Genders Transgenders And Sexualities In Japan

This book is a collection of essays that look at the changing notions of gender and sexual diversity in Japan. The essays explore both heterosexual and non-heterosexual histories, lifestyles and identities. The book includes material that has not been previously published in English, and it is hoped that it will be of interest to a broad range of readers.

Incorporating Japanese language materials and field-based research, this compelling collection of essays takes a comparative look at the changing notions of gender and sexual diversity in Japan, considering both heterosexual and non-heterosexual histories, lifestyles and identities. Written by key Japanese authors and Western scholars the volume examines how non-conformist individuals have questioned received notions and challenged social norms relating to sex and gender. The chapters depict the plurality of gender positions; from housewives opposed to gender roles within marriage to heterosexual men wishing to be more involved in family life. Including material not previously published in English, this volume gives an overview of the important changes taking place in gender and sexuality studies within Japanese scholarship. Review: 'This collection fills a major gap in the field of Japanese studies on transgressive genders and sexualities, and does so with insight, originality, and a fine sense of contemporary Japan's contradictions and dynamism.' - Karen Kelsky, East Asian Languages and Cultures, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 'These are interesting, insightful and readable essays that should be of interest to a broad range of readers and that contribute to and call for further critical discussion of gendered/sexual plurality and difference as part of the everyday as well as the extraordinary in (and out of) Japan.' - Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Asian Context 'The book under review is a welcome addition to the study of genders and sexualities in modern Japan. The book has achieved the primal goal set by the editors to introduce a wide range of gendered and queered practices in Japan to non-Japanese speakers.' - TANAKA Masakazu/Kyoto University