Abstract
This chapter draws attention to the intersections and collisions between discourses of work, masculinity, and sexuality in the context of Japanese corporate culture. Despite significant socio-cultural shifts over recent decades, the discourse of the middle-class, white-collar heterosexual “salaryman” continues to be a signifier for Japanese corporate masculinity, and indeed, for Japanese masculinity as a whole. Yet, the reality is that there are salarymen who may not be heterosexual, but nevertheless need to engage on a day-to-day basis with the heteronormative ideological expectations of corporate masculinity. This chapter, drawing on interviews with individual salarymen who identify as non-heterosexual, explores the complex relationship between the publicly articulated heteronormative ideology of the workplace and the day-to-day micro-negotiations with the expectations of this ideology by non-heterosexual individuals.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
There is a whole sub-genre of Yaoi/BL manga (written by, and predominantly targeting heterosexual fujoshi women) revolving around sexualized same-sex salaryman fantasies – one example, for instance, is Guren Naomi’s 2010 Shachō wa Eroshikku (The Company President is Erotic/Ero‘sick’).
- 2.
One such example of a popular gay riiman bar in Shimbashi is “Townhouse” http://townhousetokyo.web.fc2.com.
- 3.
The names of all informants are pseudonyms. Japanese names, when the full name is used, follow the order of family name/personal name. When referring to my informants, I either use their whole name (e.g., Arai Jun), or I use their personal name (e.g., Jun).
- 4.
He mentioned regarding himself as “feminine/effeminate”, something that did not strike me during the interview.
- 5.
Some foreign multinational corporations in Japan (like IBM) have active LGBT-friendly policies and support services for staff. However, as Hiroaki and a couple of other informants noted, non-heterosexual friends working in these organizations were reluctant to be associated with such efforts. For discussion of IBM’s LGBT peer support group in Japan, see H. Sunagawa (2010).
References
Allison, A. (2009). The cool brand, affective activism and Japanese youth. Theory Culture and Society, 26(2–3), 89–111.
Brinton, M. (1993). Women and the economic miracle. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Connell, R. W. (1995). Masculinities. Australia: Allen & Unwin, St Leonards.
Connell, R. W., & Messerschmidt, J. W. (2005). Hegemonic masculinity: Rethinking the concept. Gender and Society, 19(6), 829–859.
Dales, L. (2014). Ohitorisama, singlehood and agency in Japan. Asian Studies Review, 38(2), 224–242.
Dalton, E., & Dales, L. (2016). Online Konkatsu and the gendered ideals of marriage in contemporary Japan. Japanese Studies, 36(1), 1–19.
Dasgupta, R. (2013). Re-reading the salaryman in Japan: Crafting masculinities. London: Routledge.
Douglas Creed, W. E. (2006). Seven conversations about the same thing: Homophobia and heterosexism in the workplace. In A. M. Konrad, P. Prasad, & J. K. Pringle (Eds.), Handbook of workplace diversity (pp. 371–400). London: Sage.
Fleming, P. (2007). Sexuality, power and resistance in the workplace. Organization Studies, 28(2), 239–256.
Funabashi, K., & Miyamoto, M. (Eds.) (2008). Koyô Ryûdôka no naka no Kazoku (The Family within Employment Instability). Tokyo: Minerva Shobo.
Fushimi, N. (Ed.). (2000, April). Hentai-suru Sarariiman: Tokushû (Queering the Salaryman: Special Issue). Queer Japan, 2, 5–107.
Gregory, M. R. (2011). “The faggot clause”: The embodiment of homophobia in the corporate locker room. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, 30(3), 651–667.
Guren, N. (2010). Shachô wa Eroshikku (The Company President is Erotic/Ero-”sick”). Tokyo: Junet Comics.
Hall, M. (1989). Private experiences in the public domain: Lesbians in organizations. In J. Hearn et al. (Eds.), The sexuality of organizations (pp. 125–138). London: Sage.
Hearn, J. (2014). Sexualities, organizations and organization sexualities: Future scenarios and the impact of socio-technologies (a transnational perspective from the “global north”). Organization, 21(3), 400–420.
Hearn, J., et al. (Eds.) (1989). The sexuality of organizations. London: Sage.
Japan Times (2015, August 15). Website aims to help LGBT job seekers find a comfortable workplace, 20 May. Available from: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/05/20/national/website-aims-help-lgbt-job-seekers-find-comfortable-workplace/#.Vc8Am7QwxUQ.
LGBT Shûkatsu (LGBT Job-Seeking). (2015, August 25). Available from: http://rebitlgbt.org/project/career
Lunsing, W. (2001). Beyond common sense: Sexuality and gender in contemporary Japan. London: Kegan Pau.
Mackie, V. (2002). Embodiment, citizenship and social policy in contemporary Japan. In R. Goodman (Ed.), Family and social policy in Japan: Anthropological approaches (pp. 200–229). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
McLelland, M. (2005). Salarymen doing queer: Gay men and the heterosexual public sphere. In M. McLelland & R. Dasgupta (Eds.), Genders, transgenders and sexualities in Japan (pp. 96–110). London: Routledge.
Nagaike, K. (2012). Fantasies of cross-dressing: Japanese women write male-male erotica. Leiden: Brill.
Nemoto, K. (2010). Sexual harassment and gendered organizational culture in Japanese firms. In C. Williams & K. Dellinger (Eds.), Gender and sexuality in the workplace (pp. 203–225). Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing Ltd.
Nijiiro (Rainbow-Coloured) Diversity. (2015, August 25). Available from: http://www.nijiirodiversity.jp
Ôsawa, M. (1993). Kigyô Chûshin Shakai wo Koete: Gendai Nihon wo “Jendaa” de Yomu (Moving Beyond a Corporate-centric Society: Reading Contemporary Japan through “Gender”). Tokyo: Jiji Tsûshinsha.
Pringle, R. (1989). Bureaucracy, rationality and sexuality: The case of secretaries. In J. Hearn et al. (Eds.), The sexuality of organizations (pp. 150–177). London: Sage.
Shimoda, T. (2008). Representations of parenting and gender roles in the Shôshika Era: Comparisons of Japanese and English-language parenting magazines. Electronic Journal of Contemporary Japanese Studies. Available from http://www.japanesestudies.org.uk/articles/2008/Shimoda.html. 22 August 2015.
Sunagawa, H. (2010, August). Dibarushitei to GLBT: IBM no GLBT gurûpu no katsudô (Diversity and GLBT: The Activism of IBM”s GLBT Group). In-Q, 3–5.
Taga, F. (2011). Kojin-ka Shakai ni okeru “Otokorashisa” no Yukue: Sarariiman no ima to kore kara (The Future Direction of “Masculinity/Manliness” in an Individualized Society: The Salaryman Now and from Here On”). In F. Taga (Ed.), Yuragu Sarariiman Seikatsu: Shigoto to Katei no Hazama de (Unstable Salaryman Life: Between Work and Family) (pp. 187–217). Minerva Shobô: Tokyo.
Williams, C., & Dellinger, K. (Eds.) (2010). Gender and sexuality in the workplace. Bradford: Emerald Group Publishing Ltd.
Yuzawa, Y., & Miyamoto, M. (2008). Dêta de Yomu Kazoku Mondai (Reading Family Problems through Data). Tokyo: NHK Books.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Dasgupta, R. (2017). Acting Straight? Non-heterosexual Salarymen Working with Heteronormativity in the Japanese Workplace. In: Lin, X., Haywood, C., Mac an Ghaill, M. (eds) East Asian Men. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55634-9_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55634-9_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-55633-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-55634-9
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)