaii International Conference for the Arts and Humanities, where I presented my paper on Otomen, I presented with another woman who talked specifically about these types of Japanese Men!
Agnes Pochyla, currently studying at Hokaido University, talked about how this type of men was often confused for meterosexuals, and pointed out that in fact, they are quite different for many reasons. The difference that seemed the most important in her presentation was the fact that herbivorous males (or ‘cabbage boys,’ another translation) were uninterested in material consumption and acquisition, unlike the stereotypical meterosexual who seems all about outward style and brand names.
I just wanted to mention this because I thought it was so interesting that an article like this would make it onto an English news site, since the first time I ever heard of it was from Agnes. I wonder if she would feel that this article was a more correct representation of the Japanese Herbivorous Males…
