Gender in Japan

In this course we will examine changing ideas about gender and sexuality in Japan in the tenth through twentieth centuries, with special attention to the modern period. Sources will include literary texts, films, and social/historical studies. We will discuss topics, including women's writing in classical Japan; the commercialization of sexuality in the eighteenth century; ideas of "homosexuality" in late-medieval and modern times; and women's social roles and political struggles in the twentieth century. 3 hr. lect./disc.