Permitted and Prohibited Desires: Mothers, Comics, and Censorship in Japan [Paperback]

Anne Allison (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 14, 2000 | ISBN-10: 0520219902 | ISBN-13: 978-0520219908 | Edition: 1

This provocative study of gender and sexuality in contemporary Japan investigates elements of Japanese popular culture including erotic comic books, stories of mother-son incest, lunchboxes--or obentos--that mothers ritualistically prepare for schoolchildren, and children's cartoons. Anne Allison brings recent feminist psychoanalytic and Marxist theory to bear on representations of sexuality, motherhood, and gender in these and other aspects of Japanese culture. Based on five years of fieldwork in a middle-class Tokyo neighborhood, this theoretically informed, accessible ethnographic study provides a provocative analysis of how sexuality, dominance, and desire are reproduced and enacted in late-capitalistic Japan.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Allison brings an unusual mix of passion and imagination, thoughtfulness and energy to her writing. This book will be controversial, which is all to the good: it challenges us to see Japanese popular culture, sexuality, and society in a new, angular light--and to rethink many comfortable truisms as we do. A remarkable piece of work." -- John Comaroff, University of Chicago

"An important work. . . . Permitted and Prohibited Desires is a valuable contribution to anthropology and cultural studies, providing at once an accessible introduction to some of the most influential recent Western theoretical trends, and an experimental foray into the applicability of this theory in a non-Western cultural setting." -- Karen Kelsky, Journal of the History of Sexuality

About the Author

Anne Allison is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Duke University, and author of Nightwork: Sexuality, Pleasure, and Corporate Masculinity in a Tokyo Hostess Club (1994).

Product Details

• Paperback: 251 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (January 14, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520219902
• ISBN-13: 978-0520219908
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,034,728 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An informative look at lesser known Japanese culture, January 21, 2003

By 

"paper_ramen" (Pennsylvania, US) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Permitted and Prohibited Desires: Mothers, Comics, and Censorship in Japan (Paperback)

I was very pleased with this book , but also somewhat disappointed. The way Allison delves into each subject is astounding, and her own personal experiences illustrate the culture so that an American can understand it. What disappointed me, however, was how Allison becomes bogged down in explaining everything in psychological jargon. I know as an anthropologist, she must address certain things, but I ended up just skimming the sections.

The first chapters of the book cover Japanese comics, or manga. It does not cover popular manga, but rather how certain running themes reflect on Japanese culture. She particuarly looks into "ero manga," which is erotic, adult comics. She makes some shocking insights, but nothing that isn't mirrored in the U.S. She also briefly looks into children's television shows and hostess clubs.

The second part deals with mothers in Japan. This section of the book was so thoroughly interesting it made me wish the entire book covered the topic. The amount of work that the women must do is incredible. She also looks into Japanese schools, especially nursery schools. Allison's own personal experiences and her interviews with Japanese women really flavor this section.

The third section wraps up with censorship in Japan. Allison delves more into politics here, and the section didn't grab me as much as the others. It is still interesting, and the information is well delivered.

If you can put aside her psychological ramblings and concentrate on the actual writings, this book is wonderfully informative. Recommended.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Informative, yet odd subject matter., July 14, 2001

By 

"ninfragile19" (Lowell, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Permitted and Prohibited Desires: Mothers, Comics, and Censorship in Japan (Paperback)

In all honesty, the book was not exactly what I expected to be. By the title and description, you would think it was about pornographic comics in Japan. In actuality, the book turned out better than I anticipated. Anne Allison uses the comics factor as to illustrate one of the fathomless views of how women in Japan are viewed. She deals with certain topics such as mother-son incest and the concern for its growth within Japanese mass-culture; the role of women as mothers, wives, and basically, the "other gender".

Ms. Allison has outdone herself in including Marxist ideas into her theories concerning subjects pertaining to sexuality and gender roles. After reading "Permitted and Prohibited Desires", the anthropoligical differences between our culture and the non-Western cultures are clearly evident. The results, however, are not too pleasing.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mothers, Japan and fantasy., May 9, 2006

By 

Michael Valdivielso (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: Permitted and Prohibited Desires: Mothers, Comics, and Censorship in Japan (Paperback)

Permitted And Prohibited Desires by Anne Allison is a very serious study about gender and sexuality in modern Japan, focusing very much on the relationships between women and family, women and the work place, mothers and sons, sexuality and censorship and how woman fit into Japanese culture in general.
The author does a great job at making a foundation for the book, based on years of fieldwork in middle-class Tokyo with a solid understanding of anthropology, Marxist theory and psychology.
I believe she does a great job finding the differences between facts and fiction, in tracing many of the Western influences that have mixed into and changed the non-Western culture that is today's Japan.
A must for any library on Japan, its history or culture.