Writing sexual identity onto the small screen: seitekishoosuu-sha (sexual minorities) in Japan

Abstract

This chapter examines how the term “LGBT” is inscribed onto the screen in mainstream news and currenta affairs programming in Japan. Analysis of captioning and flip-cards illustrates how the term “LGBT” is visualised to augment the hyper-visibility of ‘sexual minorities.’ Mediatized hyper-visibility, however, is produced alongside corporate expansion into lucrative ‘rainbow markets’ and a proliferation of political discourses pertaining to LGBT rights. Histories of representations and advocacy for LGBT issues and rights are rendered invisible within this process. Critical examination of text in the media offers one way to analyze complex citational practices in which discourses of tolerance/..