Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Necktie Nightmare: Narrating Gender In Contemporary Japan, Vera C. Mackie

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

...the thing I hated most of all was the necktie.
When I wore a necktie, there was just no doubt that I was a man.
The image was of a salaryman! The mainstay of the house! The symbol of manhood!

These are the words of Nomachi Mineko in the autobiographical account of her transition from male to female. The book (adapted from a blog) appeared in late 2006 under the title O-kama dakedo OL yattemasu (I'm Queer But I'm An Office Lady). The book's publication coincided with a range of mainstream representations of trans-gendered lives - in television …

Equality Vs Difference: A Case Study Of Japanese Media Representations Of Gender-Specific Provisions In Labour Legislation, Kirsti Rawstron

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

This paper examines the portrayal of gender issues in the Japanese media. It will do so through a case study of discussions in mainstream newspapers surrounding the removal of the gender-specific provisions (or ‘women’s protection articles’, hereafter WPA) of the Labour Standards Law. The discussions touch on debates concerning ‘equality’ and ‘difference’ and debates concerning the role of legislation in promoting social change. After a summary of relevant legislation, the arguments surrounding the 1997 removal (effective 1999) of the WPA is examined using items from 1982 to 2005 in the Asahi Shimbun, the Mainichi Shimbun, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun and …