Lecture
Performing identity and buying love: self-expression and iyashi in the dansō escorting business
- Marta Fanasca (University of Bologna/Hosei University)
- Date
- Thursday 17 October 2024
- Time
- Series
- Leiden Lecture Series in Japanese Studies
- Location
-
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 non-sexual escorts in Akihabara, Tokyo. My aim has been to understand why dansō choose to crossdress, why they work as crossdressing escorts, and what kinds of relationships they form with their clients. Two main aspects shape the answers to these research questions: first, the idea of crafting, performing, and expressing one's hontō no jibun – or “true self” – within this FtM crossdresser community; and second, the concept of iyashi (healing), which is one of the most sought-after aspects of dansō escorting for clients. Drawing on participant observation, interviews, and visual ethnography, I will explore how escorts and clients experience crossdressing as a form of self-expression or a possibility for “healing” while negotiating their positions within Japanese society.
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.