Normalizing the Japan Self-defense Forces via Marriage

Bibliographic Data

ID12914948
AuthorsEmily Dalton (0000-0001-9483-3422, RMIT University, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume15
Issue1
Pages106-124
Publication date2020-03-16
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of War and Culture Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1752-6272 • E-ISSN: 1752-6280
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17526272.2020.1738680
OpenAlexW3011739409
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited21

Feminist political scientist Cynthia Enloe urges us to always ask questions and be curious so as to prevent militarization occurring unremarked upon. Based on this advice, I turn my ‘feminist curiosity’ to the increasingly normalized idea of marriage between a civilian woman and a Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) soldier. I apply feminist critical discourse analysis to a matchmaking website that pairs JSDF men with civilian women and the monthly Ministry of Defense public relations magazine, Mamor. Analysis of data from these sources forms the foundation of an argument that these cultural products contribute to the normalization of the JSDF by, firstly, portraying the JSDF as a quirky place to work, but also as an institution in the business of protection (with only infrequent allusion to its war-making potential) and, secondly, by focusing on family and marriage — concepts that soften and sanitize the institution’s image

Argument (complex analysis · Christian ministry · Curiosity · Institution · Militarization · Normalization (sociology · Political science · Politics · Self-Defense · Social science · Sociology · Gender Politics and Representation · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology

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