Terminology for female-same-sex desires and identities is varied and diverse. The pathologising discourse of same-sex desire began to enter medical literature in the late nineteenth century and entered the public domain in the early twentieth century (Driscoll 2005: 191—225; Fruhstuck 2003). The birth of the female homosexual in Japan as an intelligible category can be traced to the translation of sexological texts (Takemura 1996: 475-79, 2000a: 22-58, 2004; Hiruma 2003: 9-32; Akaeda 2004, 2011) in the later Meiji period (1868-1912). In the 1910s, the emerging newspaper media included negative portrayals of relationships between women which involved such acts as sending letters and bouquets, and which were modelled on what was seen as a ‘western’ idea of romance (Hiruma 2003: 19). These relationships were described as dosei-no-ai (love of the same-sex). This intimacy was attributed to a closeness between women found in the newly formed all-women schools which were established with the opening of education to women in the Meiji period (1868-1912). Hiruma argues that the problematisation of affectionate relationships between women was linked to moral concerns about the notion of romance in general, rather than homosexuality per se (2003: 19). An interest in the perverse spiked in popular magazines in the 1920s, but as the push of militarisation grew stronger so did control of the media by the government. From the 1930s, it became increasingly difficult to publish material not deemed to contribute to the national interest (McLelland 2004: 5). It was not until the late 1940s that references to same-sex relationships began to re-appear in the press.
In the post-Second World War period, from the early 1950s on, the image of resubosu ai (Lesbos love) was circulated in a genre of popular sexology magazines known as hentai zasshi (perverse magazines). In the ‘perverse press’, reference was made to female same-sex desires and acts which centred on ‘categories derived from male same-sex paradigms by a professional body of male experts’ (McLelland 2004: 8). By the 1960s, terms such as resubian (most likely from the French lesbienne via literary translations [Curran and Welker 2005: 68]), and rezubian (from the English ‘lesbian’) were securely part of the vernacular. From the 1970s, the representation of lesbian images in popular magazines (Sugiura 2005: 1—12; 2006a; 2006b: 127—44) shifted considerably as new categories of female sexuality were imagined by outsiders. Rezubian (lesbian) had previously referred to cross-dressing female bartenders also known as onabe (stone butch) — a colloquial term for cross-dressing women. From the 1970s, the word rezubian described a new type of lesbian — ‘real’ women who did not cross-dress and who acted upon their ‘carnal desires’ towards other women (Sugiura 2006b: 133). Rezubians were portrayed in the press as a threat, capable of depriving men of potential partners. Paradoxically, great interest was focused on rezubian sexual techniques (Sugiura 2006b: 132—33). While lesbians referred to themselves as ‘rezubian’, they rejected the abbreviated form rezu (lezzie/lezzo) because this term was mainly used in pornographic genres addressing a largely male heterosexual viewership.
The early lesbian feminist movement of the 1970s sought to reclaim the word rezubian and reject its colonisation by heterosexist male desire. This movement strove to make visible the plight of same-sex attracted women both within a mainstream society which placed great cultural value on the notion of marriage and also within an emerging women’s movement with an unarguably heterosexist bias. Iino, who has re-read early lesbian mini-komi (short for mini komyunikeshon, or ‘mini communication’), argues that lesbian feminists not only focused on critiquing mainstream society, but also expressed anger towards a women’s liberation movement which denied lesbian experience (Iino 2004: 18—38; see also Mackie 1980: 107—8; Shigematsu in this volume).
In the 1990s, activists again sought to engage with the possibilities and limitations of terminology for female-female desire and relationships used both within the mainstream media and within the women’s movement. Activist and writer Kakefuda Hiroko addressed the issue of the politics of naming. In her monograph ‘Rezubian de aru’ to iu koto (On ‘being lesbian’), Kakefuda questioned what rezubian means, and how it is that one continues to be a lesbian (Kakefuda 1992). Kakefuda eventually positioned herself as ‘rezubian no hitotsu no genjitsu’ (one form of lesbian reality) (1992: 215). Writer and activist Izumo Marou, too, engaged with the positioning of female-same-sex relationships in relation to utopian sisterhood in Manaita no ue no koi (Love upon the chopping board), declaring that she would keep referring to herself as ‘gay woman, lesbian, dyke’ as the ‘mood and circumstance’ found her (Izumo 1993; Izumo and Maree 2000: 71).
Kuia (from the English ‘queer’) came into use in both community and academic forums from the mid-1990s. The borders and boundaries of terminology shifted once again with the increased visibility of transgender women in mini-komi and community activism, and with the passing of the Law Concerning the Special Treatment of the Gender of Individuals with Gender Identity Disorder (‘GID Act’) (enacted 2003; effective 2004, partially amended 2008; see Taniguchi 2013: 108—17). The law stipulates that individuals over 20 years of age, not currently married, who do not have children under the age of 20, and who have the genital appearance of the other sex, can legally alter their sex on official documents. Seid—itsusei shogai (the Japanese translation of gender identity disorder [GID]) became heavily used both in the press and by those who identified as GID. While the term LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) is found in the print, television and digital media, sekumai — an abbreviation of the transliteration of the term ‘sexual minority’ (sekushuaru mainoriti; also referred to as seiteki mainoriti) — is also widely used on the Internet and in social media. Bian (an abbreviation of rezubian) which entered the vernacular in the 1990s, is still used extensively to circumvent the pejorative connotations of rezu (lezzie/lezzo).
Given the historical movements in terminology, it is not surprising that a diverse vocabulary is employed to refer to the rich culture of same-sex female desires, identities and interconnecting communities in Japan.