Living More “Like Oneself”

Transgender Identities and Sexualities in Japan

Bibliographic Data

ID12759157
AuthorsMark Mclelland (corresponding author)
Year2003
Volume3
Issue3-4
Pages203-230
Publication date2003-04-12
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Bisexuality (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1529-9716 • E-ISSN: 1529-9724
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1300/j159v03n03_14
OpenAlexW1600929071
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited22

This paper looks at the development of transgender identities in twentieth-century Japan, from their “professional” antecedents in the kabuki theater, through post-war paradigms based in the entertainment world, to recent notions of “amateur” transgenderism and cross-dressing. It is argued that early paradigms of transgenderism centered on occupational categories and that, despite modern understandings that associate transgender performance with homosexuality, the traditional bisexual potential of the transgender body was never completely occluded. In recent years transgender individuals have emerged who, distancing themselves from the entertainment world, have sought to interrogate mainstream notions of “normal” sexual and gender identities-arguing instead for a “gender free” society in which gender expression and sexual orientation are not tied to biological sex

Aesthetics · Amateur · Art · Closet · Entertainment · Gender identity · Homosexuality · Human sexuality · Lesbian · Mainstream · Male Homosexuality · Political science · Sexual identity · Sexual orientation · Sociology · Transgender · Visual arts · Asian Culture and Media Studies · Gender Studies · History · Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics · Japanese History and Culture · Psychology