Asia – maybe not so conservative

I’m doing my major in International Studies, my minor in Psychology, and this class was the third GSWS course I have taken. So, I had little knowledge about feminism at the beginning of the semester, and now I think I can finally start to see things from the feminist perspective. In relation to “change” and “practical wisdom”, I’d like to comment on how people sometimes see Asia to be “conservative”. Being conservative is not necessarily a negative thing. But, when discussing gender and sexuality, the appearance of the word, “conservative”, makes me feel…ambivalent. Firstly, whether a person is Caucasian, Asian, or African Canadian, labeling this person “conservative” is just an excuse for not trying to decolonize this person’s mind. I think, saying something like, “Oh, s/he is against same-sex marriage because s/he is conservative” shuts this person out from the opportunity to be decolonized (I’m just using same-sex marriage as an example here). Some people are very conservative, and there is nothing wrong with being conservative in the first place. It’s a personal choice to be liberal or conservative. But, at least, we can encourage conservative people to understand issues like same-sex marriage better, right? I was born and raised in Japan, and I travel to Japan three times a year to meet my family and friends. Some of them are conservative, but that doesn’t mean they don't want to understand issues like same-sex marriage (again, same-sex marriage is just an example. There are many other issues). So, I told them a story.

When I was 16, I went to a small town in Nova Scotia from Vancouver for an exchange program. I lived with a homestay family for 10 months. In the family, there were two young mothers (they were lesbians and married) and their 16-year-old daughter. 4 of us young women living in one house – it was such a fun time. We exchanged clothes and accessories, we had face mask parties on Saturday nights, and we had a couple of ugly fights. It was such an interesting experience. When I told this story to my family and friends, they thought it must have been cool to have had two mothers. A story with a little bit of humor can decolonize someone’s mind, and this is something I can do.

Coming back to the statement, “Asia is perhaps not so conservative”, I want to introduce an interesting category of people in Japan, called “O-nee” (pronounced “o-nay”). From what I know, people and the media started to use this term in the past 5 years to define men (people who were born with male biological features) who are more like women. This word is a short version of “big sister”, and this category includes transgender individuals, gay people, drag queens, and straight men with feminine characteristics. Although categorizing them all together rises some problems, the name “big sister” sounds so friendly that most people can accept this cross-gender-binary phenomenon. These days, even people of my grandparents’ generation are used to the idea of “O-nee”. Also, we don't have to ask, “Is s/he a man or woman?” or “Is he gay or straight?” The answer is: they are “O-nee”.

There are many “O-nee” celebrities who appear on Japanese TV shows due to their profession (actors, dancers, stylists, designers, artists, psychologists, therapists, educators, etc.) or character. Some famous “O-nee” are greatly appreciated in the fashion and beauty industry because they have a lot of fans and their influence on the industry is paramount. Some of them appear in girls’ magazines like Seventeen and they even have a column. Some others appear in guys’ magazines to answer guys’ concerns related to sexuality and relationships. I cannot conclude that the use of the term, “O-nee” will destigmatize transgender, homosexual, or any other kind of cross-gender-binary activities at this moment. There are discriminatory opinions toward “O-nee”. I have never been in the shoes of anther. People may say to me, “well, what do you know about being O-nee?” The fact is that discrimination does exist. There are close-minded people who are against anything that changes the current social institutions. But, the appearance of “O-nee” in public and popular culture means that there are a lot of people who accept and appreciate “O-nee”. So, Asia (Japan, in this case) and Asians are not that conservative.

My point is, in Asia, there are some liberal spaces, and there are many liberal people who accept individual differences, changes, and different opinions regarding gender and sexuality. A policy in Asia may be a little bit more conservative in than Canada; same-sex marriage is not yet legalized in Japan or other Asian countries. But, I don't think a change always has to be a top-down process. Just like how the post-feminist movement mainly involves popular culture and media, I think the power of the cultural movement cannot be overlooked because it could exert pressure for policy change. If the general population starts to believe that same-sex marriage should be legalized as a result of the appearance of “O-nee” on popular TV shows and in magazines, maybe the policy change will follow. I think the cultural movement regarding gender and sexuality in Asia is actually liberal and has room for further change as well as power to create structural change in the future. Through this post, I hope to make a contribution in decolonizing your image of Asia. Thank you for reading a long post :)

Some "O-nee" here.