Yep, I did. Was really looking forward to it, and it WAS really interesting.
I just wish that the lecturer had known more about the subject.
She's just starting research on crossdressing/transvestism/josoko in Japanese society, and basically, every question we asked her, we got "I don't know" or "I can't answer that yet- I've only just started my research." which was REALLY annoying, all she really covered on her own was what Josoko was, why different sociologists have theorized that they do it, and that sort of thing.
So, for the benefit of you guys reading this, I'm going to try and explain what the seminar was actually about.
1. Josoko- Basically, a subculture of young men, dressing up as and attempting to pass for girls, the cuter and more feminine they can be, the better. According to the lecture, most of them do it because they're poor and can't conform to their normal gender role, or because they want to become performers.
It's also often been shown that the Japanese public think they're cuter and more feminine than real women. O_O
2. Cross Play- Cross-play is basically cosplay, for all intents and purposes. However, someone doing crossplay dresses up as a character of the opposite sex.
Again, the woman giving the lecture didn't talk about this for long, and she only seemed to talk about why boys crossplay, didn't even mention why girls do it (and they do do it).
3. Visual Kei- Visual Kei is a genre of music/fashion, characterized by elaborate stage makeup and costumes, somewhat andrgynous-looking men (and sometimes women!) and anything from 80's Goth Rock, to Metal or Punk, and pretty often, it's a combination of the three. Bands like Malice Mizer, or X-Japan are good examples of Visual Kei. (See links at the end)
She barely talked about this at all, just showed us some pictures of Mana and Gackt from when they were both in Malice Mizer and then started waffling about Mana's clothes label; Mana is pretty famous for always being cross-dressed in his public appearances, along with never speaking, always whispering into someone's ear, and he also helped to popularize the Gothic Lolita fashion trend with his own label, Moi-Même-Moitié, which he also models for.
4. The Desire for Vicarious Femininity- you know something, I don't even remember her talking about this, at ALL. I think it has to do with the Japanese public often preferring cross-dressed pretty boys to real women in terms of cuteness or "Moe" - usually these young boys dress up as schoolgirls, or innocent, naieve sorts of women (according to this lecturer.).
She showed us a couple of crossdressing manga, and told us the name of a movie, where guys dress as girls, and win the heart of the girl they love.
She also thinks that Miyazaki's female protagonists have more 'Boyish' personalities...
The definition of Vicarious from the Oxford Dictionary.
1. experienced in the imagination through the feelings or actions of another person: this catalogue brings vicarious pleasure in luxury living.
2. acting or done for another: a vicarious atonement.
Therefore I guess I can conclude that "the desire for vicarious femininity" means, the public as a whole enjoying the projected illusion of femininity on these boys and/or the josoko themselves doing it as a performance act, i.e, for the enjoyment of others.
She didn't seem to think that transvestism was a big issue, that it wasn't something done that much in everyday life.
In conclusion, I'm quite disappointed I haven't got more to write about this, but, I would love to hear the thoughts of others on this. Louella cut the debate short yesterday, probably to save the guest lecturer's skin, which is a shame, because it was just starting to get interesting!
So, if you've got an opinion this, I'd really love to hear it! :D
Oh, and as promised; Links!
Malice Mizer- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zwn0MefXCK8 - Illuminati
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhiwRhPS1O0&feature=related - Beast of Blood
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrGwptv_2Yw - Gekka No Yasoukyaku
X-Japan- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7kEkPPrWMw - Jade
If you search "Mana" "Moi Meme Moitie" "Josoko" etc. you should be able to find plenty of pictures ^_^
This was actually pretty interesting to me, as it's something I've come across loads of times on my adventures through Japanese culture but never really researched. What a pity the lecturer didn't know more :/
ReplyDeleteWhat really stood out to me from what you said is about Miyazaki female protagonists being "boyish" in this context...personally, I think that's bullshit - sure, they're often stubborn, headstrong, even tougher than the males in the story, but it's a little insulting to say they're like boys just because they aren't damsels in distress, don't you think? It's kind of old fashioned to think like that...
I think what I can compare this to from personal experience is going to see the Lady Boys of Bangkok...completely different culture, but holy crap! They were gorgeous, honestly the prettiest girls I've ever seen, so I guess that's very similar to the Josoko - I can only assume that the lady boys dress like this for the same reasons the Josoko do.
Culture like this amazes me though :) when you compare it to our own, we look so boring D:
<3
Haha, don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed it, and I was really interested in the whole thing, but my disappointment really does stem from how clueless the lecturer was.
DeleteShe just rhymed off stuff we could have worked out ourselves from a little simple research, which was really annoying. She should have at least been able to field some simple questions.
We all agreed afterwards that the Miyazaki thing was utter rubbish- It is quite an old-fashioned point of view, and I'd definitely agree that it's insulting to call them boyish, just because they're not stereotypical damsels in distress.
Truthfully, I'd have just said Miyazaki's girls are all strong characters in their own right, as opposed to boyish...
I think you're probably right- the other thing we thought was, that because Josoko is a subculture, I guess you could even go so far as comparing it to other subcultures, like emo, or goth, or lolita; maybe the josoko just dress that way because they want to.
You were lucky getting to see the Lady Boys ;; I really wanted to go, but I can't remember whether I was stuck here, or couldn't afford tickets. Probably both :P