Josou, a discussion – Part 1: Josou, fetishism and gender identity

2010 September 16
by Jaren L

preface

This extended discussion/essay/primer on Josou subculture is motivated by a “blog challenge” proposed to me by @angelsharkbite on Twitter [the challenge: 1/2/3]. This first of (likely) two parts is concerned mostly with proposing a critical lens of exploration into the josou fetish, which will be explored in more theoretical depth in the second part. Therefore, it attempts to propose as few debatable theories as possible, instead arranging established and relevant facts in a convenient and exhaustively-deconstructed manner. Works referenced will be listed with artist and title at the end, along with links to scanned, fan-translated copies; all should be assumed to be explicit and pornographic unless noted otherwise.

a primer on the language in play

Josou, the Japanese word for male crossdressing, as well as the English otaku coinage “traps”, refers in a broad sense to any instance of pictures or video of males whose appearance suggests they are female – dress, body structure, demeanor and so on. “Traps” in particular, and josou in English to a lesser extent, is often used more specifically to describe pornographic, drawn in the Japanese style visual content of young (often prepubescent and almost exclusively below most countries’ age of majority) males dressed in a manner that is characteristically female or feminine; the term is derived from the idea of being “trapped” into believing that a male character or person is female at first glance.

For example, a picture – drawn or photographic – of a large, muscular man in a frilly dress is clearly crossdressing, and would be correctly described as “josou” in Japanese, but it is very unlikely that anyone would describe it in English as either “josou” or “a trap”. In some cases, other established English terms such a “transvestitism” might be applied, but social and sexual context are more essential to the use of those terms. Alternately, a picture of a slender boy in close-fitting pants and t-shirt with sufficiently feminine facial features and bone structure meets many definitions of “trap/josou”.

So “Josou” capitalized, hereafter referring in a general sense to the otaku subculture centered around suggestive or pornographic depictions of male crossdressing as well as the sexual fetish shared by the members of that subculture, appears more fixated on the appearance of femininity in males than on the literal wearing by males of characteristically-female clothing.

crossdressing and Josou

There is obviously a strong relationship between crossdressing and Josou, given that the great majority of things that can be classified as Josou are so classifiable because of the use of crossdressing. However, as shown above, many kinds of crossdressing do not qualify as Josou, and the presence of crossdressing does not have a causal relationship with the presence of Josou. Rather, crossdressing is the most prominent and best-known of the elements which can add up to a work being recognizeably Josou.

The reason is likely obvious enough – gender coding of clothing is one of the most consistent and difficult-to-subvert social markers of gender in cultures around the world. While male clothing styles are somewhat unisex in many cultures – pant-suit outfits are increasingly common attire for women, for example – many female styles are more strictly gender-marked. Most – almost all western – open-leg designs, such as skirts or dresses,  is primarily gender-marked as female. Scottish walking kilts are a notable exception in some senses, but in cultures where they are less often encountered they are often regarded as skirts.

Other western open-leg designs, both those influenced by the kilt and by womens’ skirts, meant for male wearers have begun to appear; however, for the time being, even these exceptions occur as bold statements in the face of the established gender lines, either outside of or in direct opposition to the mainstream. This same negotiation of gender is played out in other areas – tightness of clothing, style of undergarments, swimwear and hair style are all constrained by gender lines to varying degrees.

The very idea of “crossdressing” – of dressing like the opposite sex – hinges on these gender lines even as it subverts them. A man wearing a dress is only “crossdressing” in a culture where dresses are well known to be worn only women; for either a man or a woman to wear a culturally male- or female-marked style of clothing in public is, in many cases, to declare one’s gender to those who see it, regardless of whether that gender aligns with one’s actual gender or current or past biological sex.

gender identity and Josou: Josou characters

So if crossdressing is so intertwined with gender identity, what does the choice to crossdress say about the gender identity of characters in Josou works?

On its own? Not much.

Josou crossdressing scenarios can be loosely divided into three large groups – voluntary, in which the character chooses of their own volition to crossdress for personal enjoyment or sexual arousal; coerced, in which they make the choice to crossdress but are inspired or encouraged to do so by outside persuasion; and forced, in which they are either provided with no option but to crossdress, are driven by threat of physical or emotional force to crossdress, or are literally dressed in women’s clothing against their own physical will. Context plays a large role in any of these situations, and in many cases a character’s motivation to crossdress will change between these over the course of a narrative, but one can at least define a general case of how gender identity – and sexual orientation, to a lesser extent – are negotiated in any of these situations.

