440 - Thematic Session. Gender and Sexuality in East Asia

Session Submission Type: Invited Session

Abstract

A profound transformation in personal lives has taken place in East Asia in the past few decades. This panel takes a critical stance to understand the changes of sexuality, gender, marriage, and/or family in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, and Korea. Stevi Jackson will challenge the hegemony of Western theoretical perspectives on gender, sexuality, and intimate relationships and urge for the need of East Asian alternatives. Travis Kong will examine the changing sexual landscape of (homo)sexuality in Hong Kong through the eyes of older gay men and discuss how they create their own spaces for social interaction and sexual desire under the complex web of domination in hetero/homo worlds. Lan Peichia will discuss how the changing scripts of cultivating middle-class children in Taiwan have intensified the gender division of parenting labour across the divergent practices of childrearing. Lee Nayoung will focus on the newly emerged debates around anti-prostitution laws in South Korea by mapping out the dynamics of women’s movements and the changes in government policy.

Sub Unit

• Thematic Sessions

Session Organizer

• Travis Kong, University of Hong Kong

Presider

• Travis Kong, University of Hong Kong

Panelists

• Stevi Jackson, University of York-United Kingdom

• Travis Kong, University of Hong Kong

• Pei-Chia Lan, National Taiwan University

• Lee Na-Young, Chung-Ang University