Modern Jepanese femininity and subversive performance

Abstract

This research studies the lives of Japanese women who have moved to Thailand, gotten married to a Thai husband, settled in Chiang Mai and been earning a living by getting a full-time career, opening a shop or restaurant, or through her husband as a fulltime housewife. These women are living in a transnational context and culture, where women’s statuses are different from the Japanese context. This research aims to (1) study whether the women’s perception towards the roles of a mother, a housewife (a wife), and a working woman had changed according to feminine performativity; (2) to observe how the women have prioritized their roles as a housewife, a mother, and a working woman; and (3) to ascertain the conditions that influence the change of women’s perceptions of females’ roles regarding subversive performance. Although, compared to Japanese society, Thai society has considerably different expectations towards women as a housewife and a working woman, the expectations towards the role of mother are very similar. This results in the less in informants’ perception change towards the role of mother, and more towards the roles of housewife and working woman. This study found that the informants encounter guilt feelings when performing as a housewife and a working woman, which induce a resistance at the boundary of their corporeal norms. Oppositely, guilt feeling is not found when they perform a mother. The women’s temporary gender agencies built by their corporeal inscription are proved to emerge.