Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the representations of queer female bodies and sexuality in the works dedicated to enema in the magazine Kitan Club in 1950s, demonstrating how this non-productive sexual practice can be read as a remonstration to the pre-war imperial ideology of "good wife, wise mother."

Paper long abstract:

This paper analyzes the representations of queer female bodies and sexuality in the works that depict enema and that were written by female authors and published in Kitan Club, one of the most influential post-war magazines of 'perverse sexual desire,' in 1950s. Although enema, when depicted in relation to sexuality, is often presumed to be void of any political signification and considered merely as one of the practices of perverse sexual desire, I will demonstrate how such representations of transgressive sexuality relate to and reflect various pre-war and post-war socio-cultural and political issues. In particular, I argue that the interest in enema that emerged in 1950s and appeared first in the writings of female contributors in so-called 'magazines of perverse sexual desire' can be read as a remonstration to the pre-war construct of ideal women as pure, children-bearing bodies related to the imperial ideology of "good wife, wise mother."

Enema often figures in the literature that takes up the thematics of sadomasochism because this practice is related to humiliation and shame, the key components of sadomasochistic relationship. Particular interest in enema in Japan emerged in 1950s in the 'magazines of perverse sexual desire,' gradually developing a particular subset of publications, both (pseudo-)scientific and literary, dedicated to this practice. Although male authors dominated later publications, the first major contributors that took up this thematic in Kitan Club in 1950s were female. Moreover, some of them were particularly interested in depicting the swelling of the protagonist's stomach as a result of anal injection of various liquids and air. Although these particular practices evoke the idea of pregnancy, they are non-procreative acts that, furthermore, are associated with impurity and perversity. Namely, these representations present a complete opposite to the propagated pre-war imperial ideology of "good wife, wise mother" imposed on women. By analyzing various cases of female writing dedicated to the thematics of enema and the transformations of female bodies caused by it in the light of pre- and post-war discourse of (non-)normative sexualities in Japan, this paper will examine the political signification embedded in often ignored expressions of transgression.