Episode 2: But where are the lesbians???

Queering Premodern Asia is a limited series and the 5th season of the Nuances podcast about Our Asian Stories. Each episode explores different aspects of sexual diversity in premodern Asia with commentary from guest scholars. Episodes are divided into a narrative portion, and a discussion with a guest co-host from the queer Asian community.

Ep. 2: But where are the lesbians?

Introduction & content warnings
China – Literacy as a barrier (Prof. Wu)
China – Li Yu’s “The Fragrant Companion” (read by Karen)
China – Lesbian consort in the Ming dynasty (Prof. Wu)
China – Wu Zao
China – Golden Orchid Societies
Korea – Deposed Crown Princess Sun Bin
Japan – Lesbian sex toys
Iran – The cross-dressed woman (Niloofar Rasooli)
Discussion with Karen

References:

Dorothy Ko, Teachers of the Inner Chambers: Women and Culture in Seventeenth-Century China, Stanford, University Press, 1994

Dongshin Chang, “Xiang yong” (Poems on Fragrance): A Translation of a Scene from Li Yu’s Lian xiang ban (The Fragrant Companion), CHINOPERL Papers, vol. 30, 2011, p. 239-258, Project MUSE

James Neill, The Origins and Role of Same-Sex Relations in Human Societies, McFarland, 2009, p. 261.

Marina H. Sung, “Wu Zao”, Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: The Qing Period 1644-1911, edited by Lily Xiao Hong Lee, A.D. Stefanowska, and Clara Wing-chung Ho, M. E. Sharpe 1998, pp.234-236.

Kenneth Rexroth, Ling Chung, “For the Courtesan Ch’ing Lin”, The orchid Boat: Women Poets of China, McGraw-Hill, 1972.

Tze-Lan D. Sang, The Emerging Lesbian: Female Same-Sex Desire in Modern China, The University of Chicago Press, 2003.

Evelyn Blackwood, Culture and Women’s Sexualities, Journal of Social Issues 56.2 (2000): 125–149. Print.

Timon Screech, Sex and the Floating World: Erotic Images in Japan, 1700-1820. 2nd edition. London, United Kingdom: Reaktion Books Ltd, 2009.

Rosina Buckland, Shunga: Erotic Art in Japan. London, United Kingdom: The British Museum Press, 2010.

Cat. 84, “Contexts for Shunga,” In Shunga: Sex and Pleasure in Japanese Art, ed. Timothy Clark, C. Andrew Gerstle, Aki Ishigami, and Akika Yano (The British Museum: London, UK, 2013), 312.

Longstreet, Stephen and Ethel. Yoshiwara: Geishas, Courtesans, and the Pleasure Quarters of Old Tokyo. North Clarendon, VT: Tuttle Publishing, 2009.

Sejong Sillok, vol.75

Guest scholar:

Niloofar Rasooli, ⁠doctoral fellow at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology⁠.
Wu CunCun, ⁠⁠professor of Chinese literature at the University of Hong Kong⁠⁠.

Guest co-host bio:

Karen Zheng is a first-generation, queer, Chinese-American poet. Her poetry has been featured in Sine Theta Magazine, Honey Literary, Benningham Review, Harbor Review and elsewhere. She has received fellowships from the Breadloaf Writers’ Conference, Roots. Wounds. Words, Chicago Storystudio, and The Poetry Lab. She has been a finalist for Harbor Review’s Washburn Chapbook Prize. In her free time, she hosts the Mx. Asian American podcast and Tucked in Bed podcast. Find out more about her on her ⁠website⁠ and listen to Mx. Asian American ⁠here⁠ and ⁠here⁠.

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