Women's Sexualities and Masculinities in a Globalizing Asia

by Wieringa, Saskia E.; Blackwood, Evelyn; Bhaiya, Abha

• ISBN13: 9780230617483
• ISBN10: 0230617484
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-03-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Women's Sexualities and Masculinities in a Globalizing Asia examines women's same-sex sexualities and female masculinities, illustrating the complexities and histories of Asian lesbian identities. In a dramatic challenges to the notion of global gay culture, it reveals the way both butch/femme communities and lesbian activist groups are implicated in globalization processes. Where global queer studies focus primarily on urban, educated, and internet-savvy queer communities, this collection brings into view working-class lesbians and transgendered females whose voices are rarely heard. The chapters demonstrate that these communities participate in and respond to global feminist and queer movements as well as nationalist struggles, religious fundamentalist movements, and state gender regimes as they construct the forms of sexuality and gender evident in Asia today. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Evelyn Blackwood is Associate Professor in Anthropology and Women’s Studies, Purdue University. Saskia E. Wieringa is Senior Research Fellow, The University of Amsterdam, and Director of the International Women’s Center and Archives in Amsterdam. Abha Bhaiya is a founding member of Jagori, a feminist resource center based in Delhi.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	p. vii
Series Editor's Foreword	p. ix
Preface	p. xi
Notes on Contributors	p. xiii
Globalization, Sexuality, and Silences: Women's Sexualities and Masculinities in an Asian Context	p. 1
Historical Legacies
Silence, Sin, and the System: Women's Same-Sex Practices in Japan	p. 23
Desire and Deviance in Classical Indian Philosophy: A Study of Female Masculinity and Male Femininity in the Tamil Folk Legend Alliyarasanimalai	p. 47
Conditional Subjectivities
The Spring That Flowers between Women	p. 69
Performing Gender along the Lesbian Continuum: The Politics of Sexual Identity in the Seito Society	p. 77
"But no one has explained to me who I am now . . .": "Trans" Self-Perceptions in Sri Lanka	p. 101
Female Masculinities
Gender Subjectivity: Dees and Toms in Thailand	p. 119
Hunting Down Love: Female Masculinities in Bugis South Sulawesi	p. 139
Lesbian Masculinities: Identity and Body Construction among Tomboys in Hong Kong	p. 159
Transnational Sexualities in One Place: Indonesian Readings	p. 181
Silencing and Modes of Invisibility
Flames of Fire: Expressions and Denial of Female Sexuality	p. 203
Dying to Tell: Sexuality and Suicide in Imperial Japan	p. 217
"She Has Come from the World of the Spirits . . .": Life Stories of Working-Class Lesbian Women in Northern India	p. 243
Index	p. 265
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