Sandra Buckley 
Broken Silence [EPUB ebook] 
Voices of Japanese Feminism

Broken Silence brings together for the first time many of Japan’s leading feminists, women who have been bucking the social mores of a patriarchal society for years but who remain virtually unknown outside Japan. While Japan is often thought to be without a significant feminist presence, these interviews and essays reveal a vital community of women fighting for social change.


Sandra Buckley’s dialogues with poets, journalists, teachers, activists, and businesswomen exemplify the diversity of Japanese feminism: we meet Kanazumi Fumiko, a lawyer who assists women in a legal system that has long discriminated against them; Kora Rumiko, a poet who reclaims and redefines language to convey her experiences as a woman; Nakanishi Toyoko, founder of the Japanese Women’s Bookstore; and Ueno Chizuko, a professor who has tackled such issues as pornography and abortion reform both in and out of the academy.


These women speak to a host of issues—the politics of language, the treatment of women in medicine and law, the deeply entrenched role of women as mothers and caregivers, the future of feminism in Japan, and the relationship between Japanese feminists and ‘western’ feminisms.
Broken Silence will do much to dispel Western stereotypes about Japanese women and challenge North American attitudes about feminism abroad. With a timeline, glossary, and comprehensive list of feminist organizations, this is a long overdue collection sure to inform and excite all those interested in feminism and Japan.



Broken Silence brings together for the first time many of Japan’s leading feminists, women who have been bucking the social mores of a patriarchal society for years but who remain virtually unknown outside Japan. While Japan is often thought to be

Tabla de materias

Biography

Interview

Excerpts from Sexuality

List of Selected Works


NAKANISHI TOYOKO Owner-Manager, Shokado Women’s Bookstore, Osaka

Biography

Interview

Excerpts from Our Bodies, Ourselves


OCHIAI KEIKO Author; Owner-Manager, Crayon House, Tokyo

Biography

Interview (with Uchida Junko)

The Rape, Chapter I

List of Selected Works


SAITO CHIYO Founding Editor, Agora

Biography

Interview

‘What Is Japanese Feminism?’

List of Selected Works


UENO CHIZUKOK  Professor, University of Tokyo; Sociologist

Biography

Interview

‘Are the Japanese Feminine? Some Problems of Japanese

Feminism in Its Cultural Context’

List of Selected Works


Chronology of Significant Events in the Recent History of

Japanese Women (1868-1991)

List of Feminist and Related Women’s Organizations


Glossary

Index

Sobre el autor

Sandra Buckley is Professor of East Asian Studies at Griffith University, Australia.