Permalink : http://hdl.handle.net/2115/64760

This paper aims to analyze reports on keikan in the Yomiuri Shimbun and the Asahi Shimbun, and shed light on how the discourse of keikan changed from the 1870s to the 1910s. Keikan means anal sex primarily between males and was illegal in Japan from 1872 to 1881. The word first appeared in the two newspapers in the 1870s and disappeared in the 1910s. In these forty years, two periods are identified through the distinct patterns that the newspapers showed: 1875-1901 and 1905-1914. In the first period, keikan was associated with violence, crime, and intimate relationships. In the second period, keikan was described as “a problem of delinquent students”, and was counted as one of their wrongdoings. The change of discourse is explained by the characteristics of the newspapers, and the multilayered nature of discourse.