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@meganrose.bsky.social
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Excited to be giving a public lecture at Kanagawa University, 21st of May about my research for my book on Harajuku (currently in the works)💫💫

“Hyperfeminine Harajuku:
Exploring Queer KAWAII Practices in a Tokyo Subcultural District”

It’s both online and in person- details on the flyer 🌈💕
Abstract: In this talk I explore the creative practices of Harajuku’s subcultures. Harajuku is a town in Tokyo that is a safe space for women, men and gender diverse people as early as the 1970s. Over recent decades, numerous KAWAII fashion subcultures have emerged in this district, each with their own specific conventions, aesthetics, purposes and intents including lolita fashion, decora fashion, yume kawaii, fairy kei, menhera. KAWAII is a significant cultural site for marginalized people to find collective safety and creatively work through their experiences and find a place of belonging. In the increasingly fractured social landscape of Tokyo, an eclectic group of artists, photographers, musicians, and designers come together in a constellation of spectacular bodies to play with KAWAII fashion. Their efforts are supported by underground queer feminist movements of Tokyo that protest, disrupt, and agitate through art, talk, and zine collectives in a blaze of shimmering hot pink. The talk considers the differing ways KAWAII is queered by these groups as an expression of dis/affection, in/dependence and a/sexuality. Queering KAWAII refers to a process of estrangement and de- familiarisation of cuteness as a form of hyperfemininity. As part of global queer femme cultures, hyperfemininity contaminates gender binaries, and exaggerates and pushes the parameters of patriarchal femininity as a form of disruption, experimentation, and reflection. Centred on the affective stories, fashion objects and garments and texts that KAWAII fashion practitioners create, this talk explores the social motivations, politics and ideologies of this subcultural movement. The talk traverses themes of marginality, vulnerability, and women and gender diverse people’s defiance in facing structural sexism, sexual violence, queerphobia, and ableism. To Attend Online (Zoom): Access the Zoom Meeting via the following Meeting ID and Passcode. Preregistration is NOT required to attend via Zoom. Me…
May 6, 2025 at 10:18 AM
Was lovely to see Gender Free Japanese in the Sydney Mardi Gras, marching for LGBT rights in Japan, this year with an anime theme. They don’t have a page here I think, but we can go support on Instagram: www.instagram.com/genderfreeja...
Marchers from Gender Free Japanese dressed in anime theme
March 2, 2025 at 5:06 AM
Also I just want to point out that while I get what they’re trying to say here about beauty standards & misogyny etc in this snippet, actually there is a large asexual population in Japan & abroad who use anime & other fiction because it’s not real… this sounds a bit too close to the hate they get.
“Many individuals find female anime characters sexually desirable, but the fact they do not materially or physically exist means they are just out of reach, and therefore anime-obsessed “weebs” are repeatedly trying to attain social fulfillment”
February 24, 2025 at 9:58 PM
Another zinger. Last year a group of researchers and I tracked how many studies referred to groups in Harajuku, Akihabara and Ikebukuro as “childlike” or “infantile” for not getting married and growing up. It was a shocking amount. Written by feminists too….
“For asexual and aromantic people, the immaturity narrative is rooted in the belief that forming a sexual and romantic relationship is an essential part of growing up. This infantilizes asexual and aromantic people…”
February 20, 2025 at 7:19 AM
Enjoying Paramo’s hard-hitting new book. Immediately, I see overlaps with the marginalized communities I work with in Japan. I can already see links with otaku studies and how people (all a/genders) have been treated both socially in Japan and in journalistic and academic writing.
Cover of Michael Paramo’s 2024 book Ending the Pursuit: Asexuality, Aromantics & Agender Identity “In my late teens and early twenties, I came to realize that I also did not experience sexual or romantic attraction nor was I interested in forming any such relationship built on these feelings. I grew similarly distant from the expectations of what it meant to be a “man”.” “For asexual, aromantic, or agender people, coming out is less likely to produce reactions of outright approval or disapproval than it is to provoke confusion or disbelief at the mere existence of such of an identity. This is because each of these concepts challenge fundamental ideas relate to cisheteropatriarchy”
February 20, 2025 at 6:43 AM
Excited to contribute to the latest issue of Mechademia on street fashion, subculture and cosplay! 🌷

“Butterflies on Pins: On Photography in Lolita Communities, Tokyo”

