Critical Studies in Media Communication Vol. 28, No. 3, August 2011, pp. 213 229
Cross-cultural Cross-dressing: Japanese Graphic Novels Perform Gender in U.S. Sarah Kornfield
Cross-dressing, a comedic staple in Western entertainment, usually transgresses and then reasserts gender norms, offering audiences an escapist fantasy that resolves into a happy affirmation of current social norms. However, a newly popular genre of girls’ comics features cross-dressing protagonists who push the boundaries of traditional cross-dressing comedy. Moving beyond short-lived cross-dressing escapades, these new protagonists occupy the pages of Japanese graphic novels known as Gender Benders and conscientiously negotiate gender identities and norms*literally bending gender as a category. This genre is marketed exclusively to girls and young women who have formed fan subcultures. Exploring these narratives and their representations of gender, cross- dressing, and sexuality, I analyze this Gender Bender genre and its cultural histories and influences, arguing that cultural entertainment hybridity, while risking cultural fetishism, can positively influence gender conceptualizations by revealing gender as a performance.
Keywords: Cross-dressing; Gender; Manga; Intercultural entertainment; subculture
Comic books and graphic novels have a long history in U.S. society of hyper- masculine superheroes and docile yet sensual damsels. Understood primarily as a male genre, these ubiquitous images have been notably studied (Lovell, 2002; Goulart, 2000; Trushell, 2004; Wright, 2001), but now a new generation of graphic novels has entered U.S. society: sho¯jo manga*Japanese graphic novels written by women, for women, and featuring relatively empowered heroines (Napier 2005, p. 150; Schodt 1996, p. 155). Sho¯jo manga has a large and popular subgenre known as Gender Benders that feature cross-dressing protagonists who push the boundaries of U.S. gender norms. Cross-dressing has been a comedic staple in
Sarah Kornfield is a Ph.D. candidate in Communication Arts and Sciences at the Pennsylvania State University. The author would like to thank Dr. Srividya Ramasubramanian, who influenced this research in its early stage as a thesis during the author’s Masters at Texas A&M University. The author would also like to thank Dr. Rosa Eberly for her comments and assistance. Correspondence to: Sarah Kornfield, Communication Arts & Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, 234 Sparks Building, University Park PA 16802, USA. Email: [email protected]
ISSN 1529-5036 (print)/ISSN 1479-5809 (online) # 2011 National Communication Association DOI: 10.1080/15295036.2011.553725 214 S. Kornfield U.S. entertainment, ranging from Some Like it Hot (Wilder, 1959), to Tootsie (Pollack, 1982), to Mrs. Doubtfire (Columbus, 1993), to Mulan (Bancroft, 1998) and White Chicks (Wayans, 2004).1 These U.S. cross-dressing performances usually transgress and then reassert gender boundaries and norms, offering audiences an escapist fantasy that resolves into a happy affirmation of current social norms (Pittman, 2008; Heilmann, 2000; Inness, 1995; Ortaga, 1998). However, moving beyond the short-lived cross-dressing escapades that border on comedic drag performances, Gender Bender protagonists enact long-term cross-dressed perfor- mances. The narrative structure implemented throughout the Gender Bender genre negotiates gendered identities as the characters undermine gender norms through their sustained practices of gender transgression and their dialogue concerning gendered identities. The term ‘‘Gender Bender’’ refers to either a cross-dressing character within a series or, if that character is the protagonist, the entire series. As such, Gender Benders comprise a large subgenre of sho¯jo (girls’) manga with over 600 series categorized as Gender Benders currently available in the U.S. (Genre, 2010). Gender Benders share much in common with another subgenre of sho¯jo manga known as Boys’ Love (McLelland, 2000a). The Boys’ Love genre*marketed to girls*features male male romances where the male protagonists embody ‘‘the most attractive features of female gender, while [being] able to move through the world unencumbered by the burdens of female sex’’ (McLelland, 2000a, pp. 24 25). However, while Boys’ Love deals explicitly with themes of homosexuality, Gender Benders center on narratives of cross-dressing, drag, and passing as the characters perform different gender iterations. Understanding that gender is a performance and that sex itself is gendered (Butler, 1990; Sloop, 2004), this analysis focuses on Gender Bender narratives in order to explore the construction and layering of sex and gendered identities. Gender Benders are created in Japan for Japanese readers, and then exported and translated for U.S. readers; as such, the cultural slippage for U.S. readers creates a space where gender-as- a-construct is more apparent than in mainstream U.S. entertainment. The argument here is that because they originate in a different culture, Gender Benders approach cross-dressing and gender identities differently than mainstream U.S. entertainment. These different narratives, replete with their own possibilities for equality and their own systems of repression, help unveil the construction of U.S. gender identities and reveal that sex and gender are not static across different cultures. To develop this argument, I first briefly describe three Gender Bender narratives, Hana-Kimi, W Juliet, and Ouran High School Host Club. Then, using