Sex, Love and Feminism in the Asia Pacific
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Sex, Love and Feminism in the Asia Pacific Sex, love and feminism are three aspects of the changing gender relations that shape young people’s lives in the Asia Pacific region. With the global spread of capitalist production and neoliberal ideologies, the claim that the rest of the world’s women are treading the path to enlightenment and development forged by women in the west has been revived. This book explores that contention through a comparative analysis of the attitudes of young middle-class urbanites in ten countries: the USA, Australia, Canada, Japan, Thailand, South Korea, India, Indo- nesia, China and Vietnam. Drawing on detailed empirical research, the study de- scribes and compares attitudes towards the women’s movement, sexual relations and family arrangements in the countries considered. It explores young people’s image of feminists and what they feel the women’s movement has achieved for women and men in their country. The book discusses young people’s attitudes to controversial gender issues such as role reversal, sharing housework, abor- tion rights, same-sex sexual relations and pornography. Through a comparative analysis of the gender vocabularies by which young people understand gender issues, the book highlights the role of differences in history, culture, economics and political leadership. These influence attitudes to gender relations, the status of women and the political programs of the women’s movement in the different countries. Although there are striking parallels between countries and even across the whole sample, those similarities do not fall neatly into a simple dichotomy of the ‘west versus the rest’. Chilla Bulbeck was the Foundation Chair in Women’s Studies at the University of Adelaide and has taught at Beijing Foreign Studies University and Tokyo Uni- versity. Her research interests focus on gender and cultural difference, and her publications include One World Women’s Movement (1988), Australian Women in Papua New Guinea: Colonial Passages 1920–1960 (1992), Living Feminism: The Impact of the Women’s Movement on Three Generations of Australian Women (1997) and Re-Orienting Western Feminism: Women’s Diversity in a Postcolonial World (1998). Asian Studies Association of Australia Women in Asia Series Editor: Louise Edwards (Australian National University) Editorial Board: Susan Blackburn (Monash University) John Butcher (Griffith University) Vera Mackie (Melbourne University) Anne McLaren (Melbourne University) Mina Roces (University of New South Wales) Andrea Whittaker (Melbourne University) Mukkuvar Women Intimate Knowledge Gender, hegemony and capitalist Women and their health in north-east transformation in a South Indian Thailand fishing community Andrea Whittaker Kalpana Ram Women in Asia A World of Difference Tradition, modernity and globalisation Islam and gender hierarchy in Turkey Louise Edwards and Mina Roces (eds) Julie Marcus Violence against Women in Asian Purity and Communal Boundaries Societies Women and social change in a Gender inequality and technologies of Bangladeshi village violence Santi Rozario Lenore Manderson and Linda Rae Bennett (eds) Madonnas and Martyrs Militarism and violence in the Women’s Employment in Japan Philippines The experience of part-time workers Anne-Marie Hilsdon Kaye Broadbent Masters and Managers Chinese Women – Living and A study of gender relations in urban Working Java Anne McLaren (ed.) Norma Sullivan Abortion, Sin and the State in Matriliny and Modernity Thailand Sexual politics and social change in Andrea Whittaker rural Malaysia Maila Stivens Sexual Violence and the Law in Japan by Catherine Burns Women’s Movement in Postcolonial Women and Work in Indonesia Indonesia Michele Ford and Lyn Parker (eds) Gender and nation in a new democracy Gender, Islam and Democracy in by Elizabeth Martyn Indonesia Kathryn Robinson Women, Islam and Modernity Single women, sexuality and Sex, Love and Feminism in the Asia reproductive health in contemporary Pacific Indonesia A cross-cultural study of young Linda Rae Bennett people’s attitudes Chilla Bulbeck Women and Labour Organizing in Asia Diversity, autonomy and activism Kaye Broadbent and Michele Ford (eds) Sex, Love and Feminism in the Asia Pacific A cross-cultural study of young people’s attitudes Chilla Bulbeck First published 2009 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2009 Chilla Bulbeck All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Sex, love and feminism in the Asia Pacific : a cross-cultural study of young people’s attitudes / Chilla Bulbeck. p. cm.