Abstract
Male idol groups form one of the most successful contemporary Japanese popular music genres aimed at a female audience. Previous writing on the subject (Aoyagi 2000; Darling-Wolf 2003; 2004) suggests that their image and performance, which pervade many types of mainstream media, promote obedience to hegemonic social norms such as a male-dominated hierarchical system and the privileging of heterosexuality. I would like to explore this through the locus of gender: the presentation of male idols in terms of masculinity and the homosocial, in official media and in texts produced and consumed by female fans. Coming to focus on the strategic performance of male-male attraction, I will discuss the ways in which mainstream media images position idols between youth and adulthood, the nonsexual and the sexual, and how certain fans manipulate these performances to create their own texts centering on male-male relationships, especially in the form of “boys’ love” dōjinshi (fan-drawn comics depicting romantic or sexual relationships between male characters).
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
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Aoyagi, Hiroshi. 2000. “Pop Idols and the Asian Identity.” In Japan Pop! Inside the World of Japanese Popular Culture, edited by Timothy Craig, 309–326. London:M.E. Sharpe, Inc.
Aoyagi, Hiroshi. 2005. Islands of Eight Million Smiles: Idol Performances and Symbolic Production in Contemporary Japan. Cambridge: Harvard University Asian Center.
Aoyama, Tomoko. 1988. “Male Homosexuality as Treated by Japanese Women Writers.” In The Japanese Trajectory: Modernization and Beyond, edited by Gavan McCormack and Yoshio Sugimoto, 186–204. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bird, Sharon R. 1996. “Welcome to the Men’s Club: Homosociality and the Maintenance of Hegemonic Masculinity.” Gender and Society 10, no. 2: 120–132.
Bordo, Susan. 1999. The Male Body: A New Look at Men in Public and in Private. New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux.
Buckley, Susan. 1993. “ ‘Penguin in Bondage’: A Graphic Tale of Japanese Comic Books.” In Technoculture, edited by Constance Penley and Andrew Ross, 163–196. Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press.
Butler, Judith. 1993. Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of ‘Sex.’ New York: Routledge.
Connell, R.W. and James W. Messerschmidt. 2005. “Hegemonic Masculinity: Rethinking the Concept.” Gender and Society 19, no. 6: 829–859.
Darling-Wolf, Fabienne. 2003. “Male Bonding and Female Pleasure: Refining Masculinity in Japanese Popular Cultural Texts.” Popular Communication 1, no. 2: 73–88.
Darling-Wolf, Fabienne. 2004. “SMAP, Sex, and Masculinity: Constructing the Perfect Female Fantasy in Japanese Popular Music.” Popular Music and Society 27, no. 3: 357–370.
Dasgupta, Romit. 2003. “Creating Corporate Warriors: The ‘Salaryman’ and Masculinity in Japan.” In Asian Masculinities: The Meaning and Practice of Manhood in China and Japan, edited by Kam Louie and Morris Low, 118–134. Oxon: RoutledgeCurzon.
Gregson, Kimberly S. 2005. “Lead Character Like Me? Girl Fans of Shoujo Anime and Their Web Sites.” In Girl Wide Web: Girls, the Internet, and the Negotiation of Identity, edited by Sharon R. Mazzarella, 121–140. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.
Hidaka, Tomoko. 2010. Salaryman Masculinity: Continuity and Change in Hegemonic Masculinity in Japan. Leiden: Brill.
Juffer, Jane. 1998. At Home With Pornography: Women, Sex, and Everyday Life. New York: New York University Press.
Kaplan, Danny. 2005. “Public Intimacy: Dynamics of Seduction in Male Homosocial Interactions.” Symbolic Interaction 28, no. 4: 571–595.
Karniol, Rachel. 2001. “Adolescent Females’ Idolization of Male Media Stars as a Transition Into Sexuality.” Sex Roles 44, no. 1/2: 61–77.
Kinsella, Sharon. 1995. “Cuties in Japan.” In Women Media and Consumption in Japan, edited by Brian Moeran and Lise Skov, 220–254. Surrey: Curzon Press.
Lunsing, Wim. 2001. Beyond Common Sense: Sexuality and Gender in Contemporary Japan. London: Kegan Paul Limited.
McLelland, Mark. 2000. Male Homosexuality in Modern Japan: Cultural Myths and Social Realities. Oxon: RoutledgeCurzon.
Mori Naoko. 2010. Onna wa Poruno o Yomu: Josei no Seiyoku to Feminizumu. Tokyo: Seikyūsha.
Penley, Constance. 1992. “Feminism, Psychoanalysis, and the Study of Popular Culture.” In Cultural Studies, edited by Lawrence Grossberg, Cary Nelson, and Paula A. Treichler, 479–500. New York: Routledge.
Raviv, Amiram, Daniel Bar-Ta, Alona Raviv, and Asaf Ben-Horin. 1996. “Adolescent Idolization of Pop Singers: Causes, Expression, and Reliance.” Journal of Youth and Adolescence 25, no. 5: 631–649.
Sakuragi Piroko. 2009. Nikushokukei Joshi no Renaigaku: Kanojotachi wa Ika-ni Sūshokukei Danshi o Kuimakuru no ka. Tokyo: Tokuma Shoten.
Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. 1985. Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire. New York: Columbia University Press.
Stevens, Carolyn S. 2008. Japanese Popular Music: Culture, Authenticity, and Power. New York: Routledge.
Takahashi Sumire. 2005. “ ‘Yaoika’ Suru Shisen, Sono Senryaku ni Mukete: ‘DEATH NOTE’ Dōjin Manga o Rei ni.” Joseigaku Nenpō 26: 20–40.
Ugaya Hiromachi. 2005. J-Poppu to wa Nani Ka? Kyodaika Suru Ongaku Sangyō. Tokyo: Iwanami Shinsho.
Welker, James. 2006. “Beautiful, Borrowed, Bent: ‘Boys’ Love’ as Girls’ Love in Shōjo Manga.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 31, no. 3: 841–870.
West, Mark D. 2006. Secrets, Sex, and Spectacle: The Rules of Scandal in Japan and the United States. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Wood, Andrea. “ ‘Straight’ Women, Queer Texts: Boy-Love Manga and the Rise of a Global Counterpublic.” Women’s Studies Quarterly 34, no. 1/2: 394–414.
Yano, Christine. 1997. “Charisma’s Realm: Fandom in Japan.” Ethnology 36, no. 4: 335–349.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2012 Lucy Glasspool
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Glasspool, L. (2012). From Boys Next Door to Boys’ Love: Gender Performance in Japanese Male Idol Media. In: Galbraith, P.W., Karlin, J.G. (eds) Idols and Celebrity in Japanese Media Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137283788_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137283788_6
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-33445-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-28378-8
eBook Packages: Palgrave Media & Culture CollectionLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)