Happy Girlfriend
Be a happy girlfriend if you can (2015) is a work by Tomorrow Girls Troop in protest of the feature article “Be a Professional Girlfriend If You Can,” which appeared in the April issue ViVi, the monthly woman’s fashion magazine by Kodansha, published in March 2015.
The parody has 4 parts: #1 The dishes to cook for your boyfriend…, #2 Walking with him on a date…, #3 If the boyfriend said he wants to go to movie theater by himself…, #4 If he cheated on you…, along with a statement delivered to the editorial department of ViVi.
ViVi’s article shows a comparison between so-called “normal girlfriends” and “professional girlfriends” both of which the magazine invents. In it, the man is consistently portrayed as a violent figure who complains about his girlfriend’s cooking, cheats on her, and acts selfishly. And, both “normal girlfriends” and “professional girlfriends” are portrayed as a person deserving of men’s complaints, frustrated but accepting of them.
Tomorrow Girls Troop has tried to find a way to show a relationship where men and women can respect each other, in order that both can be happy, and we have expressed this as “Happy girlfriends.”
Hoping to be happy is an essential human desire, beyond gender and culture.
We would like to ask the media to publish information with a perspective that encourages readers and viewers to find happiness.
Read the letter sent to ViVi magazine.