Author Sonya Ryang in in Chapter Two, Sovereign and Love, in her novel, Love and Sex in Modern Japan, discusses the notorious Sada sex murder in juxtaposition with the infamous Rape of Nanjing. Abe Sada, a Japanese woman, came to notoriety in Prewar Japan when she murdered her lover, Kichizo Ishida and then cut off his genitalia and carried them around her purse. Sada and Ishida had a very physical relationship that experimented with masochism. The text describes that in their sexual life Soda would chock Ishida, and even use her Obe sash to cut off his breathing during organisms. She was madly and possessively in love with him. For the time period, her sexuality and gendered identity were not the norm since they did not follow with the patriarchal order of the sovereign’s divine rule. During prewar Japan passionate sex and relationship had been regimented and organized in order to produce soldiers for the state, and to declare dominance and hegemony over other societies. Love was not for erotic affairs of passionate love, but like everything else in Japan during that time period, was means for the emperor and Japan. Essentially during the time of the murder, Ryang contends that, “Sada, by committing herself to the personal cause of love, resisted the increasingly all-encompassing military ethos of the time.” In other words, Sada’s actions did not fit the message being propagated by the Japanese state. In general, woman during this time period in Japan either bore children (often assigned to bear the average of five children in order to meet the army’s needs for soldiers) or headed toward military comfort stations. Essentially, sovereignty to the Emperor and the institutionalizing of sex took place and sex based on passionate love...
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...condly, I would like to question, how would society have reacted if Ishida killed Abe out of said “passionate love” and carried around her genitalia. I think that society on whole would have reacted much differently and shows that gender often plays a role in how we view things. Lastly, I felt that Sonya Ryang stereotyped all Japanese women in Prewar Japan, with exclusion to Sada, as not having passionate romances. Surely there were other women who had passionate erotic love with their partners, and didn’t kill them when they feared they would leave them. Generally speaking many women who were devoted entirely towards the state, but surely not all Japanese women fit into these roles and stereotypes. The fact that Sada was different from the norm, does not excuse the actions that she committed. And therefore, should not in any means be used as an example for society.
Isolation is similar to a puddle of water – it is seemingly dull and colorless, but all it takes is for one drop of paint to change the entire picture. The novel cc is about a ailing Chinese boy named Stephen who goes through the same cycle. Stephen moves to a Japanese village during a time of war between Japan and China to recover from his disease. By forming bonds with several locales and listening to their stories, he quickly matures into a young adult. Throughout the novel, Gail Tsukiyama shows how disease forces Stephen into isolation; however, his relationship with Sachi and his time spent in Matsu’s garden lead him out of solitude.
Wendy Doniger and Sudir Kakar call the sexually violent Kama Sutra ‘bright and shiny,’ but when people hear the words ‘bright and shiny’ sexual violence is not usually paired together with those terms. This idea of ‘bright and shiny’ contrasts the idea of intercourse being ‘dark and heavy.’ Sexual violence can be relatively cheerful though it lacks emotional eroticism. Emotional eroticism is not so constrained and is more focused around the idea of love. The violence used during intercourse helps one to obtain continuity through physical eroticism. Bataille said, “Physical eroticism has in any case a heavy, sinister quality. It holds on to the separateness of the individual in a rather selfish and cynical
Sharon Olds was born in 1942 in San Francisco. After graduating from Stanford she moved east to earn a Ph.D. in English from Columbia University. Olds describes the completion of her doctorate as a transitional moment in her life: standing on the steps of the library at Columbia University, she vowed to become a poet, even if it meant giving up everything she had learned. The vow she made--to write her own poetry, no matter how bad it might be--freed her to develop her own voice. Olds has published eight volumes of poetry, includes The Dead and the Living (1984), The Wellspring (1996), The Gold Cell, (1987) etc. As in her earlier works, she has been praised for the courage and emotional power of her work which continues to witness pain, love, desire, and grief with persistent courage. "Sex Without Love," by Sharon Olds passionately describes the author's disgust for casual sex and her attitude toward loveless sex as a cold and harmful act. She brilliantly uses various poetic techniques to animate the immortality of loveless sex through her words and her great description evoke clear image in the reader mind.
In the novel Segu, Maryse Conde beautifully constructs personal and in depth images of African history through the use of four main characters that depict the struggles and importance of family in what is now present day Mali. These four characters and also brothers, by the names of Tiekoro, Siga, Naba, and Malobali are faced with a world changing around their beloved city of Bambara with new customs of the Islamic religion and the developing ideas of European commerce and slave trade. These new expansions in Africa become stepping stones for the Troare brothers to face head on and they have brought both victory and heartache for them and their family. These four characters are centralized throughout this novel because they provide the reader with an inside account of what life is like during a time where traditional Africa begins to change due to the forceful injection of conquering settlers and religions. This creates a split between family members, a mixing of cultures, and the loss of one’s traditions in the Bambara society which is a reflection of the (WHAT ARE SOME CHANGES) changes that occur in societies across the world.