feminist interpretations of gender as performance, I explore historic instances of gender bending in popular Japanese and then U.S. entertainment. Finally, a close textual analysis of the Gender Bender genre reveals how it mobilizes these culturally gendered identities. This analysis then suggests that culturally hybrid entertainment, while risking neocolo- nialism and fetishism in fan-groups, can positively influence gender conceptualiza- tions by revealing their performativity. Cross-cultural Cross-dressing 215 Brief Summary of Texts Japanese and American graphic novels have a reciprocally stimulating relationship. Each nation developed its own comic tradition, which then impacted the other at crucial moments of cultural, artistic, and technological development. Just as American G.I.s introduced Superhero comics to Japan during the occupation (Goulart, 2000, p. 43; Patten, 2004, p. 234), Japanese animation has been imported since the 1960s, when Astro Boy, a series starring a boy robot, first appeared in the U.S. on the NBC network. Since then, Japanese animation has found a growing U.S. audience. These fans maintain strict terminological distinctions reproduced here in the name of clarity: Comics are U.S. graphic novels. Manga are Japanese graphic novels, usually printed in black and white, serialized in magazines, and republished in paperback novel collections; manga’s artistic style, unlike comics, usually utilizes cinematic devices and favors cleaner lines and less dialogue (Nygren, 2007, p. 239; Schodt, 1996, p. 22 28). Moreover, manga (originally published in Japanese) is translated to English for U.S. publication, but maintains its ‘‘Japanese Layout’’: readers begin at the ‘‘back’’ of the book, reading the dialogue bubbles sequentially right to left, and ending at the ‘‘front’’ of the book. Anime are Japanese animated television shows, which are usually animations of manga series following the manga artistic style but in color and typically running 26 episodes a season. Manga/anime has a wide range of genres; however, most manga/anime is broadly categorized as sho¯jo (manga for girls) or shonen (manga for boys), and the industry maintains a basic divide2 between what it markets to males and females (Napier, 2005, p. 19; Schodt, 1996, p. 95). Gender Benders, as a subset of sho¯jo (girls’ manga), are exclusively marketed to a female audience. Since the leading publishing houses for Gender Bender manga, Viz Media and Tokyopop, do not release their publication or sales figures, I chose to analyze Hana- Kimi, W Juliet, and Ouran High School Host Club on the basis of three criteria. First, industry success: all three series progressed from being released as chapters in sho¯jo manga magazines to being serialized into books, Hana-Kimi was further released as a live-action television series, and Ouran was released as anime. Second, current popularity among fans: these series featured prominently on message board forums such as OneManga.com as fans discussed their favorite Gender Benders. And third, cross-referencing: fans recommended these series to each other on message boards and posted threads discussing and comparing these series; additionally, Hana-Kimi and W Juliet advertise for each other with inserts at the end of several books.3 A brief summary of these storylines is necessary to provide a general understanding of these series before exploring their gender iterations. In Hana-Kimi, the protagonist, Mizuki, cross-dresses to attend an all-boys’ school so she can watch her athletic idol, Sano, perform the high-jump. In this narrative, Mizuki and Sano room together at their boarding school and develop a deep friendship teetering towards romance, as Sano (unbeknownst to Mizuki) discovers her female sex in the first book of this 23-book series. 216 S. Kornfield In W Juliet, the boy, Makoto, does the official cross-dressing, pretending to be a girl for the last two years of high school on a challenge issued by his father: if he can successfully cross-dress for two years he earns the right to pursue his own career choice*acting. Meanwhile, the female protagonist, Ito, acts and dresses boyishly enough to be mistaken for a boy by nearly everyone in the series. The two protagonists quickly learn each others’ biological sex and develop a secret romantic relationship. This 14-book series quickly establishes their mutual attraction and then focuses on their enduring relationship*which culminates in marriage*against the background of career choices, familial drama, and romantic rivals. In the final series, Ouran High School Host Club, the protagonist, Haruhi, is the poorest girl at an elite high school. She considers herself androgynous and is originally mistaken as male by the other characters. When she breaks an expensive vase, she becomes enslaved to the all-male Host Club*a club that provides dating services for the female students. Only after forcing her to join the club and be a (male) host does the Host Club realize she is female. Several (possibly all) of her co- hosts develop romantic feelings for Haruhi, and she is eventually paired with Tamaki, the Host Club president. Currently, 13 books have been released in the U.S. and the series is continuing, although a complete anime version of this series (subtitled by fans) has been widely available through online venues and in April, 2009, Funimation Entertainment released a licensed version, with an English translation and official subtitles, as a DVD box-set (Funimation Entertainment, 2010).
