Handbook of Feminisms in Japan

Andrea Germer, Ulrike Wöhr

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9781040791172
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Japanese History
• Index: Social Sciences

The Handbook of Feminisms in Japan seeks to give a broad and, even without prior knowledge of Japan, easily accessible introduction to a range of feminisms in this non-Western context. With a useful comparative framework, it aims to advance transnational and international perspectives on feminisms around the world. It identifies discourses, theoretical positions and areas of feminist activity or intervention that readily correspond with those of feminisms in other countries, presenting chapters on topics such as radical feminism, maternalism, anarchism, literature, religion and pornography, but it also includes entries on specific historical and socio-cultural configurations, such as Japan's women's liberation movement, Uman Ribu. Building on a growing body of erudite scholarship in Japanese, English and other languages, each chapter succinctly traces historical developments of particular discourses or movements and situates them in the local political and societal context while also making reference to the wider Asian and global contexts. The authors identify the central actors and discuss the theoretical implications and political dimensions of particular feminisms or aspects of feminism in Japan. The discussion in each chapter is based on relevant primary and secondary sources, thus introducing the reader to material for further reading and research.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Contributors
• Preface
• Introduction to Feminisms in Japan
• Chapter 1 Academia: Women’s Studies, Gender Studies and Feminist Movements
• Chapter 2 Anarchism: Feminist Confrontations with Patriarchy and the State
• Chapter 3 Antifeminism: A Trajectory of Mockery, Denial, and Fake Equality
• Chapter 4 Art: Feminist Interventions in Theory and Practice
• Chapter 5 Care: From the Gender Division of Labor to a Feminist Ethics of Care
• Chapter 6 Disability: Feminist Challenges to Eugenics and the Emergence of Disabled Women’s Voices
• Chapter 7 Ecology: Feminist Contentions Surrounding “Women’s Logic” and Women’s Complicity
• Chapter 8 Education: Feminists Promoting Educational Change and Resisting the Gender Backlash
• Chapter 9 Ethnicity: Liberation Movements of Korean Women in Japan and the Discovery of Intersectional Feminism
• Chapter 10 The Family and Marriage: The Modern Japanese Trajectory and the Roles of Feminist Movements
• Chapter 11 Futures: Possibilities and Pitfalls for Feminism as an Ongoing Political Project
• Chapter 12 History: Feminist Negotiations of Female Subjecthood and Cultural Identity
• Chapter 13 Housewives: Gendered Identity as a Feminist Claim on Democratic Community
• Chapter 14 Language: Feminist Challenges to Linguistic Sexism and Heterosexism
• Chapter 15 LGBTIQ: Inclusion and Exclusion within Feminisms
• Chapter 16 Liberalism: Liberal Feminism and Women’s Quest for Full Citizenship
• Chapter 17 Literary Criticism: Feminist Theory in Classical Japanese Literary Studies
• Chapter 18 Literature: Feminist Bodies of Fiction
• Chapter 19 Maternalism: Transmutations of Motherhood in Feminist Thought and Activism
• Chapter 20 Media: Feminist Strategies to Effect Change in Mass Media Advertising
• Chapter 21 Migration: Feminist Perspectives on the Stagnation of “The Lost Thirty Years”
• Chapter 22 Peace Movements and Anti-Militarism: Feminists Organizing for Gender Equality and Against War
• Chapter 23 Pornography: From Radical Feminist Critique to Organized Victim Support
• Chapter 24 Prostitution and Sex Work: Competing Feminist Perspectives on Exploitation and Agency
• Chapter 25 Protofeminism: Negotiating the Gender Order of Tokugawa Japan
• Chapter 26 Radical Feminism(s): Rising up Within and Against the Japanese Context
• Chapter 27 Religion: Feminist Solidarity Beyond Denominational and Confessional Boundaries
• Chapter 28 Reproduction: The Feminist Reproductive Rights Movement and the Lingering Shadow of the Eugenic Protection Act
• Chapter 29 Sexual Slavery: Feminist Responses to Japan’s System of Military “Comfort Women”
• Chapter 30 Sexual Violence: Shifting Conceptions within Feminism and Beyond
• Chapter 31 Socialism and Marxism: Feminist Critique of Women’s Labor under Capitalism
• Chapter 32 The State: Feminists’Theoretical and Practical Engagement
• Chapter 33 Transnational Movements: Leveraging International Standards and Decolonizing Feminism
• Chapter 34 Ūman Ribu: The 1970s Women’s Liberation Movement
• Chapter 35 Work: Feminist Challenges to the Employment System and the Underlying Gender Division of Labor
• Appendix 1: Japanese Laws and Policy Plans
• Appendix 2: Exhibitions on Feminist Art and Women Artists
• Index