Mapping the female body : the discourse on prostitution in Japan (1868-1926)
Date
2003
Authors
Ueno, Sonoe
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Abstract
This thesis provides a historical analysis of the discourse on prostitution in Japan during the Meiji and Taisho periods (1868-1926) . By tracing the discourse on prostitution, this study delineates the origins of the boundary that divides women into good women and prostitutes-this boundary still remains today. This research demonstrates that the dichotomy is not a unproblematic natural given, but is a historical product which has been shaped and determined by a multiplicity of factors: a series of laws issued in the early Meiji period, the implementation of the "good wife, wise mother" ideology, and the whore stigma that emerged from anti ·prostitution movements.