This article addresses a conspicuous phenomenon within the burgeoning cute cultures of contemporary Japannamely, pre-adult women adopting a fashion style that is simultaneously cute and hyper-sexy. While both cuteness and hyper-sexuality stand in contradiction to the norms of Japan's patriarchal gender system, public amalgamations of these two elements constitute a trend initiated by and for some contemporary young Japanese women. Through a series of ethnographic observations and theoretical reflections, the authors aim to uncover how the initially subcultural cute fashion phenomenon was brought to public attention by incorporating hyper-sexy elements into a 'sexy' facade that publicly signalled these young women taking control of their own sexuality. Such a transformation not only works to reclaim these practitioners' sexual identities as women, but may also destabilize prevailing perceptions of acceptable (or desirable) feminine behaviour through the very instruments of sexuality that are readily produced and made available in the heterosexual consumer market.
Abstract This article examines a conspicuous, vastly disseminating cultural practice among the young Indigenous people of Brazil to hybridize their ethnic motifs with global fashion in order to classify their glocal mode of being. Young Indigenous subjects generally perceive the modal practice to be ethnically appropriating in their own generational right. Through ethnographic observations coupled with theoretical reflections on cultural hybridity, the authors will highlight how neo-ethnic fashion enables initially marginalized category of Indigenous ethnicity to be brought to public attention on a global scale. Neo-ethnic self-styling operates as a means to re-appropriate heritage in trans-traditional ways at a time when ethnicity itself is increasingly becoming a globally trendy subject. Social networking service plays a crucial role in disseminating the phenomena across different ethnic groups.
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