Well, that was sort of my point: what makes these ideals "warped" other than our Western perception of them? I don't see them being inherently sexist, since boy idols are very much a thing as well, and I don't really see there being any sort of societal harm whatsoever in people wearing outfits that they think are cute and singing songs that they enjoy. In general, the idol world in Japan seems far more open and less likely to corrupt or ruin someone's life than the performance world of North America, as idols aren't even particularly controversial in Japan -- they're just a part of life, and people almost universally love them over there. There's no TMZ running around sniffing for scandals every other second, and no real call for teen idols to start getting daring and pulling a Wrecking Ball in order to capture the media's waning attention (rather, the media's attention will just naturally wane and there's pretty much not a damned thing anyone can do to stop it -- which is a whole other story, but still preferable to the "shock culture" that pervades here in the West IMHO).
There are sex scandals, but there are always sex scandals in show business -- and the sex scandals in the idol world are literally that PEOPLE ARE HAVING SEX. As opposed to cheating, rape, and other much more severe scandals that seem to headline entertainment news here in the U.S.
The idol world is shockingly innocent compared to the music scene anywhere else in the world. The most scandalous thing about it is probably the outfits, and honestly, I don't see what the big deal is there. People should be allowed to wear what they want, and I've never heard of a Japanese pop idol who wasn't ALL ABOUT wearing his/her outfit, no matter how skimpy or outlandish it may have been.
I think we're just a little prudish here in the Western world -- we see skin and we immediately say SEX. But in Japan, showing a little skin is pretty much a way of life, and is not considered a sexual thing. (Remember, this is the land of public baths and hot springs -- which are, BTW, an experience I'd urge everyone to have at some point in their lives, because Japanese hot springs feel *AMAZING*.) It's we who make a big deal out of it, and who MAKE it sexual.
-Tom
This makes Idol culture gross enough on its own, and not because of the outfits but rather the attitude towards the entertainers themselves. It's the incredibly creepy "ownership" some fans seem to think they have over people they don't even know that is poisonous.
A pop star shaving her head in "shame" for having a boyfriend is disgusting. The message it sends is that apparently it's totally fine for these girls to display their sexuality to satiate the desires of their fanbase, utilizing it purely for others' own entertainment. But embracing it for themselves? That's a no-no.
You say that you think about the girls in your old class and not wanting to stamp on their dream... I'd say it's a pretty fucked up dream when you consider the greater context. Yes, they should be able to wear whatever they want, do what they want, etc. But that's not what they're allowed to do. Instead their sexual identity is apparently owned by their fans.
Bringing this back around to videogames, I see the same problem. I don't take issue with a character like Bayonetta - a character that's unapologetically boisterous about her sexuality. In fact I find her wholly entertaining. Obviously, Bayonetta isn't real - she doesn't make her own choices. She's the result of multiple creative people all piecing together the performance we see in-game. But atleast the way she's presented visually lines up with her personality. The same would go for a character like Eva in MGS3 - an obvious throwback the Bond-girl archetypes of the 007 series, all the while, she manipulates Snake into getting close to her.
The stuff I do take issue with is when the fan-service comes out of nowhere. It's irrelevant to the character, the tone, the story... The creepy sexualization of characters that conflicts with the characters themselves. Why in Lost Planet, on a hellish ice world, does the only female character have her jacket zipped down to expose her cleavage? Why is the shy young girl given an enormous chest and a short skirt? Why is Miranda's ass CONSTANTLY put in the foreground of a shot? Or a character in an RPG wearing a bikini while those around her wear suits of armor? Hell, Tales of Vesperia (while being a game I love) introduces June in a full suit of plate armor, only for her to discard it for little more coverage than a bikini. They even have a line of dialogue about it, claiming it's "for movement" which the plate armor didn't allow for... Hell, even if she'd just said "it's so I can move more, and besides, I think I look damn good in it," I'd be less put-off by how lame and obvious it was.
Don't even get me fucking started on Quiet in MGSV. Kojima had the fucking gall to try and claim that the reasoning for Quiet's design was totally noble and narratively justified. Instead, the camera creepily lingers and pans around on her chest and ass as she holds consistently suggestive poses. Her outfit, while supposedly being justified by the narrative, instead wholly contradicts it based on the logic for previous characters who suffer the same "affliction" she does. Even in scenes of violence or torture, Quiet having a bag over her head doesn't stop the camera from being sure to have her exposed cleavage prominently displayed in the frame.
Hell, even the Ghost in the Shell series, Motoko is a tough, calculating leader, though she doesn't ever play herself as flirty or hypersexual or anything... while also wearing no pants. And even when she does, even in the middle of a tense action scene where everything is super serious, the still shove in a gratuitous close up of her ass. It's ridiculous and takes you out of the whole thing.
Resident Evil Revelations 2's dumb alternate costumes... Or how the latest Fatal Frame had a bikini costume which totally makes sense in the context of the story, displaying the uncomfortable and tragic exploitation of one character, only to later go "HEY, NOW YOU CAN PLAY IN HER BIKINI! OH AND DON'T WORRY, EVEN THOUGH IT DOESN'T APPEAR IN THE STORY, HERE'S SOME LINGERIE FOR YOUR OTHER CHARACTER. BECAUSE REASONS!" Yeahhhh fuck that shit.