Patrick W. Galbraith Introduction This chapter is an exploration of ‘otaku’ sexuality in Japan. According to the Kojien Japanese dictionary, otaku are ‘People who are interested in a particular genre or object, are extra­ordinarily knowledgeable about it, but are lacking in social common sense’ (cited in Kam 2013: 152). After a mass-mediated debate in the […]

If the tongzhi movement in the 1990s aimed at identity and community building, the movement in the 2000s has gradually moved on to building sexual citizenship. The HKSAR government actively promotes the family as a core value in Hong Kong society and as an essential part of ‘Chinese culture’. The first Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa […]

Once the long debate over the decriminalisation of male homosexual conduct was over, the original legal debate was transformed into arguments about various social and moral disputes. Different parties, including the government, church people, social workers, teachers, lawyers, doctors, cultural workers, journalists and so on, whether pro — or anti-gay, contributed to policing a range […]

It is generally argued that male homosexuality was reasonably tolerated in ancient and Imperial China (Hinsch 1990; Samshasha 1997). However, the colonial government made buggery a crime in Hong Kong in 1842. In English law, buggery is a generic term for both sodomy (between two men or between a man and a woman) and bestiality […]

Early discussions of citizenship in Europe and North America usually rested on the assumption of a unified notion of the citizen, which implicitly used the middle-class, white, heterosexual man as the prototype (Marshall 1950). This narrow understanding of citizenship has been criticised for its failure to address the patterned inequalities and exclusions of the underclass, […]

Travis S. K. Kong, Sky H. L. Lau, and Eva C. Y. Li Introduction In this chapter, we take a close look at the tongzhi movement in Hong Kong. Tongzhi, which literally means ‘common will’, is an adaptation of the Chinese term ‘comrade’. The term has been widely used in the context of political parties […]

The movement’s focus on the liberation of women’s sex and the cultivation of a women-centred culture encouraged the politicisation and expression of women-centred relationships and lesbian love. While lesbian social groups like Wakakusa no Kai (Young Grass Group) had existed since 1971, lesbian women involved in the ribu movement began to express their political views […]

The resurgence of Japanese economic growth gave rise to new forms of sexual exploitation of women in countries previously colonised by Japan. Ribu’s interventions in the realm of sexual politics extended beyond the confines of the Japanese family system and nation-state to critique how Japanese businessmen were sexually exploiting Korean women in the form of […]

‘Liberation from the Toilet’, authored by Tanaka Mitsu, was one of the most famous manifestos of the movement. This manifesto decried the ideological division of women into ‘bad women’ and ‘good women’, who were treated as either ‘toilets’ or ‘mothers’. The former were used by men to relieve their sexual needs whereas the latter were […]

The movement’s politics around reproduction and the male-centred family system was also symbolised in the ‘K-san’ case. This concerned a mother fighting a legal battle to regain custody over her child, and epitomised discrimination against unwed mothers, who were not deemed legitimate mothers. The judge presiding over this case granted the biological father and his […]