In the Tokyo neighborhood of Shinjuku Ni-Chome, the number of women's gay bars has more than tripled over the past five years. Focusing on a neighborhood dance party called Girlfriend, this thesis explores the manner in which patrons and organizers of Girlfriend approach and negotiate with contemporary dance events. Taking place once a month, Girlfriend draws hundreds of young Japanese women who identify as queer, lesbian, bisexual and heterosexual, offering a variety of activities based on themes that challenge conventional norms about sexuality and gender. I conducted original qualitative research over the summer of 2011, including a series of open-ended interviews with patrons and organizers of Girlfriend. The information gathered from the interviews is analyzed along five key themes: observation of the tachi/neko binary (a dyadic system of masculine and feminine gender performativity), fantasy, safety and escape, the Other and contingency. This study demonstrates that the values and perceptions of women involved in these events are complex, and deeply ambiguous. This thesis argues that the event, and others like it, can serve as both a refuge for attendees, and a vehicle to reinforce homogenizing images of the mainstream, within a context of global capitalism. This research will contribute to a more advanced understanding of marginalized individuals in contemporary Japanese society. / Graduate / 0733 / 0332 / 0326 / foxnatasha@yahoo.com
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/4815 |
| Date | 21 August 2013 |
| Creators | Fox, Natasha |
| Contributors | Noro, Hiroko, Butt, Leslie |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web |
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