Gender as Performance Entertainment often represents gender as ‘‘binary roles and behaviors which ultimately constitute the very notions of male and female, masculinity and femininity,’’ operating to naturalize gender by presenting it as biological and predetermined instead of a culturally constructed, external performance (Sloop, 2004, p. 2). However, a gender bending performance, much like queer performances, acknowledges its performativity and strategically manipulates cultural codes to transgress gender norms and explore alternative gender identities. The Gender Bender genre utilizes cross-dressing, drag, and passing to demonstrate the ‘‘dramatic and contingent construction of [gender]’’ (Butler, 1990, p. 139), or more simply put, that ‘‘gender is what we do rather than what we are’’ (Sloop, 2004, p. 6). Gender Bender manga often portray homosexual romance: since either the hero or the heroine is cross-dressing, they both appear to be the same gender, thus enacting a homosexual relationship*although both main characters are ‘‘in the know’’ about the other’s biological sex. Here, a heterosexual couple simulates a homosexual relationship. Alternatively, side characters (unaware that the protagonists are passing) believe they are experiencing a heterosexual attraction, but are in a biologically homosexual relationship. Gender Bender manga stem from popular gender bending traditions in Japanese entertainment*where a confluence of cross-dressing, drag, passing, and homosexuality find artistic expression. Cross-cultural Cross-dressing 217 Gender Bending and Japanese Entertainment Japanese history from the 1600s to World War II can be broadly categorized into three periods: the Edo Period from 1600 1868, the Meiji period from 1868 1912, and then the first half of the twentieth century. In the Edo Period, male male sexuality was known as shudo¯ (the way of youths) and existed as a regular, socially acceptable sexual behavior.4 As such, shudo¯, governed by a strict etiquette, permeated all levels of Japanese society during the Edo Period, and is notably documented in the Buddhist priesthood, apprenticeships or servant/master relationships, samurai relations, and the theater/entertainment sphere (McLelland, 2000b, pp. 21 23). Gender bending in Japanese entertainment is historically linked to Kabuki Theater. Kabuki Theater began during the Edo Period in 1603, with an all-female dancing troupe who performed sumptuously costumed (and occasionally cross-dressed), highly stylized plays. By 1617, Kabuki had migrated to the brothels, where ‘‘courtesans in male disguise danced to the music’’ and attracted large crowds (Takakuwa, 1998, p. 200). However, the shogunate, believing women’s performances to be at odds with Confucian ethics, banned Women’s Kabuki and Women’s Dancing in 1629, forbidding women to perform. Men’s Kabuki quickly succeeded it, emphasizing the dramatic elements, although stylized dance remains important in Kabuki Theater to this day. As all-male acting troupes, some men cross-dress to perform female characters in the plays. These men make a complete career of female impersonation, and are termed onnagata*a man who plays women’s roles (Takakuwa, 1998, p. 200). Thus,
In the Japanese Kabuki Theater, woman has been impersonated by the actor called onnagata for more than 300 years. Beyond the footlights*the onnagata’s male body*the audience finds a beautiful illusory woman who is often said to be more feminine than real women. The onnagata does not try to imitate or re-present a ‘‘real’’ woman, but he becomes the onnagata through the stylization of femininity, by representing the meaning of femininity. (Takakuwa, 1998, p. 202)
Hence, in Kabuki Theater, what began as a female art where women performed masculinity became a masculine art form where select men create femininity. This trend is preserved in Gender Bender manga, where female cross-dressers are successful but often understood as effeminate-men, while male cross-dressers are often considered the very epitome of femininity (Nakajo vol. 3, p. 31). Due to increased exposure to outside (Western) powers and resultant internal governmental restructuring during the Meiji Period, Japan began ‘‘hurtling toward industrialization, militarism, and colonialism*meeting contemporary requirements of a modern state’’ (Thornton, 2008, p. 14). In keeping with the general theme of ‘‘civilizing’’ according to Western standards that marks the Meiji Period, sexual discourse was folded into medical discourse and both sodomy and ‘‘youthful sexuality’’ in general became issues for ‘‘medical investigation and intervention,’’ and the government temporarily criminalized male male anal intercourse (McLelland, 2000b, pp. 26 27). 218 S. Kornfield As heterosexuality became more compulsorily from the Meiji Period forward, gender bending increasingly moved into the entertainment sphere. Male gender bending already had ties to the entertainment sphere through Kabuki Theater and prostitution (kagema were transgendered prostitutes). However, ‘‘both onnagata and kagema were understood to have become transgendered for professional purposes* that is, to earn a living ... their transgender performance said nothing about their own sexual preferences’’ (McLelland, 2005, p. 16 17). After the public renunciation of male male sexuality in the Meiji Period, public discourse during the first half of the twentieth century began to shift, recognizing ‘‘same-sex-love’’ (homosexuality) as a sexual identity (McLelland, 2000b). However, homosexuality was (and to a lesser extent, remains) a marginalized sexuality (McLelland, 2000b). Gender-bending performances continue in Japan’s entertainment scene as men, and women to a lesser extent, work as transgendered hosts, not necessarily in explicitly sexualized environments (McLelland, 2005, p. 193). Moreover, all-female casts have popularly returned to the stage with the Takarazuka Revue Company*a dance and theater troupe that began in 1913 featuring ‘‘an all-female cast playing both male and female roles’’ and now has over 300 performers and a large, dedicated, female fan-base (Nakamura & Matsuo, 2002, p. 61; Robertson, 1998). Gender Bender manga recognizes its continuity with gender-bending performances throughout Japanese history. For example: in Hana-Kimi, the all-boys’ school cross- dresses for fundraisers in which they act as transgendered hosts; in W Juliet most of the narrative takes place within the theater where gender bending has been a staple throughout Japanese history; and in Ouran High School Host Club, not only is Haruhi a (secretly) transgendered host, but the Host Club itself often cross-dresses for historically themed parties, and the Takarazuka Revue is openly parodied: the ‘‘Zuka’’ Club, an all-female theater and host club that caters to female students, rivals the Ouran Host Club for popularity and attempts to recruit Haruhi. As such, Gender Bender manga is best understood in relation to its historic context: Gender Bender manga originates in a culture in which gender bending was a popular staple of entertainment in both high-culture venues such as Kabuki Theater and in the brothels. Moreover, roles such as onnagata suggest that gender can be performed* that femininity was stylized, and could, therefore, be performed by an onnagata*a concept the Takarazuka Revue is now applying to masculinity.
