Not Just a Beautiful Lady: how the prints of bijin objectified women

This is a well-argued thesis on a pertinent topic - revisiting the objectification of women in the genre of bijinga in early modern Japan. The thesis emphasises the need to revisit the interpretation of women in this genre in relation to the historical functions of these images - advertising and selling the floating world. Based on analysis of selected case studies, the thesis argues convincingly that the escapist nature of representations of the floating world in ukiyo-e does not absolve researchers from their ethical responsibility to consider the historical realities behind the depiction of beautiful women. They were not just beautiful women but also sex workers, and their sophisticated and eroticized depiction in ukiyo-e purposefully glossed over these realities. Edo Period viewers of these images were aware of these realities to some extent but contemporary (Western) viewers are oftentimes not, which makes historical contextualization important for understanding the historical...Show moreThis is a well-argued thesis on a pertinent topic - revisiting the objectification of women in the genre of bijinga in early modern Japan. The thesis emphasises the need to revisit the interpretation of women in this genre in relation to the historical functions of these images - advertising and selling the floating world. Based on analysis of selected case studies, the thesis argues convincingly that the escapist nature of representations of the floating world in ukiyo-e does not absolve researchers from their ethical responsibility to consider the historical realities behind the depiction of beautiful women. They were not just beautiful women but also sex workers, and their sophisticated and eroticized depiction in ukiyo-e purposefully glossed over these realities. Edo Period viewers of these images were aware of these realities to some extent but contemporary (Western) viewers are oftentimes not, which makes historical contextualization important for understanding the historical functions of these images. The thesis also argues that some bijinga depicted women more empathetically, and that this aspect has been marginalized due to the relatively uncritical interpretation of bijinga in past research primarily as an example of idealized art. For future research, the discussion of these marginalized bijinga can be extended.Show less

Leiden University Student Repository

Documents

In Collections

Not Just a Beautiful Lady: how the prints of bijin objectified women