>>4042005Being made by a woman or women and consequently influenced by women's aesthetic sensibilities. In practice this is identified in an "I know it when I see it" sort of way. Because it's really more of an aggregate of all features rather than one or a few diagnostic ones. And, like I said, there are multiple different preferences and types of boys associated with each sex, sometimes even having somewhat contradictory features compared to one another.
There is one that I can only describe as the "little man". These would be boys like Hanako. Tsubaki also has elements of this, in spite of his age. They're still cute and boyish. They're not just shrunk down men. But they are deceptively manly. Almost all other shotas are more heavily skewed towards highlighting their neoteny. Even bara-esque muscle shos tend to have baby faces. But with these "little men" there is more of a willingness to let their masculinity pull them a little towards maturity; in their faces, in their attitudes, in their clothes and how they frame their body.
But then on the other extreme you have doll-like shotas. These would be both Cooro and especially Husky from +Anima that has been posted about recently in the regular shota general. These are pretty boys biased hard towards androgyny, with their masculinity mostly expressed through their behavior rather than their appearance. And even in their behavior, they tend to be especially child-like. They're not necessarily traps, but they're definitely not manly, either.
These are totally different kinds of boys. But they're both way more likely to come from a woman than a man. And it's the same on the men's side. Muscle shos and full time traps another anon mentioned further up are two types of boy that couldn't be further apart. And yet they do both have in common that they are mostly made by men.
You can't point to any one feature and say "this is what makes it male/female gaze". But there are trends you can notice.
