[2] She was a proponent of Takamure Itsue's bosei-ism or spirit of motherhood, which made her ecofeminism seem like Japanese 1970s nationalist feminism.
[4] She advised Japanese young women to question femininity or onnarashisa and masculinity or otokorashisa in her work The Myth of Femaleness.
Ueno eventually wrote Can Women Save the Earth?, critiquing Aoki's analyses, but this criticism was based on an oversimplification of terms taken out of context.
[2] Because of Aoki's use of the term "feminine principle" and her emphasis on reintroducing caring and nurturing values into contemporary society, her work has also been criticized for being too emotionally charged, maternalist, or utopian.
[2] Aoki was also wary of contemporary society's growing dependence on technology, since she believed it led to political apathy, war, and nuclear disasters.