Japan PSBL · Performing, selling and buying love: women between commodification of intimacy and self-actualization in contemporary Japan

Performing, selling and buying love: women between commodification of intimacy and self-actualization in contemporary Japan

Context and overall objectives Across Europe and beyond, societies are witnessing profound changes in how people form relationships and experience intimacy. Japan offers a particularly striking case study, with one of the lowest birth rates in the world, a declining marriage rate, and a rapidly ageing population. These demographic trends are accompanied by deep social shifts: many people find traditional family models unfulfilling or unattainable, while new markets of emotional and sexual services emerge to meet desires for intimacy, care, and companionship. My project investigates how intimacy becomes commodified in this context and how such practices reshape the way women in contemporary Japan experience relationships, selfhood, and belonging. Specifically, it explores services that provide female-to-female intimacy, both emotional and sexual. These include commercial settings where women can purchase companionship, romantic encounters, or sexual experiences with other women. Within this broader field, the project case studies are 1) dansō escorts (female-to-male crossdressers who provide companionship to female clients) While not offering sexual services, these escorts embody alternative masculinities and create emotionally meaningful experiences for their customers; 2) female prostitution for women. By examining these diverse forms of commodified intimacy, the project addresses pressing questions: What new forms of emotional and sexual connection are emerging in societies where conventional relationships are increasingly fragile? How do women use commercial services not only for pleasure, but also for self-expression, healing, and self-actualization? Can commodified intimacy offer sustainable alternatives to traditional notions of love, marriage, and reproduction? The overall objective is to understand how commodified female/female intimacy in Japan reflects wider global transformations in intimacy under late capitalism, where markets increasingly mediate even the most personal aspects of life. Through ethnographic research and interdisciplinary analysis, the project situates these services within debates in social sciences and the humanities—including gender studies, feminist theory, anthropology, and sociology—thus integrating diverse perspectives to capture the complexity of human intimacy. The project pathway to impact builds on several dimensions. First, it contributes to academic debates by producing original knowledge on underexplored forms of intimacy and gender performativity in a female-female context. Second, it provides insights for policy discussions on demographic challenges, gender equality, and the changing nature of family and care. Third, it promotes societal understanding of sexual diversity and alternative forms of emotional fulfilment, countering stigma and broadening public imagination about what relationships can look like. In scale and significance, the project has both local and global relevance. In Japan, it sheds light on how women navigate social expectations and demographic pressures through alternative practices of intimacy. Internationally, it contributes to understanding broader transformations in intimacy in an age when many societies face similar challenges of demographic decline, loneliness, and the commercialization of care. By highlighting how women create meaningful connections within commodified settings, the project shows that markets of intimacy are not merely transactional, but can also foster creativity, self-expression, and new relational possibilities. In this way, the project not only analyzes existing realities but also points towards potential pathways for reimagining intimacy and care in the 21st century.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union