Gender Bending in U.S. Entertainment Although homosexuality, transgenderism, and gender bending have an important history in the U.S.’s lived history, since this analysis is concerned with how Japanese Gender Bender manga are received in U.S. culture, I will focus on U.S. entertainment that informs their reception among girl audiences. Gender bending in U.S. entertainment owes much to the broad history of Western mythology and literature. For example, Teiresias, the blind prophet of Greek Tragedy, offers an early account of gender bending as Teiresias is transformed into a woman as a punishment, and transformed back into a man as a reward, portraying femininity as inherently less Cross-cultural Cross-dressing 219 desirable than masculinity (Graves, 1955). Also, Shakespearian comedies provide a basic template for U.S. gender-bending stories: women cross-dress in order to achieve something only men can safely do, fall in love, experience some punishment when revealed as female, and finally get married (Howard, 1988). These gender-bending trends are important, not because U.S. girls are familiar with the Teiresias myth or Shakespearian comedies, but because these narratives inform how gender bending is continually represented even in modern U.S. narratives, with which girls are familiar. Disney’s Mulan is a U.S. gender bender widely popular with girl audiences. At the beginning of this story, Mulan is an unsuccessful girl*failing to embody female gender norms and secure a good marriage. She runs away, cross-dresses, and joins the army where her early attempts at masculinity are comedic, and, although she successfully passes for a time, her performance is always troubled*a situation complicated by her falling in love with Li Shang, the captain. When Mulan is bodily revealed to be female, she narrowly escapes execution and is instead socially ostracized and exiled. She then uncovers a plot to assassinate the Emperor, slowly gains back her troops’ confidence, saves the day, and is romantically paired with Li Shang. Another key gender-bending text among U.S. girl audiences is She’s the Man (Fickman, 2006), which stars Amanda Bynes and received the Teen Choice Award for Choice Comedy in 2006 (Teen Choice, 2006). This movie is a soccer-themed remake of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night: Viola’s high school soccer team gets cut and she cross- dresses and joins the boys’ soccer team at the rival boarding school. Again, in a narrative that presumes a heteronormative context, her early attempts at masculinity are comedic and her cross-dressing is complicated by falling in love with her roommate, Duke. Finally revealed as female, Viola is rejected by Duke, socially ostracized, and forced to leave the soccer team. A happy ending is tagged onto this story when Duke decides that he misses his roommate, they attend her debutante ball as a couple, and she is readmitted to Duke’s soccer team. These storylines maintain basic patriarchal structures as women cross-dress in order to gain access to masculine power, reestablishing the basic hierarchy in which masculinity is privileged and femininity is an unwanted gender and a disempowered class. Although both of these modern narratives culminate in a heavy-handed attempt at gender equality, they continue to promote Western gender-bending themes prevalent since Greek mythology: (1) women cross-dress in order to achieve masculine power; (2) audiences always know who is biologically female and who is male; (3) women always return to their natural ‘‘femininity’’ after achieving their goals through masculinity; (4) heterosexual romances are predominantly featured; and (5) women experience some form of punishment for having passed as a man. These five recurrent themes in U.S. gender-bending narratives represent cross- dressing and gender negotiation within a context of comedy, limitation, punishment, and a reestablishment of gender norms. Gender bending has a complicated history in both Japan and U.S. entertainment as instances of cross-dressing, drag, and passing conflate and overlap with each other, and with instances of homosexuality and sexual attraction. Both this Japanese history 220 S. Kornfield and these Western gender-bending texts form the context for Gender Bender manga and influence their reception with U.S. audiences.
Analysis of Gender Benders Broadly speaking, Hana-Kimi, W Juliet, and Ouran High School Host Club present empowered, dynamic heroines who develop fairly equitable friendships and romances with male characters. The heroines are physically, intellectually, and emotionally empowered throughout these narratives, and the characters develop healthy friend- ships and romances. In all, these texts generally offer imperfect attempts at equality and mutual support. By closely analyzing these narratives, I demonstrate how the Gender Bender genre manipulates cultural codes and pushes the boundaries of U.S. gender norms. As part of the same genre, Hana-Kimi, W Juliet, and Ouran all feature the same prominent narrative devices, sharing similar storylines, character types, and settings. Exploring first, the way cross-dressing is framed in these stories and second, the relationships the cross-dressed protagonists develop in these narratives provides a better understanding of how this genre implements rhetorical devices to explore and transgress gender norms.
