It’s been a joke among Sailor Moon fans for years–Sailor Star Maker’s attack call is “Star Gentle Uterus.” And now, North American and English speaking fans can finally legally enjoy it with the release of the final season of Sailor Moon, Sailor Stars. I imagine a lot more Sailor Moon fans will be asking the same questions we all have at some point—-how???? Why??? Well, I’m here to shed some light on that!
I, myself, was in the dark for the longest time regarding these questions. In fact, it wasn’t until quite recently that I learned that some fans identify the inspiration for the Sailor Starlights as coming from Hindu mythology. In Hindu mythology, there are three main gods–Brahma (The Creator), Vishnu (The Preserver), and Shiva (The Destroyer). This fits very nicely with the names of the Sailor Starlights–Sailor Star Maker aka The Creator, Sailor Star Healer aka The Preserver and Sailor Star Fighter aka The Destroyer. Which brings us back to Sailor Star Maker’s infamous attack, Star Gentle Uterus.
While life is created in many ways in mythologies around the world, in our every day life, life begins in the uterus, so it makes a lot of sense that Sailor Star Maker’s attack name would include “uterus.” Of course, though, I suppose that’s not necessarily why people giggle at the attack name. We giggle at it because we’ve been taught to view the female reproductive system as private and taboo to talk about. It’s a double standard–society views the penis as both humorous and natural to talk about. Previously, I’ve talked about how a vagina kayak made more people uncomfortable than a mascot with an erection or penises at fertility festivals.
For some feminists, it’s important to eliminate the taboo of talking about female bodies so that people can feel more comfortable with their bodies and consequently, feel more empowered about their health and sexuality. Previously Naoko Takeuchi has made “negative” feminine attributes like crying into an attack, so perhaps she was trying to reclaim the power of uteri here.
So, whenever Star Gentle Uterus comes up, I’m actually pretty happy with the attack name. I think we need to talk about the female reproductive system more casually. I’m all for jokes like these if it actually educates you about human bodies!
In fact, the only small quibble I have with the attack name is that I’m not sure why it’s “gentle.” For many people, once a month, their uterus it anything but gentle! It’s more like:
And that’s just uteri! The actual creation of stars in the universe is rather intense.
So if you could come up with a better attack name, what would it be?
Images via Beckyism.com, Sailor Bitch-Lord
