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Embodying Japan: Cultures of Sport, Beauty, and Medicine 2017Main MenuEugenics: Creating a Japanese RaceA discussion of the "Japanese Race" and Japan's Eugenics MovementGenderless Beauty? Shiseido's "High School Girl?" AdvertisementA Sign of Progress in a Traditional CountryAre You Considered Beautiful In Japan?Exploring Some East-Asian Beauty Standards & Their MeaningsHope for the Future: Beauty is in the Eye of the BeholderThe Future of Beauty in Japan100 Years of Japanese BeautyExploring The Truth, Meaning and Evolution Behind The '100 Years of Japanese Beauty" videoNot Beautiful Enough To Live in Korea?Dismembering over-broad arguments and assumptions against and about Koreans - and Asians in generalQ&A Session With Dr. Kim Soo Shin: A Renowned Korean Plastic Surgeon's PerspectiveI asked Dr. Kim Soo Shin, a South Korean plastic surgeon, for his thoughts on beauty and the popularity of cosmetic surgery in South Korea and East Asian in general.The Salaryman, Hikikomori, and HostessesJapan's capitalist driven gender identities and the consquences that resultHafus: Mixed Race People in Japan (Part 1)Bodies and Hygiene in JapanSalaryman Culture and Masculine IdentityAnalysis of salaryman culture and how changes lead to development of other masculinities, mainly "herbivore" masculinityGender and Identity in Modern JapanGlobalization, nationalized pressures, and how Japanese youth are responding to a history of genderJapanese Beauty Standards in Music and FashionHow are Japanese beauty standards conveyed through alternative youth street fashions and pop music in Japan?Beauty RegimeThe main page for the Beauty in Japan GroupSex & SexualityDwayne Dixon5129acc1d78d02bed532993adeb2cc39f7be6920
Sexuality & The State
1media/jessekanda.png2017-04-24T09:14:29-07:00marisa davise34b89a15ec01be763bc376325f35993f6ef4c7f1748219An overview of the mechanisms that produce sexuality as a tool for advancing state interestsplain2017-04-29T12:56:57-07:00marisa davise34b89a15ec01be763bc376325f35993f6ef4c7fIn order to properly conceptualize the intricate connection between sexuality and the state, it is critical to first situate the dynamic within Foucauldian notions of biopower and surveillance. The project of sexual usurpation is inextricably linked to the insidious proliferation of internalized power dynamics. As the state actively works to construct appropriate channels for sexual energy, individuals are pulled into compliance with sanctioned ways of being. In accordance with the concept of surveillance, deviation from normative sexual behavior results in social repercussions. Consequently, individuals internalize notions of acceptable presentation that position heteronormative monogamous relationships as the ultimate ideal. This peer-mandated punishment works as an attempt to draw sexual identity under scrutiny, so violators undergo correction and comply with performative constraints. As such, power operates as a creative force. Since people believe that they consciously choose to act in accordance with normative standards, compliance with these narratives appears to be an outlet through which to exert autonomy. However, because sexual identity is constrained to socially acceptable performance, this system of power actually serves to further alienate individuals from their uninhibited desire.
As this system of power relations works to constrain sexuality, the state reaps numerous benefits. In “Blood Talks,” anthropologist Jennifer Robertson explains, “Nation-states have always maintained a vested interest in the sexual and social reproduction of the population” (2002). The reproductive capacity of the populace is of primary interest to the state because the family-unit serves as an incubator of both physicality and ideology. Sanctioning appropriate sexual expression allows the state to control the means of biological and cultural replication. When people enter into acceptable forms of sexual relationships, they reproduce the physical capacity of the nation, while their compliance deepens the legitimacy of state-sanctioned sexual practices.
Robertson, Jennifer. 2002. "Blood Talks: Eugenic Modernity and the Creation of New Japanese." History and Anthropology 13 (3)(September 24): 191-216.
1media/index.png2017-04-24T09:04:11-07:00Shannon Brooks701a5bb1ea207b0327d3a992b9b5eb2862b0d9ecGender and Identity in Modern JapanShannon Brooks9Globalization, nationalized pressures, and how Japanese youth are responding to a history of genderplain4308192017-04-28T08:39:00-07:00Shannon Brooks701a5bb1ea207b0327d3a992b9b5eb2862b0d9ec
12017-04-24T15:02:31-07:00Shannon Brooks701a5bb1ea207b0327d3a992b9b5eb2862b0d9ecFeminine Desire in Japan as an Agent of Social ChangeShannon Brooks4plain2017-04-27T16:29:23-07:00Shannon Brooks701a5bb1ea207b0327d3a992b9b5eb2862b0d9ec
12017-04-26T09:04:01-07:00Laydon Hutchins392ff01a73e0a6695a8a4a532dcf6b70d4463b6eJapanese Popular CultureLaydon Hutchins1plain2017-04-26T09:04:01-07:00Laydon Hutchins392ff01a73e0a6695a8a4a532dcf6b70d4463b6e
12017-04-27T16:19:24-07:00Shannon Brooks701a5bb1ea207b0327d3a992b9b5eb2862b0d9ecConfessions of a HostShannon Brooks1Brief interview with a Host in Japanplain2017-04-27T16:19:24-07:00Shannon Brooks701a5bb1ea207b0327d3a992b9b5eb2862b0d9ec