Key Points on Queer Styles and Androgynous Bodies in Japan

Abstract
  • Focus: The mediation of androgynous bodies and styles in Japan, specifically through the concepts of dansō (female-to-male crossdressing) and genderless (jendāresu).
  • Key Definitions:
    • Dansō: Gender crossing practices generally performed by individuals assigned female at birth.
    • Genderless: A fashion mode that emerged in 2010, indicating styles that do not differentiate between genders.
  • Thesis: The exploration of how these identities reflect on gender binaries, contribute to queer and transgender studies, and how media representation influences the discourse surrounding these practices.
Introduction
  • Context: The exploration is initiated through a VICE Japan YouTube video featuring Tajima Yūsuke and Akira, a notable dansō model.
  • Cultural Appeal: Focuses on how Akira's unique style caters to individual expression and cultural fashion movements.
  • Cultural History: Highlights the origins of dansō practice tracing back to sources like the Takarazuka Revue.
  • Mediation: Mediates understanding of gender by examining how styles and identities become categorized over time.
Theoretical Framework
  • Mediation as a Process: Coined by Nick Couldry, mediation involves the dynamics of cultural representation affecting social norms and personal identity.
  • Non-linear Identity Construction: Individuals may begin their practices without being explicitly labeled as dansō or genderless; media subsequently retroactively assigns these identities.
  • Queer and androgynous Identity: Explores queer as a term encompassing diverse gender and sexual identities that challenge binaries.
Cultural Dynamics of Dansō and Genderless
  • Historical Perspectives: Dansō has evolved alongside medical terminology and societal changes since the Meiji period.
  • Contemporary Perspectives: The significance of genderless as a modern fashion movement crucially blends masculinity and femininity, addressing critiques from LGBTQ+ discourse.
    • Key Terms: Ryōsei (both sexes) and chūsei (in-between gender) illustrate fluid gender identities in Japan.
Identity Exploration Through Media
  • Media Representation: Analyzed through YouTube videos and extensive ethnographic research conducted in Tokyo.
  • Engagement with Practices: Young individuals interact with labels representing their identities that are often media-mediated, reflecting broader societal norms.
  • Fashion, Gender, and Style:
    • Both practices reflect a powerful means of self-identification through style.
    • Advantages of normalizing identity labels such as dansō in everyday discourse compared to niche categories (e.g., GID, and x-gender).
The Role of Young Practitioners
  • Case Studies: Individual narratives from dansō and genderless practitioners highlight diverse paths in adopting these identities.
    • Akira: Explores androgyny for individuality and freedom, hesitant to adopt labels initially.
    • Nakayama Satsuki: Genderless joshi who experiences cultural pressures about identity labels.
  • Performance vs. Daily Identity: Highlights distinctions between mediated presentations (media and industry) versus personal expressions of identity (individual experience).
Conclusion: Rethinking Queer Styles
  • Androgyny as an Analytic Tool: Acknowledges the importance of style as a method for deconstructing traditional masculine/feminine binaries, creating a platform for new representations of gender.
  • Future Directions:
    • Need for further research into trans styles, the role of fashion as a cultural artifact, and analyses of non-Western queer styles.
    • Investigative focus on how queer styles evolve within globalized and localized contexts, particularly in non-EuroAmerican paradigms.
Key Implications
  • Investigating how genderless and dansō styles redefine queer identities.
  • Contributing to broader discourses on fashion and identity representation within queer and cultural studies.