—(ASAA women in Asia series) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Youth—Attitudes—Asia. 2. YouthAttitudes—Pacific Area. 3. Youth— Cross-cultural studies. 4. Feminism. 5. Sex role. I. Title. HQ799.A75B85 2008 306.70835—dc22 2008018411 ISBN 0-203-88881-2 Master e-book ISBN ISBN10: 0–415–47006–4 (hbk) ISBN10: 0–203–88881–2 (ebk) ISBN13: 978–0-415–47006–4 (hbk) ISBN13: 978–0-203–88881–0 (ebk) For the young women and men who made this book possible, particularly those who will work for a shared future by finding meaning in many cultures. Contents List of figures xi List of tables xiii Acknowledgements xv Introduction: global narratives of Asia, feminism and youth 1 1 The national samples: background and methods 15 2 Variations on liberal feminism: USA, Australia, Canada, Japan, Thailand and South Korea 45 3 National development feminism: India, Indonesia, China and Vietnam 84 4 Homosexuality and pornography: the commodification of intimacy? 116 5 ‘Marriage shouldn’t be the end of life’: sharing the caring 154 Conclusion: globalizing discourses in the neoliberal age 188 Appendix 1: Characteristics of countries in the study 193 Appendix 2: The questionnaire 202 Appendix 3: Tables relating to research methods 209 Appendix 4: Figures and tables relating to feminist movement 216 Appendix 5: Figures and table relating to gender issues 222 References 226 Index 256 Figures 1.1 Individualized and interactional self 39 3.1 Percentage of respondents indicating involvement in various political activities in each national sample 113 4.1 Attitudes to homosexuality and pornography 133 4.2 Pornography and homosexuality responses, compared by sex 144 5.1 Sharing housework and role reversal: percentage agreeing or strongly agreeing, by national sample and sex 155 A4.1 ‘Men and women have equal opportunities’: percentage disagreeing, by national sample and sex 216 A4.2 ‘I would call myself a feminist’: percentage agreeing, by national sample and sex 216 A4.3 ‘The women’s movement has achieved good things for women of my country’: percentage agreeing, by national sample and sex 217 A4.4 ‘The women’s movement has achieved good things for men of my country’: percentage agreeing, by national sample and sex 217 A4.5 Major vocabularies used by female respondents to comment on feminist, women’s movement and gender equality questions 218 A4.6 Major vocabularies used by male respondents to comment on feminist, women’s movement and gender equality questions 219 A5.1 Percentage of respondents agreeing with changed gender relations proposal, by national sample 222 A5.2 Gay sexual relations: major vocabularies, by national sample 222 A5.3 Pornography: major vocabularies, by national sample 223 A5.4 Role reversal: major vocabularies, by national sample 223 A5.5 Sharing housework: major vocabularies, by national sample 223 A5.6 Abortion: major vocabularies, by national sample 224 Tables 1.1 Categories of affiliation in ‘I am’ statements, by gender and national sample 18 1.2 Summary of gender vocabularies 29 2.1 From ‘shame’ to ‘human rights’ in Japanese legislation in the 1990s 69 4.1 Family orientation versus sexual orientation, by national sample and gender 128 5.1 Legally acceptable reasons for an abortion, by country 178 A1.1 Country statistics and gender equity data 194 A1.2 Global gender gap 2006: rankings of countries in the study 197 A1.3 Educational and occupational statistics: country and survey data compared 198 A1.4 Family formation and fertility indicators for countries in the study 200 A3.1 Country and gender of respondents 210 A3.2 ‘Don’t know/no response’ and those who made comments, by country and question: feminism and women’s movement questions 212 A3.3 ‘Don’t know/no response’ and those who made comments, by country and question: gender issues questions 214 A4.1 Images of feminists 220 A4.2 Use of difference vocabulary in commenting on feminism, women’s movement and equality questions 220 A5.1 Respondents who accept individual choice in relation to gender issues despite their own disapproval, by country and gender 224 Acknowledgements My warm thanks go to the students, parents and teachers in the schools in Aus- tralia and overseas who supported this project through their participation. I thank the local researchers and supporters in the localities involved in this research: Dou Wei in Beijing; Lu Jingjing in Shanghai; Suryono Gentut in Yogyakara; Alok Ranjan Jha in Delhi; Parul Khampara in Mumbai; Phung Thu Thuy in Hanoi; Kumna Jung in Seoul; Sukanya Pornsopakul in Chiang Mai; Chonmasri Patch- arapimol in Bangkok; Mark Moritz in Los Angeles; Bayard Lyons in Portland; Mireille Huberdeau in Winnipeg.