Abstract

This article investigates the role women play in men’s everyday grooming practices in contemporary Japan. The past few decades have seen increasing scrutiny of men’s bodies with rising standards said to be in response to women’s supposed desires. Yet research has thus far focused primarily on cultural representations such as pop idols or models, leaving our understandings of men’s lived, everyday bodily experiences largely unexplored. Addressing this gap, I employ an ethnographic approach by drawing on in-depth, semi-structured interviews with thirty-three heterosexual Japanese men of various marital statuses and ask how heteronormative imperatives of appealing to women inform men’s understandings of their bodies. Working under a common-sense assumption that women are particularly sensitive to men’s bodies, the single participants reported greater attention to bodily grooming in order to attract women in intimate, romantic situations. Meanwhile, married men rely on or are doted upon by their wives in relation to their grooming thus reinforcing orthodox gender roles. Although male grooming may appear to subvert orthodox gender norms according to which men should be disinterested in bodily care, these findings underscore how orthodox, heteronormative gender ideology is in fact reproduced through men’s bodies, thanks in large part to women’s role therein.

摘要

本文调查了当代日本女性在男性日常打扮中扮演的角色。在过去的几十年里，人们对男性身体的审查越来越多，标准也越来越高，据说是为了回应女性所谓的欲望。然而，迄今为止的研究主要集中在流行偶像或模特等文化表征上，而我们对男性生活、日常身体体验的理解在很大程度上仍未得到探索。为了解决这一差距，我采用了民族志方法，对 33 名不同婚姻状况的日本异性恋男性进行了深入、半结构化的访谈，并询问吸引女性的异性规范规则如何影响男性对其身体的理解。在女性对男性身体特别敏感的常识性假设下工作，单身参与者报告说，他们更注重身体打扮，以便在亲密、浪漫的情境中吸引女性。与此同时，已婚男性在打扮方面依赖或被妻子宠爱，从而强化了正统的性别角色。尽管男性打扮似乎颠覆了男性应该对身体护理不感兴趣的正统性别规范，但这些发现强调了正统的、异性恋规范的性别意识形态实际上是如何通过男性的身体复制的，这在很大程度上要归功于女性在其中的作用。