Eight. Queers and National Anxiety

Discourses on Gender and Sexuality from Anti-Gender Backlash Movements in Japan since the 2000s

Bibliographic Data

ID20083623
AuthorsKazuyoshi Kawasaka (0000-0002-6916-0577, corresponding author)
Year2023
Pages182-201
Publication date2023-12-31
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeCHAPTER
VenueGlobal Perspectives on Anti-Feminism (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherEdinburgh University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1515/9781399505413-012
OpenAlexW4387593806
ISBN9781399505413
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited5

The rise of anti-gender movements in Japan in the early 2000s was interpreted by many feminists as a bakkurashu (backlash) against feminist political achievements in the post-war period.English-language scholarship so far has tended to focus on the grass-roots style of these movements and their political campaigns against feminism and sex education (Fujimura-Fanselow and Wakakuwa, 2011;Kano, 2011;Yamaguchi, 2014Yamaguchi, , 2017)).Despite their important contributions, these studies have failed to analyse the hate campaigns against sexual minorities, within the backlash movements, and their significant political impacts.This chapter explores how sexual anxiety, especially homo-/bi-/transphobia, has played a significant role in Japanese ultra-conservative movements, provoking suspicion and mistrust towards feminists, as well as hindering feminist efforts to organise efficient counter-movements.It analyses Japanese anti-gender discourses in the 2000s, focusing on those of two influential ultra-conservative ideologues -Yagi Shūji, 2 a constitutional law scholar, and Nishio Kanji, a specialist in the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche.They have been prominent opinion leaders in the ultra-conservative national newspaper Sankei Shimbun and other media, and they have organised and led historical revisionist, anti-gender and constitutional reform movements for Japan's remilitarisation. 3 This chapter will identify and discuss three discursive characteristics of ultra-conservative anti-feminist movements in Japan.First, it analyses how the concept of 'gender' was represented as posing a threat to the foundations of Japanese national identity, that is, the so-called traditional family.Second, it will point out that a sense of national threat and anxiety was embodied by figures of monstrous minorities such as

Anxiety · Backlash · Human sexuality · Political science · Psychiatry · Sociology · Asian Culture and Media Studies · Engineering · Gender Studies · Japanese History and Culture · Psychology

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