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Host / Kyabakura (Maho Fujimoto)
How gender is presented through POSING
INTRODUCTION
This page will explore different posing including facial expression of hosts and kyaba-jyo seen on signboards that demonstrates gender: femininity or masculinity. First, how are femininity and masculinity presented in advertisements?
Femininity: Touching self, caressing an object, lying on the floor, sitting on a bed or chair, Eyes closed, not alert, Confused, Vulnerable, Body contorted, dressed like a child, Holding an object or a man for support, Sexy and sexually available, Seductive, Playful, Careless (Jha et al., 2017, page 2).
Masculinity: standing upright, Eyes open and looking around, Bodies are controlled, Mean expression on face, Gripping things tightly with hands, Hands in pockets, serious, physically active (Jha, Raj, & Gangwar, 2017, page 1).
The page will examine how kyaba-jyo and hosts represent themselves through posing and facial expressions and lead to further discussion on if these gender representations on advertisements are applied to these signboards.
Feminine Touch
Women, more than men, are pictures using their fingers and hands to trace the outlines of an object or to cradle it or to caress its surface, or to effect a “just barely touching” of the kind that might be significant between two electrically charged bodies. (Goffman, 1976, page 29)
Goffman calls this “feminine touch” which is posing that is a key element that demonstrates gender representation of femininity. Although he argues that the feminine touch is most used by women, the fieldwork observation on host clubs and kyabakura signboards showed it was conducted by both hosts and kyaba-jyo. For kyabakura signboards, 46 out of 51 kyaba-jyo on the signboards used feminine touch in different areas such as the chest, head, lips, and checks. This use of curled hands shows delicacy and elegance in the appearance of the kyaba-jyo. Furthermore, depending on the placement of the hand, it can bring viewers’ eyes to that particular place. The feminine touch is often used by hosts as well, which is very unique and rare for men to have feminine posing on signboards. This contradicts of the representation of masculinity in advertisements that display “gripping things tightly with hand”. Why would hosts present themselves in feminine posing? This can be decoded as an approach to their targeted female audience. Through feminine posing, female viewers feel more comfortable and accessible instead of showing a strong grip or power of masculinity that may lead to distancing the targets.
Revealing Muscle
Some hosts reveal their masculine bodies. One of the hosts pulls his shirt up with his mouth emphasizing his abdominal muscle. While it shows its high degree of masculinity through his flexed abdominal muscle, with the exposure of tanned skin and the way he lifts his shirt with his mouth attributes to sexual attractiveness.
Posing with Legs Open
Many hosts, especially when posing while sitting on the ground or chair, have their legs open, and not together. This is one of the characteristic that demonstrates masculinity. Due to the social norm for women to sit with their legs closed, all kyaba-jyo has their legs together or crossed. However, some hosts sit with a knee bent up or legs apart on the chair. This illustrates the casual but arrogant and powerful characteristics of men.
Legs Crossed and Tilted to the Side
In contrast to hosts posing with their legs open, kyaba-jyo has their legs together and crossed. most of their crossed legs are tilted to the side, which has an effect on making their legs look longer. the diagonal line with their legs together presents their elegance and femininity.
Laying on the Floor
Goffman also mentions “Ritualization of Subordination” in his finding on feminine representation in advertisements that women are often posed on the floor or on the bed (Goffman, 1976, page 68). Two of the kyaba-jyo on signboards were laid down on the floor on her stomach with their chin on their hands. These posing display women as sexual objects and show their sexual availability. It is as if this kyaba-jyo are inviting customers for sexual activities which are not allowed in their service. The pose of laying down was also seen on host signboards. The host has a naked upper body and lays on what appears to be in bed. Here, the host is displayed as a sexual object and invites the viewers into his bed. Thus, this representation of sexual availability is now presented in both women and men.
Chin Up and Half Opened Eyes
Some hosts pose with their chin up or head tilted a little back with their eyes half closed. This makes the facial expression serious. The half-opened eyes make the gaze lustily, increasing the sexual attractiveness. Also, it can be interpreted as looking down on the viewers. Hence, showing the hosts’ dominance over power in the relationship with the viewers. They consider themselves as higher status and attain more power over the viewers. This posing illustrates the lustful and sexual attractiveness, but at the same time demonstrates a high representation of masculinity.
Upward Gaze / 上目使い
In contrast to the hosts’ half-opened eyes that look down on the viewers, the use of upward gaze or “上目遣い” (uwame zukai) was used by many kyaba-jyo on their signboards. The upward gaze is established by pulling the chin in a little to look up at the camera. Upward gaze, or looking up to the camera makes their eyes look bigger and increases the cuteness and pureness of the appearance. It is as if they are pleasing the viewers to come to their store. This use of gaze is very feminine in looking up to the targeted male viewers.
Feminine touch on Kyabakura signboards
Feminine touch on host clubs signboards
Signboard of kyaba-jyo laying down
Signboard o host laying down
Summary
This page explored different poses of hosts and kyaba-jyo that demonstrated gender and reveal some contradictions to the theories argued by Goffman. While kyaba-jyo all had similar posing that demonstrated their femininity such as feminine touch and the way they sit, as well as the upward graze, hosts had a wide range of posing coving not only masculine representation but also feminine posing. This representation of women by men is what makes these signboards significant from others. Hosts incorporate feminine posing such as feminine touch and ritualization of subordination to appeal to their female viewers. At the same time, there are hosts that only show masculinity or hosts that combine both. This variety in posing is also relevant to the variety in types of characteristics of hosts. Conclusively - kyaba-jyo lacks variety in posing and characteristics, however; hosts offer a variety of characteristics to viewers. Furthermore, this conclusion can indicate that kyabakura users focus mainly on appearance, while host club users also value the characteristics of the workers.