Regimes of desire : young gay men, media, and masculinity in Tokyo / Thomas Baudinette.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Baudinette, Thomas, author.

Series:

Michigan monograph series in Japanese studies ; no. 93.

Michigan monograph series in Japanese studies ; number 93

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gay men--Japan--Tokyo--Social life and customs.

Gay men.

Gay community--Japan--Tokyo.

Gay community.

Gay bars--Japan--Tokyo.

Gay bars.

Masculinity--Japan--Tokyo.

Masculinity.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (263 pages)

Place of Publication:

Ann Arbor, Michigan : University of Michigan Press, 2021.

Summary:

Shinjuku Ni-chōme is a nightlife district in central Tokyo filled with bars and clubs targeting the city's gay male community. Typically understood as a "safe space" where same-sex attracted men and women from across Japan's largest city can gather to find support from a relentlessly heteronormative society, Regimes of Desire reveals that the neighborhood may not be as welcoming as previously depicted in prior literature. Through fieldwork observation and interviews with young men who regularly frequent the neighborhood's many bars, the book reveals that the district is instead a space where only certain performances of gay identity are considered desirable. In fact, the district is highly stratified, with Shinjuku Ni-chōme's bar culture privileging "hard" masculine identities as the only legitimate expression of gay desire and thus excluding all those men who supposedly "fail" to live up to these hegemonic gendered ideals. Through careful analysis of media such as pornographic videos, manga comics, lifestyle magazines and online dating services, this book argues that the commercial imperatives of the Japanese gay media landscape and the bar culture of Shinjuku Ni-chōme act together to limit the agency of young gay men so as to better exploit them economically. Exploring the direct impacts of media consumption on the lives of four key informants who frequent the district's gay bars in search of community, fun and romance, Regimes of Desire reveals the complexity of Tokyo's most popular "gay town" and intervenes in debates over the changing nature of masculinity in contemporary Japan.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

One. Shinjuku Ni-chōme: Typing, Media, and the Commodification of Desire

Two. Four Young Men's Transformative Engagements with Gay Media

Three. The Curse of the Beautiful Boy: Privileging Hardness, Rejecting Femininity

Four. Japanese Gay Pornography: Typing and the Fetishization of Heterosexuality

Five. Gay Magazines: Typing, Lifestyles, and Gay Identity

Six. Online Dating Services: Strategic Typing and the Limits of Agency

Conclusion: Regimes of Desire and Hope in Japan's LGBT Boom

Glossary of Terms

Notes

References

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 235-244) and index.

Description based on information from the publisher.

ISBN:

9780472129188

047212918X

OCLC:

1269516135