Aoi Saito

My dissertation project examines Japanese women involved in the sex trade in Tokyo from 1925 to 1965. I show how these women created homosocial networks to promote their community welfare, and I argue that their grassroots efforts earned them governmental recognition and support. This research shows how sex workers collectively navigated legal challenges and social stigmas, positively represented their ability to support themselves, and influenced state welfare policies. My approach uses mixed methods including social-historical, cultural-historical, and visual analyses of newspapers, memoirs, and photos produced by women who engaged in sex work and novel methods such as linguistic analysis of oral interviews.

My project starts in 1925, the year the Japanese state began revising prostitution-related laws. Despite new laws that aimed to improve life for women in the trade, they were exposed to diseases and trafficked to colonies during wartime. To address these challenges, sex workers started running programs concerning community health, labor, and women’s protection after World War II. The Japanese government later adopted their programs when it outlawed prostitution in 1958 and initiated legal measures to prevent these women from returning to the sex business. My project concludes in 1965 when the government implemented national welfare programs that lessened the importance of women’s pre-existing welfare cooperatives. Through this narrative, my work opens up conversations about how lower-class women’s social networks can serve to foster mutual aid and engagement in politics.