Lecture
"Hontō no jibun": Crafting, Performing and Expressing Identity among Japanese Female-to-Male Crossdressers
- Marta Fanasca (University of Bologna/Hosei University)
- Date
- Thursday 17 October 2024
- Time
- Serie
- Leiden Lecture Series in Japanese Studies
- Address
-
Johan Huizinga
Doelensteeg 16
2311 VL Leiden - Room
- 0.06
Dansō is a Japanese term that literally means "male clothing" and is used to describe women who crossdress as men. Since 2014, I have been conducting an ethnographic study of a community of dansō working as escorts in Akihabara, Tokyo. I began working as a dansō escort myself to explore questions such as why dansō choose to crossdress, why they work as crossdressing escorts, and what kinds of relationships they form with their clients. In this talk, I will discuss the concept of crafting, performing, and expressing one's hontō no jibun – “true self” – within this FtM crossdresser community, drawing on insights from participant observation, interviews, and visual ethnography.
About the speaker
Marta Fanasca obtained her Ph.D in Japanese Studies at The University of Manchester in 2019 investigating the phenomenon of dansō (FtM crossdresser) escorts in contemporary Japan. After a Postdoc at the Higher School of Economics in St. Petersbyrg, she is currently a Marie Skłodowska Curie Global Fellow working on a project focused on commodification of intimacy and gender performativity, taking as case studies Japanese services providing emotional and/or sexual intimacy in a female/female context. Her articles have appeared in Asian Anthropology, Mechademia and Girlhood Studies and her first monograph, Female Masculinity and the Business of Emotions in Tokyo is published by Routledge.