Sorry about that Mei. I hope your wish comes true someday.

Mei Terumi is the representation of a woman who has a lot of power, or rather holds a powerful title in the world of business. These women are, much more often than not, portrayed stereotypically as having chosen careers over marriage and having children—you know, the typical route society wants us to take. Well, most of the time I’ve heard about these women, it was them speaking on their own behalf (you can see some of these women in a show called Millionaire Matchmaker). It was also mentioned or emphasized in all their stories, that men generally wouldn't date a woman with a lot of power in her career field, or with a so-called dominating personality. Neither are these men comfortable with a woman making more money than them. I’d say this viewpoint is true, from what I’ve gathered from my own minor experiences, but especially because those women, whom have all lived and experienced more than me, say so.

So where does Mei Terumi fit into this picture? Well, she’s the head of her village, and a highly respected mizukage at that. Needless to say, she’s also a very powerful ninja. It’s obvious by the way she overreacts when hearing certain words, and associates them with marriage, that she’s bitter about being single and that finding a spouse hasn’t been easy. What’s more is her verbal abuse toward her escort Ao, who triggers these thoughts. She intimidates him, and that’s where the problem starts: we've seen this behavior many times in other characters such as Sakura and Tsunade. So why does Kishimoto have to portray powerful women like that; why is Mei an aggressor? Why does she have to be fearful to a man at all? To me, this only proves that the aforementioned view that men have about this type of woman is true.

I’d like to see her strength as a ninja, and her title as Mizukage to be presented as a form of sex appeal: if she’s going to be intimidating, I want her to strut like she owns the damn earth everyone walks on, and talk about how sexy it is to have the power to run her own town, just as some women find it sexy when a man is in charge of his own business or who takes care of himself very well. I could only think of one woman in similar fiction who’s this way, and that’s Catwoman. I think if more females in fiction were portrayed as such, then it would change the way some men look at women like Mei, considering the media influences our thought patterns. Some may argue that she already has sex appeal—and she does. She’s a gorgeous woman with a gentle, nurturing personality, which men like, but most of her sex appeal is due to her physique: breast size, cleavage, and hair. Yes, women are beautiful and have natural allure, but society exploits our attributes to the point where we are our physical features. I think we need a big break, no? Point is, her personality goes almost unnoticed. What’s more is she’ll only be viewed as a tool for sex because her terrorizing habit eliminates any potential of her being ‘wife-material’.  Men, am I wrong?

I’d like to say that just because you’re female, doesn't mean you have to follow society’s structure of what a woman’s life has to be: get married, have children, maybe get a job, but don’t make as much as him. I found out not too long ago that it’s more about figuring out what we believe will make us whole, in which order we’d like things to be, and how. We may not even want some of these things. I know I don’t. Also, just because your personality is rather strong (dominating), doesn’t make it a bad thing. It only means that you’re very confident, sure of yourself, and you know what you want and how to get it.

I’d like to get a little personal with you, if you don’t mind: is society’s portrayal of the way men view women with high corporate positions or assertive personalities too exaggerated, or are most men truly turned off by that? How do you personally feel about being with someone who may make more money than you? Are you willing to share what’s your definition of sexy?