Ratings and male characters

I've been a big advocate of getting male specific rating rules ever since the G rating was first implemented, and I've talked about it extensively both on here and on the discord. Unfortunately there's too much disagreement on the topic and howto:rate leaving things up to interpretation doesn't help.

As a reference to some older discussions
forum #213377
topic #22717
post #5315173
+ many other ones on the discord server

All in all right now I'm mostly going with my gut and experience for ratings, but I'm not confident enough to go back and rerate all 30k+ uploads of mine when there's no clear rules as it could all just end up being a waste of time.

• I personally think that there's cases where topless male could be G when there's no sexual undertones and/or it's not the focus of the overall image, or when the overall theming is appropriate (beach, wrestling ring, exercise) etc and especially when the nipples aren't drawn at all, or without much detail.

Some examples from my own posts:
post #6046914
post #5777709
post #6161758
post #5474593
post #6177662
post #6226901 (I thought this was fine too, but it was rerated recently, I'm OK either way)

• As for open or partially open clothes, I think it would be really weird and frankly unenforceable if such situations were auto S. As long as there's no sexual undertones then it should be OK to rate them as G IMO.

Male character designs with open shirt/jacket or with at some sort of chest area revealed are very, very common. Most of which aren't for fan service-y reasons at all. It's simply just a design trait that conveys manliness and most people are desensitized to it.

Here's some examples:
post #6236514
post #6219463
post #6013547
post #5227326
post #6219460
post #6156450
post #6161581

KagayakuShiningGate said:

Also, when it comes to pubic hair, here's what's its wiki says:

Either howto:rate or pubic hair's wiki needs to be fixed.

Just make sure you're not confusing navel hair for pubic hair. The former is just normal abdominal/belly body hair (that is more common in males), while the latter is part of the pubis area. Those are very different parts of the body and they should be rated differently.

Admiral Pectoral said:
Just make sure you're not confusing navel hair for pubic hair. The former is just normal abdominal/belly body hair (that is more common in males), while the latter is part of the pubis area. Those are very different parts of the body and they should be rated differently.

Oh, right, I meant navel hair. I assumed that navel hair really meant "hair that grows out of the navel", and that actual "navel hair" is just an extension of pubic hair. In this case, I stand corrected - I think navel hair should immediately be S+.

I personally think that there's cases where topless male could be G when the theme isn't sexual and/or it's not the focus of the overall image, or when the overall theming is appropriate (beach, wrestling ring, exercise) etc and especially when the nipples aren't drawn at all, or without much detail.

Except those are more-or-less the same situations in which women would be wearing bikinis/sports bras, and those are S. And even bikini posts can be pretty innocent and nonsexual, like post #4364641. Sure, social standards for male and female exposure are different, but it's not like men are typically walking around shirt-free at any occasion.

As for open or partially open clothes, I think it would be really weird and frankly unenforceable if such situations were auto S. As long as there's no sexual undertones then it should be OK to rate them as G IMO.

Male character designs with open shirt/jacket or with at some sort of chest area revealed are very, very common. Most of which aren't for fan service-y reasons at all. It's simply just a design trait that conveys manliness and most people are desensitized to it.

So are crop tops for women, which are actually relatively common in real life to wear in public. We still rate them S.

KagayakuShiningGate said:

[…]

+1, that’s pretty much how I felt. And not just crop tops, girls with bare shoulders or mild zettai ryouiki might still get S just to be safe, so let’s not avoid the boys.

Four months later, and the only notable change to HowTo:Rate was adding a mention of midriffs for rating:s; still nothing on males.

If we are to take HowTo:Rate literally for male characters, we have many, many misrated posts:

Now, I am NOT saying we absolutely should take it as holy and start re-rating those posts to HowTo:Rate's current standard. In fact, it would be quite literally idiotic. But we *need* real, actual guidelines to rate male characters.
Unless we actually want to see posts like post #6186312, post #6594134 or post #5502656 in G. In which case, fine.

I personally think they should all be rated up from what they are. rating:s bulge is especially egregious. But at the end of the day the only people who can decide these things are the admins, and they've not said anything on the matter, so there isn't much any of the rest of us can do.

KagayakuShiningGate said:

post #6594134

I don't know, I personally see that post as S because of its fanservice-y elements (showing pectorals cleavage for one).
While the other ones can be G, but I won't judge on those ones.

Another 4 months have passed, another bump. Still nothing.