03. From Asia: March 2006アーカイブ

On January 7, 2006, a symposium entitled “60 years of ‘post-war’in East Asia: Militarization and Sexuality”was held at Ochanomizu University. It featured reports on the relationship between militarization and gender/ sexuality, focusing particularly in China, Japan and South Korea. Prof. Kwon Insook’s (Myongji University, Korea) lecture on “Korean militarization and masculinity”, discussed how models of femininity and masculinity had been constructed in South Korea from the 1950s to 1970s in order to build an economically and militarily powerful state.

The conscription system for the past 50 years has created a belief that men should willingly sacrifice themselves for the state and that women should serve the state and men as subordinates. Prof. Kwon gave sex workers, factory workers as an example. They are not only stigmatized as "fallen women", but are used also to construct a model of “true femininity “for other women.

This lecture made me realize that state security is not simply about balancing power relations between nations.

Ikumi KANEKO : ICU Undergraduate

The Centre for Gender Research (CGR), or in Malay, Pusat Penyelidikan Gender (PPG), is a research center under the administration of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. CGR was established on July 1, 2003. The mission of CGR is to become a center of excellence that seeks to enhance knowledge and expertise in the field of gender studies so that information gathered and the skills acquired through its activities will contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of the peoples of Malaysia and Southeast Asia.