Instances of Cross-Dressing In these series, the primary cross-dressing is always exteriorly motivated. This means that they cross-dress not because they feel drawn to transgenderism but because cross-dressing is the most practical way to achieve something else: Mizuki cross- dresses so that she can attend an all-boys’ school and watch Sano, her athletic idol, perform the high-jump; Makoto cross-dresses in order to earn the right to pursue an acting career; and Haruhi is forced to cross-dress by the Host Club in order to pay off a debt she accrued by breaking a valuable vase. This rhetorical device*utilitarian cross-dressing*allows the authors to redefine gender roles, by constructing girls who can perform masculinity and boys who can perform femininity, without actually challenging traditional gender identities. The male and female genders remain unchallenged*the primary cross-dressers do not actually want to be the other gender, nor are they questioning their own gender identity or sexuality. Instead, these characters engage in utilitarian cross-dressing, which allows the authors to explore gender roles and create new gendered possibilities without critiquing established social conventions. Throughout this genre, cross-dressing protagonists successfully pass and experi- ence life as the other gender. This challenges U.S. cultural assumptions that gender is natural and predetermined by biology, suggesting instead that females can be masculine and males can be feminine*revealing that these are socially constructed categories, not physiological states. However, by gently approaching this topic by featuring utilitarian cross-dressers, these texts can explore possibilities without directly challenging gender categories. Cross-cultural Cross-dressing 221 All three series portray utilitarian cross-dressing, but the approach is nuanced, creating differences in the narratives that affect how the story constructs gender roles and norms. In Hana-Kimi, cross-dressing is primarily approached as a costume* something to put on and take off that is unrelated to the actual self. Mizuki never wants to act like a boy, she is relatively bad at cross-dressing, and her femininity is constantly emphasized to the reader. Hana-Kimi rhetorically situates cross-dressing as something humorous, useful, and completely unrelated to one’s gender and personality. In W Juliet, cross-dressing is a means to an end*and the end is always in sight. Throughout the entirety of W Juliet, Ito and Makoto are waiting for the two years of high school to end so that Makoto can live as a boy again*and marry Ito. This emphasis on the end is unique to W Juliet:inHana-Kimi, Mizuki rarely considers graduating from high school or leaving Sano, and in Ouran, the seasons and years pass without the seniors graduating or discussing the end of high school and cross- dressing. Only in W Juliet*where the boy primarily cross-dresses*does the end feature so prominently. W Juliet rhetorically situates Makoto’s cross-dressing as a means to an end: a constraining, unwanted, temporary imposition. However, Ito also cross-dresses in W Juliet and her performance creates a space for personal expression regardless of traditional gender norms. Ito feels more comfortable in the male school uniforms, choosing to wear them instead of the female uniform, and prefers traditionally masculine activities and male roles in the theater. Dressing and behaving as she likes, most characters (including Makoto) originally assume she is male, and she appears male to the reader as well in the first chapter. Importantly, Ito is not a utilitarian cross-dresser. Rather, Ito is expressing her personality*and her performance models a freedom of expression, bending gender into her character instead of trying to fit herself into a binary of gender categories. In Ouran, Haruhi personally feels androgynous, stating, ‘‘[I] can’t say that I fully appreciate the perceived differences between the sexes anyway’’ (Hatori, vol. 1) to explain why she typically dresses in men’s clothing and decided not to tell the Host Club she was female when they first insisted she become a (male) host. At the beginning of Ouran, Haruhi (like Ito in W Juliet) is not a utilitarian cross-dresser, but simply expressing her personality and she originally appears to other characters (and readers) as male. However, once the Host Club forces her to become a (male) host, Haruhi begins utilitarian cross-dressing*pretending to be male in order to pay off her debt. Once aware of her ‘‘true sex,’’ the Host Club forces her to cross-dress in public, but spends the entirety of their private time attempting to feminize her. Both the Host Club and her bisexual father constantly try to put her in dresses, bikinis, and long-haired wigs*feminine clothing she constantly and emphatically resists. Finding her deviantly masculine, the Host Club relentlessly attempts to force her to conform with traditionally feminine norms. For example, in the third volume, they find her bravery disconcerting and begin one of their many ‘‘games,’’ otherwise entitled ‘‘hot blooded battle of men’’ this one to ‘‘find Haruhi’s weakness’’ (Hatori, vol. 3). They subject her to numerous tests (bugs, snakes, caves, etc.), relentlessly searching for her weakness until Tamaki discovers her fear of thunderstorms. Ouran rhetorically 222 S. Kornfield situates cross-dressing as a natural extension of Haruhi’s androgynous personality, but then reinscribes cross-dressing within utilitarian goals. Through these different approaches to cross-dressing, these narratives vary in the way they create and present gender. In Hana-Kimi, one’s biological sex is the determining factor in gender identity*Mizuki is a girl and nothing, not even her successful two-year cross-dressing experience, can suggest that gender is more complex than biology. While this series has the strongest sex/gender ties, as demonstrated later, it has, paradoxically, the most flexible and loosely enforced gender norms. In W Juliet, the situation is more involved, since Ito’s natural state is sufficiently masculine to be mistaken as male, and Makoto’s cross-dressing is so flawless he sets the standards for femininity at the school (Emura, vol. 1, p. 52). However, Makoto’s obvious dislike for cross-dressing and the narrative emphasis on the end of his transgendered persona undermines the suggestion that gender roles are social constructions that either sex can fill. And Ouran presents the most obvious attempt at the negation of gender roles and an internal backlash that reasserts them: as Haruhi asserts herself as an individual completely unconcerned with socially constructed gender roles, her supporting characters match her with a complete obsession with gender roles and fitting Haruhi into proper femininity.
