Belle

[shining-Celebi]

I honestly think Belle is a racial stereotype of blonde girls. Especially considering the game is set in America.

She acts ditzy and slow and frankly I'm tired of the "blonde" stereotype. I believe there is also misogyny present but thats in every pokemon game.

 

[Saloma]

Did you forget Pearl, the rival of D/P/P?

 

[The Outrage]

I honestly think Belle is a racial stereotype of blonde girls.

I didn't realize blonde was a race now.

And misogyny? Really?

Yeah, I can so totally see the woman-hate with having a ditzy girl go against her father's wishes and journey into the world, grows as a person and becomes a stronger as a person and a very powerful trainer in her own right.

Yes, Game Freak should have made it so that her father dragged her back home to do womanly things like learn to cook for her future husband.

 

[JordanN]

Blondes are not a race.

And how have the games been misogynistic? Ever since Crystal, females have been represented well in the series. We even got a female Champion and recently, a female professor.

 

[Yabukuron]

...Uh, Hair doesn't equal race.

And uh, even though I sorta see her as not as well read as Cheren or the others, I wouldn't call her a total dumb blonde.

I...really don't get what you're getting at here.

 

[Saloma]

Calling blonds a race is kind of odd, but there aren't many non-white people with blond hair.

 

[Joshawott]

No it's not a racial stereotype. As many have said, "Blonde" isn't a race. Sure, Belle is blonde, and she can be a bit clumsy, but she certainly isn't as much of an air head as people say she is - she ends up as Professor Araragi's assistant (both game and anime). She was probably made blonde because the designers wanted her to look cute, as let's be fair, girls who are rather clumsy are cute for some reason, and the blonde hair colour isn't very common in Japan, so they were looking for something that would draw attention. Notice how she's older than female protagonists, who certainly aren't legal...

Also...misogyny? How? In the last two generations we've seen female characters have the top positions - Cynthia and Araragi. Not to mention that lately we have a lot more female Gym Leaders than usual:
Kanto: Misty, Erika, Sabrina. (+ Janine in Generation II)
Johto: Whitney, Jasmine, Clair.
Hoenn: Roxanne, Flannery, Liza.
Sinnoh: Gardenia, Maylene, Fantina, Candice.
Unova: Aloe, Kamitsure, Furo, Iris.

As GSC/HGSS are confirmed sequels to RBGY/FRLG, that means that in the current time line, 3 of the 5 regions have an even number of male and female Gym Leaders.

While for the first three Generations there were more male Gym Leaders, in the last 4 years there has been a 50-50 split (Well, there's more male Gym Leaders if you play Black as opposed to White). As for the Elite 4, while only one Generation has a female Champion, aside from Johto and Sinnoh, there has always been a 50-50 gender split in the main four, and there has always been a female member in the Elite 4.

Kanto: Lorelei, Agatha.
Johto: Karen.
Hoenn: Phoebe, Glacia.
Sinnoh: Bertha.
Unova: Shikimi, Caitlin.

So Generation IV, the generation that introduced the first female champion, was the only one not to have half of the Elite 4 being female. Yet, Generation IV is the only complete generation where each game as a 50-50 split of Gym Leader gender.

I thought people would have jumped on the COTTON Pokémon being more common in BLACK if anything...stop pulling at straws and go for the obvious!

 

[Falconwing]

Topic is going to go nowhere.