Japan's Male Crisis May Give The 'Weaker Sex' the Throne

[shugah]

Japan's Male Crisis May Give The 'Weaker Sex' the Throne

Jan. 23, 2006— Faced with no male heirs, Japan's boy-only emperor club may have to crack its doors and let women in.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has pledged to submit a bill to change the constitution and let female heirs ascend to the imperial throne. But he gave no specific date for the bill nor said exactly how it would be written.

~snip~

Some say that maintaining male lineage trumps all, and that the princes should use concubines to pop out male heirs.

The current emperor's cousin, Prince Tomohito of Mikasa, favors male bastards to blue-blooded women.

Japan's priests also oppose letting the "weaker sex" take the reins of the country. The Shinto priest association said the bill would "damage national respect for the throne."

A recent poll revealed that 80 percent of the Japanese public wants Aiko to become empress.


http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=1525595

edited to add picture of the possibly future empress because she is just so cute!

[Triana]

1. I have an idea....

...do what's medically necessary to get the **male princes** get pregnant make them carry the babies through term and childbirth AND raise them alone -- to get more males into the line of ascendancy. That would put an end to this "weaker sex" bullshit.

Buncho ninnies...

[Kagemusha]

2. I don't know where this male lineage trumps all thing comes from.

It only started after the Meiji Era. At least, in terms of the laws. The system was perfectly capable of handling an Empress previously (if only temporarily), just like the British system. Why this had to be changed is currently beyond me.

[SpiralHawk]

3. The king is dead! Long live the Queen!

IF YOU are into that kind of heirarchical shit

Me, I don't need no stinking Emperor George AWOL Bush

Give me liberty, freedom, and democracy

Throw the corrupt neoCON Republocrat Plutocracy in the crapper

[nolabels]

4. The idea of 'weak' is deceptive philosophical principle ..................

based on assumption and as it relates to procreation between biological pairs the myth is always larger than the reality.

Btw women should stop fooling their men on who has the upper hand :-)

[Zenlitened]

5. Patriarchy. That shit'll mess you up man.

:crazy:

[donsu]

6. agree

nt

[derby378]

7. Isn't Shinto's chief god actually a woman?

The name Ameratsu comes to mind, but I could be wrong. I thought their sun god was actually a sun goddess.

If so, an empress shouldn't be a problem. It's the bloodline that the Japanese are primarily concerned with.

[AnneD]

13. Which brings up the comment (pre DNA)

you may not know who the father is, but you always know who is the mother---a far more accurate gage of lineage anyway.;)

[orwell]

8. Remember...

...the all powerful sperm holds the key to wisdom, political acumen, courage, and leadership.

After all, look how safe, prosperous, and peaceful our planet is.

[gratuitous]

9. ABC actually used the term "the weaker sex"?

Jesus H. Christ in a sidecar, are we back to the 19-fucking-50s again?

[shugah]

10. twice!

in the headline, and then again in the article. they used " " around the phrase both times, attempting, i guess, to attribute it to the priests - but even so, i thought it an odd choice of words at best. (and an offensive, sexist one at worst.)

[gratuitous]

11. Yeah, they used quotation marks

Almost as if they were quoting someone who had said "the weaker sex." Unfortunately, they neglected to identify just who had used this silly locution, so we the viewers are left with the inescapable conclusion that ABC itself is using that designation for women. I guess the quotation marks are supposed to be ironic or something.

ABC is run by dumbasses.

[Matariki]

12. "princes should use concubines to pop out male heirs"

unless I'm mistaken, gender is determined by the contribution of the male - if he can't get his wife pregnant with boys he's not going to stand a better chance with a 'concubine'.

[AnneD]

14. you are right....

and once again, you may not know who's the daddy...but you always know who's the momma.

[SemperEadem]

15. It's time Japan got with the inevitability of an Empress Regnant

A bastard before an absolute princess? Now who's being hysterical?

[cmkramer]

17. FWIW

One of the Emperor's aunts favors changing the constitution to allow female succession.

[DavidDvorkin]

16. They're right. History is full of weak queens.

Like Elizabeth I, Catherine the Great, . . .

[Dulcinea]

18. Yeah, and Queen Victoria.

What a cute little girl the future Empress is!