Japan's Rule-Breaking Women
Document Type
Panel Presentation
Start Date
20-4-2018 9:15 AM
End Date
20-4-2018 10:30 AM
Keywords
Japan, gender roles, women's issues
Biography
Casey entered Marshall University to study Japanese in the Spring of 2015, after completing a four-year degree in English Language and Literature at Glenville State College. The MU Japanese program has enabled her to learn more about classic Japanese art forms through the Sado Club’s tea ceremonies, make friends with people from around the world, and become conversational in a second language. During the Spring of 2017, Casey studied abroad at Chukyo University in Nagoya, Japan. After graduation, she hopes to become a Japanese to English translator.
Major
Japanese
Advisor for this project
Dr. Natsuki Fukunaga Anderson
Abstract
This presentation surveys gender norms for contemporary Japanese women in the context of three examples. Women who play male roles in Japan's famous all-female Takarazuka Theater Revue (otkokyaku), female fans of male-male romantic pairings in anime and manga (fujoshi), and Megumi Igarashi's vagina-centric artworks will be considered. By contrasting pre-modern archetypes such as the "Good Wives, Wise Mothers" (ryosai kenbo) model of femininity with the reality of Japan's current economic downturn, we will explore how each example represents deviant behavior, the resulting criticisms and hostilities faced by the subjects, as well as the ways that deviating from gender norms creates a path for change in Japanese women's lives.
Japan's Rule-Breaking Women
This presentation surveys gender norms for contemporary Japanese women in the context of three examples. Women who play male roles in Japan's famous all-female Takarazuka Theater Revue (otkokyaku), female fans of male-male romantic pairings in anime and manga (fujoshi), and Megumi Igarashi's vagina-centric artworks will be considered. By contrasting pre-modern archetypes such as the "Good Wives, Wise Mothers" (ryosai kenbo) model of femininity with the reality of Japan's current economic downturn, we will explore how each example represents deviant behavior, the resulting criticisms and hostilities faced by the subjects, as well as the ways that deviating from gender norms creates a path for change in Japanese women's lives.
