When Japan Was Terrified of School Girls: A Gendered Panic

MuxedoTask’s just published a great video primer on Japan’s Sukeban gangs. Even though you may not know the term, you’re probably quite familiar with the tropes and imagery of the teenage girl delinquent gangs. Beginning in the mid-‘60s and stretching to the late ‘80s, the Sukeban were a reaction to over conformity and male delinquency that also happened to converge with second wave feminism hitting Japan.

Sukeban would gain greater infamy when they hit movie theaters in various Pinky Films and other exploitation titles of the ‘70s, and then moreso in manga and anime, and beyond. MuxedoTask walks through all of this history and cultural influence in a breezy presentation that is informative without being too reductive.

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