Romantic Relationships: Love, Rivals, Rape, and Homosexuality Gender Benders recurrently feature romantic interests who know the cross-dressers’ ‘‘true’’ sexes. In all three of these series, the romantic interest discovers the biological sex of the cross-dresser by either feeling or seeing their physical bodies: Sano discovers Mizuki’s femininity (unbeknownst to her) after she faints, as he carries her to the doctor (Nakajo, vol. 1, p. 35); Makoto and Ito discover each other’s sexes, and Tamaki discovers Haruhi’s femininity when they walk in on each other while changing (Igarashi, 2006/2008; Emura, vol. 1, p. 9, 17). This firmly, and physically, establishes the heterosexuality of the romantic relationships. This rhetorical device removes any gendered ambiguity between the primary characters, undermining the texts’ ability to manipulate gender as a category*limiting their gender construction by underscoring the traditional genders through physical demarcations. Additionally, side characters respond to the cross-dressers as if unconsciously aware of their biological sex. All three series portray at least one prominent character who experiences a deep attraction to the cross-dressed protagonist. However, failing to ‘‘see through’’ the ‘‘disguise,’’ these characters believe they are experiencing a homosexual attraction while they respond to the ‘‘inherent’’ femininity or masculinity of the cross-dresser. Despite experiencing a homosexual attraction, these characters are adamantly described as ‘‘not gay.’’ For example: in Hana-Kimi, a boy named Nakatsu is a main character who never questions Mizuki’s supposed masculinity, but finds himself innately attracted to her. At first confused by this new homosexual attraction, Nakatsu eventually accepts his attraction to and love for another boy. However, the story frames Nakatsu as straight, explaining that Nakatsu is simply ‘‘reacting to the ‘femininity’ that [Mizuki] can’t hide’’ (Nakajo, vol. 6, Cross-cultural Cross-dressing 223 p. 148). Here, Gender Bender manga constructs a ‘‘true (bio)gender.’’ Despite constant gender bending throughout these stories, each series stipulates that the protagonists have a ‘‘true gender’’ and that their true gender matches their biology (sex). In constructing a ‘‘true (bio)gender’’ for the protagonists, Gender Bender manga reaffirms a gender binary and a sex/gender confluence. Moreover, their ‘‘true (bio)gender’’ endangers the ‘‘female’’ protagonists. In each of these series, the female protagonists (Mizuki, Ito, and Haruhi) are sexually assaulted by male characters who are responding to their ‘‘true femininity.’’ These rape attempts are interrupted by the romantic hero who rescues the heroine (Nakajo, vol. 3, p. 154 159; Emura, vol. 3, p. 39 46; Hatori, vol. 3). The rape threat functions as a rhetorical device that reaffirms the ‘‘true (bio)gender’’ and traditional norms: although the women act like men and compete on the same scholastic and athletic grounds with men, their female bodies are inscribed with sexual frailty*a weakness that can only be matched by masculine strength as their rescuer is physically privileged in these artistic depictions as large, strong, and aggressively protective. The men are never as masculine as when they rescue the comparatively frail heroines* even Makoto (who usually cross-dresses) omits his disguise when acting as Ito’s rescuer (Nakajo, vol. 3, p. 159, 186 188; Emura, vol. 3, p. 43 45; Hatori, vol. 3). The rape threats re-inscribe traditional gender roles and norms upon characters who are actively engaged in transgressing gender norms. Finally, these texts address homosexuality and the intersection of sexualities and gender. Hana-Kimi has the most thorough and serious exploration of this topic, seriously presenting an established and loving homosexual couple (two of the male students are committed to each other), a bisexual artist, a homosexual boy in love with a straight man, Nakatsu who believes he is gay because he loves cross-dressed Mizuki, and Dr. Umeda*a gay doctor who serves as a mentor to Mizuki. These characters are treated with respect and their same-sex attraction and love are featured in a serious light. Earlier, we saw that Hana-Kimi had the strongest conflation of sex and gender*that Mizuki’s biological sex predetermined her gender. This sex/gender conflation also applies to homosexual and bisexual men in this series*but here it creates a broadening of gender roles and norms. Regardless of behavior, these characters consider themselves male and are considered male by the other characters. Hence, they freely engage in a wide range of gendered behaviors: from wearing bikini- tops to winning karate competitions, and from one-night stands to monogamous and/or unrequited love, these characters behave as they like and no one chides, taunts, or otherwise coerces them into traditional masculinity. In contrast, W Juliet rarely touches on the topic of homosexuality since Makoto quickly rebuffs any boys who try to date him while he is cross-dressed as a woman. And in Ouran, homosexuality and bisexuality are featured in a comedic way. Two members of the Host Club, twins, Hikaru and Kaoru, maintain a phony homosexual relationship with each other to titillate their female clients,5 and Haruhi’s father, originally a bisexual man who stopped seeing women after his wife died, is now a