‘All You Need is Love’: Same-Sex Marriage/Partnership and Expansion of the ‘Good Citizen’

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Other Title
  • 「愛こそすべて」
  • 愛こそすべて : 同性婚/パートナーシップ制度と「善き市民」の拡大
  • アイ コソ スベテ : ドウセイコン/パートナーシップ セイド ト 「 ヨキ シミン 」 ノ カクダイ
  • ――同性婚／パートナーシップ制度と「善き市民」の拡大――

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<p>‘Same-Sex Marriage’* has become a hot topic around the world. This article examines what it means to envisage ‘Same-Sex Marriage’ in Japan or ‘Same-Sex Partnership’ as para-marriage.</p><p>First ‘Same-Sex Marriage’ in various jurisdictions is outlined: Denmark, for having established the first ‘Registered Partnership’ law; the Netherlands, for having the first legal marriage between same sex persons; the United Kingdom, for creating a distinctive ‘Civil Partnership’; and the United States, for its influence on the world regarding ‘Equal Marriage’. Both the conservative and the progressive features of ‘Same-Sex Marriage’ are then explored. On the conservative side, ‘Same-Sex Marriage’ is a faithful imitation of hetero-sex marriage as the basis of modern industrial capitalist society which preserves the norm of mono-amory. On the progressive side, it is a potential nexus to transform some fixtures of hetero-sex marriage: gender roles, the intercourse-reproduction tie and ‘Male Bonds’ (Sedgwick).</p><p>Secondly, this article reviews recent arguments on ‘Same-Sex Marriage’ in Japan. It points out that those who are for ‘Same-Sex Marriage’ are valuing 1) the institutional guarantee of freedom and equality, 2)legitimacy in accordance with international law, 3) the symbolic meaning against discrimination and 4)practicality in daily life; and that those who are against it emphasise its exclusionary effect 1) within sexual minorities and 2) against the economically disadvantaged, and its supportive effect towards 3) the social norm/state legal system and 4) neo-liberal economic policies.</p><p>In the end, this article calls for attention to the negative side of ‘Same-Sex Marriage’: excluding other Others when ‘LGBT’ people are upgraded to marriageable ‘Good Citizens’ through the discourse of ‘Love’; and that the right to freedom and equality which has been as profound as ‘Love’ in the EuroAmerican context still does not exist in Japanese state discourse.</p>

Journal

  • jenda shigaku

    jenda shigaku 12 (0), 19-36, 2016

    The Gender History Association of Japan

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