The third category, forced crossdressing, says next to nothing in and of itself about the gender of the wearer. A character who is physically forced into crossdressing could have no interest in crossdressing, harbor any degree of secret interest in it, or even be an avid crossdresser who simply is not comfortable doing so at the time of the given narrative. For the same reason, it says nothing about their sexual orientation, either. Example: Shidou Mariya in abgrund’s Holic+Holic 1 Side M

The second category, coerced crossdressing, tends to indicate a smaller subset of possible identities. Characters who are prone to be coerced into crossdressing are often more weak-willed or passive, a common trait of female or feminine characters in Japanese media and particularly Japanese pornography; by implication, the fact that a character is even susceptible to the suggestion of crossdressing puts them in a submissive position. Example: Mikoshiba in Yurikawa’s Okigae no Jikan

The first, voluntary crossdressing, is in a wide majority of cases in Josou works used to make a clear statement about the character’s gender identity. Interestingly, it is not so clearly an indicator of femininity but often used as an indicator that the classical gender distinction does not satisfy the character. Characters who crossdress of their own volition but also wear mens’ clothing on a regular basis tend to exhibit personality traits indicative of both male and female gender identities – in either style of dress they assume one or another persona, being classically feminine in one and masculine in the other. Example: Yoshitomo/Mig in Tachibana Momoya’s Houkago Toransu

This is obviously not comprehensive – exceptions and subcategories of each of these correlations exist, many Josou scenarios do not fit cleanly into these three cases
, and next to none of this applies to the real gender identity negotiation of real-life crossdressers or transvestites. But these cases, and their implications, cover the wide majority of Josou situations.

gender identity and Josou: Josou fans

This is a short section – liking Josou material, pornographic or not, for use in masturbation or not, says conclusively about as much about the viewer’s gender identity as liking porn at all does: it indicates that you probably have one, and in and of itself very little else.

Large sections of the Josou subculture enjoy Josou material because they find femininity in any form attractive, because they find the blurring of gender lines attractive, because they enjoy shota and by relation shota material which happens to be Josou, because they relate personally to the characters who are crossdressing, because they relate personally to the characters who are sexually attracted to the crossdresser, and a myriad of other reasons at least as numerous as the number of Josou fans. Each of these things says different things about the gender identity of the fan, and would say different things from those in even slightly different circumstances.

To clarify, albeit for most of the same reasons, Josou fandom says as little about the fan’s sexual orientation as it does about their gender identity.

trans fetishism and Josou

Transsexuality – pre- or post-op – is generally somewhat distant from Josou. Post-operational transsexuals are an extremely rare occurrence, and pre-operational transsexuals, or “newhalfs”, tend to have more to do with futanari subculture than Josou. That said, a select few artists – The Amanoja9 probably the most notorious – tread the line between, incorporating elements of both futanari and Josou fetishism into their work. Visually, The Amanoja9’s characters suggest futanari, with appearances clearly indicative of women as well as erogenous features – breasts, penis, rectum and so on – which are noticeably exaggerated, not only in comparison with real anatomy but with non-newhalf characters within the work itself. However, in the text, characters regularly make reference to the fact that newhalfs were originally male, bringing to mind the Josou ideal of feminine interpretations of the male form.

Incidentally, there is a well-established market in the real-life pornography industry for pre-operation male-to-female transsexuals, generally under the controversial name “shemale” fetishism. These works span a much broader range between the intermediate gender ideal and the feminized male ideal, and are generally more evenly distributed.

paraphilia and Josou

The primary subject of this section will be Hiiragi Masaki’s Shounen Maid Curo-kun series.

Josou occurs in some senses as a paraphilia, but in many others as a sexual orientation – this clarification occurs not only between works and between people, but within works and within people. For example, in Curo-kun, Curo’s crossdressing in the story’s first chapter, and in many of the others, is a fetish unto itself – the male character crossdressing is the focus of the material’s eroticism, and occurs as a paraphilia. However, for the bulk of the series, Curo’s crossdressing is simply an assumed trait, a part of his character identity; the focus of the eroticism moves to his relationship with Mies or the other paraphilias present in the chapter (BDSM being a common theme). And, as should be obvious, this clarification is not always so clear-cut – conceivably, a given chapter (or the entire work, for some readers) might appeal to the reader’s appreciation of Josou both via fetish and by gender identity.

Curo-kun is also a fine example of Josou’s relationship with other paraphilia – while “vanilla” Josou is common enough, other themes and kinks will often appear in Josou works. Curo-kun from the beginning falls into our earlier categorization of crossdressing via third-party convincing, introducing an element of submissiveness to Curo’s character which plays a prominent role throughout the series, given Mies’ sadistic (and Curo’s masochistic) tendencies. The first chapter also introduces elements of Curo’s embarrassment and apparent reluctance at crossdressing, expanded upon later in chapters involving more risque outfits and public exposure. While these themes are not necessary to establishing Josou as a gender identity, when Josou is treated as a paraphilia it becomes subject to the common “stacking” of kinks that can often occur.

Themes of humiliation and exhibitionism can be particularly common, likely for reasons related to the ideas discussed in “crossdressing and Josou” – a male character dressing in female attire is generally a social transgression, and even in cultures where it is more likely to be accepted it still exists as a deviation from the “normal” conformation to sex-gender correlations. Moreover, particularly in erotic works, a character’s cover being blown somewhat necessitate visual or tactile exposure of their genitals, which provides a convenient point of initiation for a work’s sexual content.

bibliography

[abgrund] Holic+Holic 1 Side M – Multiple males/trap – First in a series of three doujinshi parodying anime Maria+Holic

[yurikawa] Okigae no Jikan Trap/female – Original eromanga short

[Tachibana Momoya] Houkago Toransu – Male/trap – Original eromanga short

[Hiiragi Masaki] Shounen Maid Curo-kun to Miwaku no Kou no Kan – Male/trap – Chronological first chapter in the much longer Curo-kun series, spanning a few professional manga and various doujinshi; see here for further information

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