Inside Toyland, written by Christine L. Williams, is a look into toy stores and the race, class, and gender issues. Williams worked about six weeks at two toy stores, Diamond Toys and Toy Warehouse, long enough to be able to detect patterns in store operations and the interactions between the workers and the costumers. She wanted to attempt to describe and analyze the rules that govern giant toy stores. Her main goal was to understand how shopping was socially organized and how it might be transformed to enhance the lives of workers. During the twentieth century, toy stores became bigger and helped suburbanization and deregulation. Specialty toy stores existed but sold mainly to adults, not to children. Men used to be the workers at toy stores until it changed and became feminized, racially mixed, part time, and temporary. As box stores came and conquered the land, toy stores started catering to children and offering larger selections at low prices. The box stores became powerful in the flip-flop of the power going from manufacturers to the retailers. Now, the retail giants determine what they will sell and at what price they will sell it.
While years pass by and the times change, history, nevertheless unimportant, is continually being made. The more important events are recovered and documented, and artifacts from the time span are conserved. These kinds of incidents, deserving of occupying space in textbooks and in valuable time throughout history courses around the globe, are reviewed time and time again, with the purpose that these kinds of occurrences should never be ignored as well as decades to come, may have a window into the past. However, it appears as though a few incidents are outlined and glorified, forcing some others under the rug, to be long forgotten, while the periods of time change. The Rape of Nanking is certainly one such type of situation. Even though discussed in books and courses, the Rape of Nanking is briefly reviewed as well as ignored, making those curious, with an imperfect understanding on the forgotten Holocaust of World War I. Iris Chang’s raid into China in December of 1937, reveals a ruthless massacre which years afterwards has developed high essential questions not just concerning imperial Japanese militarism but yet the psychology of killers, torturers, and rapists.
In the 20th century, perceptions of rape in war have moved from something that is
Part one, “The Framework of Violence against Women,” sets the blueprint for what drives individuals, particularly men, to act on their impulses of violence triggered by an underlying fear or loathing, especially those instances of sexual depravity. Sex is comparable to power, creating power over others and thus creating a sense of power within. Violence is introduced at an early age, found in children’s cartoons, television shows, and popular video games. Society has become numb to the objectification of women to the point that violence has become accepted, and the behaviors are not only justified by the oppressor, but also believed by
Saikaku, Ihara. Life of a Sensuous Woman. The Longman Anthology of World Literature. (Vol. D) Ed. Damrosch. New York: Pearson, 2004. 604-621. [Excerpt.]
Like walking through a barren street in a crumbling ghost town, isolation can feel melancholy and hopeless. Yet, all it takes is an ordinary flower bud amidst the desolation to show life really can exist anywhere. This is similar to Stephen’s journey in The Samurai’s Garden. This novel is about an ailing Chinese boy named Stephen who goes to a Japanese village during a time of war between Japan and China to recover from his disease. By forming bonds with several locals and listening to their stories, he quickly matures into a young adult. Throughout the novel, Gail Tsukiyama shows how disease forces Stephen into isolation; however, Matsu’s garden and Sachi lead him out of solitude.
While it was not fully understood by western practitioners, it was apparent that the Chinese of the Qing dynasty preformed the ritual of emasculation on eunuchs to protect the ‘honor’ of women within the imperial palace. It was thought that by removing the male’s genitals, he would no longer have sexual longing, nor would his judgment be clouded with sexual desires and disillusions. This is turn would keep the eunuchs from lusting after the many wives and concubines of the emperor who sfilled the walls of the Forbidden City.
Common sense seems to dictate that commercials just advertise products. But in reality, advertising is a multi-headed beast that targets specific genders, races, ages, etc. In “Men’s Men & Women’s Women”, author Steve Craig focuses on one head of the beast: gender. Craig suggests that, “Advertisers . . . portray different images to men and women in order to exploit the different deep seated motivations and anxieties connected to gender identity.” In other words, advertisers manipulate consumers’ fantasies to sell their product. In this essay, I will be analyzing four different commercials that focuses on appealing to specific genders.
Feminism is a word that is stock-full of implications, and has many misconceptions. Full Frontal Feminism by Jessica Valenti attempts to give a broad overview of what feminism is, and how you should feel about it (hint: it’s positively). The book is directed primarily towards the younger generation, and talks about a variety of issues relevant to the feminist movement today and in history. The weaknesses of the book include the casual writing, the assumptions Valenti makes, and the contradictory statements that are consistently made. The strengths include providing an entertaining, broad overview of feminism, and discussing ways to contribute to gender equality. Overall, the book is more likely to be a positive experience for high-schoolers that identify as women then college-aged individuals looking for a critical analysis of issues society faces in regards to gender inequality.
The Japanese medieval age consists of the Kamakura and Muromachi periods (from approximately 1185 to 1600). During this time, the political power was switching from the imperial family to a militaristic government. In addition, civil wars (from 1156 to 1568) were increasing throughout Japan. This change of centrality in society’s focus from court to warriors shifted the perception and style of Japanese literature.
Putting aside the political undertones of the novel, I can draw a dangerous parallel between Candide's society and our world today. In Candide's world, men behaved as complete barbarians, constantly raping women, and often without any legal or moral consequence. In contrast, rape is today regarded as a serious offense against humanity and offenders are usually subject to harsh reprimand. However, aside from the physical act of rape, much of our male population still exhibits the same type of barbaric behavior. We make condescending remarks about women and treat them as objects of our lust. To satisfy these needs, we often resort to the plethora of materials which our readily at our disposal.