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The New buzz word: masuclinized women and girly men

It’s been a bout a year since I first wrote News alart! Increasing population of ‘grass-eating boys’!? Since then, the concept of ‘Soshokukei Danshi’ (grass-eating boys) and Nikushokukei Joshi (meet-eating girls) have spread around Japanese society, in the media, on graphic t-shirts, and all over magazines and daily conversations, the trend for identifying whether one is herbivory or carnivorous has died down.

Now, the new concept for 2010 is Osu-ka: masculinization of women and Joshi-ka: feminization of men.  As the populationg of ‘grass-eating boys’ increases, and as women need to become carnivorous and aggressive, women are increasingly becoming masculinized, explains the media. On the other hand, the ever-so peaceful and timid grass-eating boys enjoy staying at home and decorating their apartment and practice cooking and banking, they are increasingly becoming girly. This gender switch is not only seen in personal life style, but also in the work life and career plans.

As women are increasingly entering the workforce, and gain success in the field of banking, law, consulting, and medicine climbing, the ladder of success, rather than getting married and having kids, women leading life style of traditional single bachelor – or “salary man.” With so much work and responsibility at the office, women these days do not cook at home, they would spend their nights in a pub drinking beer with their female friends or eating delivery pizza, drinking a canned beer in front of TV…. Women are becoming masculinized! (and I’m the first person to report this in English!)

Ramen-noodle, alcohol and house wife

According to an article on “masculinization of Tokyo women” published by Jcast News in December 2009,  60% of working women in the 20’s – 30’s feel they have become masculinized. “I drink alcohol at home alone, don’t mind going for quick dinner at ramen noodle shop alone,  my priority is work before going on dates!” To my horror, 1 in 10 of these women have discovered their facial hair has darkened/increased since the entrance in the workforce.  Hormone imbalance caused by stress is, in deed, masculinizaing working women’s body.

When do you feel ‘masculinized’? – When I sneeze like a middle aged man, When I say ‘That’s why I don’t wanna work with women,’ When I think ‘I want a wife to take care of me,’ I don’t consider myself office lady, I’m a businessman… they say. It also seems ramen and alcohol, for these women are just as basic necessity as they are for Japanese bachelors. Masculinized women have less interest in men and more for ‘wife’: 27% of respondents prioritize work to dating and 1 in 3 respondents identified their wish to have a housewife to take care of her.

How far are we masculinized?

But the masculinization is not just for a laughing a matter. The hormone imbalance caused by stress is actually causing physical masuclinization for some women. It appears 10% of working women aged 25 – 35 are suffering from increased facial hair, especially beard. Even more widely experienced is menstrual disorder and irregular periods. Working women are having more and more physical problems such as backaches and mesntrual disorder, sleeping problems and eating disorder. How to feminize your body to avoid these problems?

A doctor from womens’ clinic says “Get involved in feminine activities. Take flower arrangement classes, bake some cake, dress yourself up, go on dates, cook at home, and feel feminine to stimulate female hormone.” However, despite such severe effects of masculinization, it seems the word “osu-ka” and “joshi-ka” are going to be hot-words of the year.