AsiaPacifiQueer: Rethinking Genders and Sexualities

3. Grrrl-Queens: Onē-kotoba and the Negotiation of Heterosexist Gender Language Norms and Lesbo(homo)phobic Stereotypes in Japanese

THREE GRRRL-QUEENS Onē-kotoba and the Negotiation of Heterosexist Gender Language Norms and Lesbo(homo)phobic Stereotypes in Japanese Claire Maree In contemporary Japan, elements of the Japanese language such as personal pronouns, sentence-final particles, and verb inflections are said to constitute gendered language use, and the notion of “women’s language” (joseigo/onnakotoba ) and “men’s language” (danseigo/otoko-kotoba) continues to mold contemporary notions of gender-appropriate speech. Due to this notion, the queer is imagined as much by the use of flamboyant gendered speech as by flamboyant drag. Stereotypes of lesbian women and gay men inevitably invoke notions of hypermasculine women and hyperfeminine men. Furthermore , the camp speech style known as onē-kotoba (queen’s language [literally, older sister’s language/speech]), a parody of stereotypical women’s language that is generally used by gay (gei)1 men in a performance of (hyper)femininity, is recognizable within both queer communities and the mainstream. In gei community magazines, short articles on onē-kotoba position it as an integral part of “gay bar” (gei bā) and gay culture, while on mainstream television onē and/or okama (faggot/poofter/queen)2 personalities—who use onē-kotoba and sharp-tongued comments in their public performances3 —regularly appear on popular “variety” (baraitei) programs.4 This chapter examines onē-kotoba from the starting point of a roundtable discussion on “sexuality and language” coordinated as part of a study on Japanese language, gender, and sexuality in 1998.5 The initial discussion be- 68 . CL A I RE M A RE E tween the seven volunteer participants at the roundtable indicated that the topic “sexuality and language” invoked the notion of “men’s language” used by women, and onē-kotoba used by “gay men” (gei otoko). Furthermore, one interesting point that emerged from the discussion was the use of onē-kotoba by two “lesbian” (rezubian) identified participants who were in their twenties and partners at the time. In the following, I discuss the negotiative strategies of these two participants, Sayuri and Oka.6 Throughout the roundtable discussion, Sayuri and Oka spoke extensively of their own use of onē-kotoba, which led them to be referred to as “girl/female queens” (onna-onē) by their peers. The other “lesbian” (rezubian) or womanloving -women participants, and the only “gay” (gei) male participant were all familiar with this speech style, which is widely associated with gay male culture. However, none of them professed to use it in everyday interactions. In this way, Oka and Sayuri were unique because they articulated an aversion to using “women’s language” yet spoke of consciously choosing to employ onē-kotoba, itself generally considered to be a hyperfeminine speech style. I focus on their metalinguistic explanations, that is, their talk about talk, because these explanations offer an insight into the way that individual speakers negotiate stereotypes of language and existing speech styles according to their present-time sense of self and “personal histories of discourse.”7 In particular, Oka and Sayuri’s metadiscursive explanations of their self-reference choices illustrate the complex relationship between the speaker’s image of self, the gendered norms of the Japanese language system, and contemporary cultural expectations. Similarly, their explanation of onē-kotoba leads the discussion to the functions of onē-kotoba in contemporary queer communities based on current field work being carried out in Tokyo. As will become clear from the following discussion, for Oka and Sayuri, onē-kotoba functions to resist both restrictive heteronormative femininity and stereotypes of the butch lesbian. By focusing on their creative use of language to negotiate these restrictive stereotypes, I hope to underline the ways in which creative language is fundamental to queer communities in Japan. Similarly, I hope this discussion will contribute to dialogue with other languages regarding strategies enacted by queer speakers and queer critiques of existing language and gender literature. Recognizing and Resisting Stereotypes Research on gender and the Japanese language has long been a focus for Japanese language specialists. As Yukawa and Saito note in their overview of G RRRL-Q UE E N S . 69 the area, “scholars in kokugogaku ‘national-language studies’ have described and cataloged features of normative women’s speech style (personal pronouns , sentence-final particles, honorifics, and so on) since the beginning of the twentieth century.”8 In fact, Jugaku Akiko’s 1979 work noted the careful manipulation of various features of “Japanese to create the appearance of...