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Babiniku: The New Digital Wave of Gender Trouble
Researcher, Writer, and Designer
For the course Exploring
Asian Popular Culture
August-September 2022
Responsibilities
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Performed textual analysis of 2 VTubers’ songs to determine its significance to gender norms in Japan.
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Demonstrated strong academic capabilities to comprehend and evaluate scholarly sources, as part of inspecting the under-researched connection between VTubers and Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble.
Achievement
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Earned a High Distinction (85/100)
Project summary
Problem
Even though Japan boasts one of the most developed economies in the world, it is also one of the countries with the worst gender equality. As a result, there has been a surge in young Japanese men cross-dressing as a female virtual avatar. The phenomenon is dubbed "babiniku".
Findings
Under the theoretical lens of Judith Butler's Gender Trouble, it was discovered:
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Babiniku is helping expand the male gender norms among Japanese young men by normalizing fragility and femininity,
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However, the above was done so at the cost of worsening the Japanese women gender norms.