Special issue:
muse.jhu.edu/issue/53481

Article:
muse.jhu.edu/article/9462...
December 20, 2024 at 6:50 AM
I’ve been really moved by Kae Tempest’s book On Connection. It’s about how creativity brings people together and helps us explore difference, moving us forward to new collective futures.
Cover of Kae Tempest’s On Connection This is a book about connection. And how immersion in creativity can bring us closer to each other and help us cultivate greater self-awareness. About how fine-tuning the ability to feel a creative connection can help us develop our empathy and establish a deeper relationship between ourselves and the world.
November 26, 2024 at 2:49 AM
Delighted to have been interviewed by Zozotown for my research into animal robots for comfort, care and connection:

fashiontechnews.zozo.com/features/fea...

Supported by @admscentre.org.au and the Vitalities Lab UNSW
Three animal-like robotics in sweaters
November 25, 2024 at 9:35 AM
Favorite place to be (currently)!

My studio 🐻🎨
November 9, 2024 at 2:11 AM
Favorite animals:

A close tie between my robot dog and my rainbow lorikeet neighbors
November 9, 2024 at 2:06 AM
Just finished reading this beautiful anthology of Australian LGBTQIA+ survivor stories, Say it Out Loud. You can read it for free here: sayitoutloud.org.au/learn-more/t...

I wanted to share these passages from in a piece titled, “Because I Wasn’t Allowed To Know” by CA Watts 🌷
I didn’t know I was Autistic; “that’s for little boys” they say. I didn’t know I was ADHD “it could be flogged out” of me, he claimed. I didn’t know how morbid it was to be relieved it wasn’t just me. I didn’t know what autism and ADHD were, and so I couldn’t know what they meant for me. I didn’t get to know. I wasn’t allowed to know. I didn’t know Autistics are 6x more likely to be trans and trans people are 5x more likely to be Autistic. I didn’t know 9/10 Autistics assumed female would experience what I had in their lifetime, so I didn’t know I was at greater risk of being targeted. I didn’t get to know. I wasn’t allowed to know. I didn’t know what intersectionality was; how all forms of prejudice are connected. I didn’t know you couldn’t solve homophobia without solving racism, or racialised Queer people would be left behind; That you couldn’t solve transphobia without solving ableism or trans crips would be left behind. You can’t solve Autistiphobia without solving Queerphobias, or Queer Autistics get left behind. I didn’t get to know, because they don’t want us to know. What you don’t know is: your community is waiting for you, when you decide you are ready. What you don’t know is: we are everywhere. What you don’t know is: we see you. What you don’t know is: so many have travelled this path before. You need to know what you don’t know. You need to know: no fault lies in you. You need to know: you are not alone. You need to know: who you are and what you’re about. You need to know, and you need support to figure it out. You need to know where to find us. You need to know we can help. You need to know who you don’t know.
November 7, 2024 at 6:38 PM
“In her photos, she glowers in her soft frills, giving her femme audience a knowing, recalcitrant look. Soft and fierce, Hamuka is ready to take on the world.”

Sharp Blades, Soft Frills: Femme Rebellion in Lolita Fashion, Japan

www.animefeminist.com/sharp-blades...
November 11, 2023 at 11:27 PM
So I hope, from what I am writing up about this project, that people might begin to reflect further on the power of media in mediating not only solidarity between activists, but also communication across language barriers and the violence it can (sadly) conceal /end
November 10, 2023 at 11:47 PM
This week I wrapped up a 6 year study into the significance of cute aesthetics for feminist activism in Japan. It’s been quite the journey, as it took me to a place I didn’t expect. While cuteness was taken up as a powerful rhetorical tool to lobby for change, marginalized groups were pushed away /1
November 10, 2023 at 11:17 PM
In Australia, there have been some panics about anime and manga over the past few years.

But how is anime actually classified here?

As part of a bigger project on well-being in anime and manga communities, I’ve been exploring how anime is analyzed and classified.
November 5, 2023 at 3:29 AM
I’ve been working through this great workbook on femmephobia, which is designed to help us explore some of the assumptions we make about femmes and gender identities.

You can purchase the workbook here:

www.ashleyhoskin.ca/resources
November 5, 2023 at 2:47 AM
Excited to be presenting my work on care robotics and living with robo-pets at Digital Intimacies on Thurs 14th December 🐶🤖

research.qut.edu.au/dmrc/digital...
November 5, 2023 at 2:26 AM