professional drag-queen. However, even with his serious back-story, Haruhi’s father is 224 S. Kornfield unequivocally presented in a humorous light. In Ouran, each of these non- heterosexual characters and/or pretenses are featured as deviant, humorous behavior. These different portrayals of homosexually result in different constructions of gender in these series. Hana-Kimi offers the most serious representation of homosexuality, because, while conflating sex and gender, it separates gender from sexuality: same-sex attraction does not make either boy less male. W Juliet’s avoidance of homosexuality allows the text to frame sexuality within a masculine/feminine binary*although this categorical binary allows males to be feminine and females to be masculine. Finally, Ouran’s humorous treatment of homosexuality familiarizes same-sex romance, even as the insistent humor depicts homosexuality as deviant. Ouran reinforces a compulsive heterosexuality: men and women create romantic couples; whereas, same-sex couples create humor.
Conclusion and Discussion This analysis suggests that this Gender Bender genre strives for equality and pleasure while maintaining and reinforcing some limiting gender portrayals. In this genre, both female and male characters have agency, enact mutually supportive relation- ships, and successfully reveal gender as a performance*boys can enact femininity and girls can enact masculinity, subverting traditional gender norms. However, even while gender norms are transcended, gender identity is strongly reinforced: Gender Bender manga emphasizes one’s ‘‘true (bio)gender.’’ Although gender roles can be reversed, and norms are, as a result, a site of contestation and negotiation, sex itself is rarely challenged. Despite cross-dressing, the characters’‘‘true (bio)gender’’ remains unaltered. Gender Bender manga grows out of a Japanese history that provides a traditional space for cross-dressing and gender negotiation within the entertainment sphere while, in modern times, restricting homosexuality. These impulses run strong in Gender Bender manga as these texts continue to manipulate gender norms yet primarily approach homosexuality as deviant. Gender Bender manga certainly does not portray untroubled feminist entertainment, and it does not model untroubled gender relations. But it does, drawing on longstanding cultural traditions of gender performances such as onnagata and kagema, depict gender as a performance*as a set of coded behaviors anyone can enact. Certainly there are many overlapping narrative features between these Japanese series and U.S. cross-dressing narratives. For instance, in both traditions, the cross- dressed protagonist reverts to her or his biological ‘‘gender’’ by the end of the story. However, Gender Bender manga also has significant differences from U.S. cross- dressing literature that mean it ultimately subverts the five standard motifs of U.S. gender bending established in the Teiresias myth and its iterations in modern U.S. narratives such as Yentl, Mulan, and She’s the Man. In U.S. narratives, women almost exclusively cross-dress in order to achieve masculine power; while this does occur in Gender Bender manga (Mizuki utilitarianly cross-dresses to attend an all-boys’ school), women (Ito and Haruhi) Cross-cultural Cross-dressing 225 also gender bend as expressions of their personalities. Second, in Western narratives the audience is usually in on the cross-dressing act from the beginning; this occurs in some Gender Bender manga (Hana-Kimi), but fairly regularly the audience is tricked by the cross-dresser at the beginning of the narrative (W Juliet and Ouran). Creating characters who are passing*even to readers*makes these narratives more effective at toying with gender boundaries and gender construction, since the joke is ultimately on the reader: W Juliet and Ouran demonstrate that readers cannot differentiate between the genders, that we, like the characters in these stories, make incorrect assumptions based on gender performances and expectations. Gender Bender manga coincides with U.S. narratives on the third and fourth elements: women always return to their natural ‘‘femininity’’ at the end of the narrative, and heterosexual romances are predominantly featured. However, Gender Bender manga differs from U.S. narratives on the fifth element*that women experience some form of punishment for having passed as a man. Where Mulan is nearly killed as a punishment for passing, and Viola in She’s the Man is socially ostracized for passing, in Gender Bender manga the passers experience only slight social awkwardness as they slide back into their biological ‘‘gender’’ without any punishment. These differences from U.S. entertainment open a space to manipulate gender roles, as girls read about heroines who successfully enact masculine norms without being reprimanded. I argue not that one culture is more equitable or has more flexible gender norms than the other, but rather that, because the norms are different, importing entertainment from one culture to the other, along with my analytical and methodological framework, helps make the norms and cultural codes visible. Gender Bender manga certainly has its own set of limitations: it essentializes gender and positions heroines as sexually frail, but it operates within a different set of cultural codes. Gender Bender manga can operate subversively in the U.S. context as it makes gender performances visible and demonstrates that different cultures approach gender norms and roles in different manners. Even as Gender Bender manga invites U.S. girls to negotiate gender roles and performances as they read these narratives, they also invite a type of cultural capitalism as fans use these narratives not only for pleasure and entertainment but as a form of soft currency*where cultural knowledge becomes a currency, buying status within fan communities. U.S. girls have responded to this genre not only by purchasing graphic novels*itself unusual in the U.S. market (Arnold, 2004a, 2004b; Masters, 2006; Something about Sho¯jo, 2006), but by developing strong fan communities. Involved in ‘‘textual production’’ (Fiske, 1992; Jenkins, 1992) these fans participate in message board communities, create fan-fictions, fan-art, and series reviews (Otaku Boards, 2010). Within this subculture, girls attend large conventions cosplaying (dressing up in homemade costumes) their favorite characters (Cunning- ham, 2009). Cosplay often involves cross-dressing, as I witnessed at the 2008 A-Kon Convention in Dallas, where, amid a myriad of other cross-dressed performances, one girl dressed up as ‘‘male’’ Haruhi from Ouran and six of her friends cross-dressed to cosplay the six Host Club characters. 226 S. Kornfield While this Gender Bender genre opens a space in which U.S. girls can negotiate gender norms and respond to these texts in part by exploring their own cross- dressed performances, these communities also enact a certain level of cultural fetishism. Invested fans, both girls who read Gender Bender and other sho¯jo (girls’) manga and boys who read shonen (boys’) manga, often study Japanese and stylized Japanese art forms such as calligraphy, the Tea Ceremony, manga artistry, kendo, and Japanese dances (Napier, 2001; Newitz, 1994)*these skills are then showcased at manga/anime conventions.6 While some fans genuinely celebrate Japanese culture, a broader perspective suggests that neocolonialism is at work in this fandom as Japanese culture is, again, being exoticized and appropriated by hegemonic forces (Tierney, 2006; Yoshihara, 2003, p. 6). That is, U.S. audience members, having forgotten their colonial past (the West’s presence in Japan during the Meiji Period and the U.S.’s occupation of Japan post-World War II) and oblivious to (or unconcerned by) their current power relationships, maintain colonial relationships: the ‘‘simultaneous articulation and elimination of difference’’ (Ono, 2009, p. 113). This Gender Bender genre engages in gender performance, intercultural entertain- ment, and subculture fan communities as U.S. girls read, enjoy, and reenact these stories. Originally created within the Japanese culture, these narratives operate within different gender norms and offer alternative versions of romance, gender, and gender performances than traditional U.S. entertainment. While this opens a space for increased gender negotiation, and creates the possibility of a positive version of cultural hybridity, it also operates in a neocolonial sense, where the ‘‘exotic’’ is still co- opted by hegemonic forces and functions as cultural capital.
Notes [1] For scholarship on cross-dressing, see Garber (1992), Howard (1988), Straub (1998), Tasker (1998), Modleski (1997), and Li (2003). [2] This divide between boys’ and girls’ comics is most apparent in their genre and magazine titles in both Japan and U.S. publications: action, adventure, and fighting storylines are published in the magazine Shonen Jump while more romantic, character based storylines are published in the magazine Sho¯jo Beat. Shonen translates as ‘‘boys’’ and sho¯jo translates as ‘‘girls’’ (Schodt, 1996, p. 95). When compiling book series, leading U.S. publishers usually print the genre label on the cover of each book: VizMedia usually marks books as sho¯jo or shonen while TokyoPop usually labels books as Romance or Action. [3] Using these three criteria*industry success, current popularity, and cross-referencing* narrowed the focus to Hana-Kimi, W Juliet, and Ouran High School Host Club, excluding other series from this analysis. For example, Ranma ½ is a highly successful Gender Bender series, but, originally published from 1987 1996, it did not meet the second criteria (current popularity) and therefore was not included in this analysis. [4] Until the twentieth century, the term ‘‘homosexuality’’ did not exist since ‘‘male male sexuality and female female sexuality were not conceptually linked in Japan’’ (Pflugfelder, 1999, p. 5). Moreover, until the twentieth century, male male or female female sexuality was not considered a ‘‘sexual orientation’’ since ‘‘same-sex eroticism was understood as simply one kind of erotic enjoyment which was not considered to exclude opposite-sex attraction’’ (McLelland, 2000b, p. 20). Cross-cultural Cross-dressing 227 [5] This is an inside joke played on the Boys’ Love subgenre*which is sold exclusively to female readers but features male male romances. The twins enact a homosexual relationship in order to cater to their female classmates who read Boy’sLovemanga. [6] A-Kon Dallas posted a video of these fan demonstrations of Japanese art forms available through their website (A-Kon Dallas, 2010).
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