sukeban
{{Short description|Japanese term meaning "girl boss" or "delinquent girl"}}
{{Italic title}}
{{Infobox cultural movement
| name = Sukeban
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| yearsactive = 1960s–1970s
| country = Japan
| majorfigures =
| influences =
| influenced = Seinen manga,{{cite web |last1=Schmidt-Rees |first1=Hannah |title=Sukeban - The Forgotten Story of Japans Girl Gangs |url=https://www.per-spex.com/articles/fashion-history/2019/2/16/sukeban-the-forgotten-story-of-japans-girl-gangs |website=Perspex |access-date=11 April 2024 |date=16 February 2019}} Pinky Violence films,{{cite web |last1=Gravili |first1=Mattia |title=SUKEBAN: Japan's 70s Delinquent Girl Gangs |url=https://www.yokogaomag.com/editorial/sukeban |website=Yokogao |access-date=11 April 2024 |date=27 December 2023}} all-girl Bōsōzoku gangs{{cite web |last1=Healy |first1=Claire Marie |title=Remembering Japan's badass 70s schoolgirl gangs |url=https://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/28261/1/remembering-japans-badass-70s-schoolgirl-gangs |website=Dazed |access-date=11 April 2024 |date=5 November 2015}}
}}
{{Nihongo||スケバン/助番|Sukeban}} is a Japanese term meaning {{gloss|delinquent girl}}, and the female equivalent to the male {{transliteration|ja|banchō}} in Japanese culture. The usage of the word {{transliteration|ja|sukeban}} refers to either the leader of a girl gang or the entire gang itself,{{Cite web|url=https://www.angelfire.com/anime4/jslang/jibiki.htm|title = The Japanese Slang Jiko}}{{better source needed|date=November 2021}} and is not used to refer to any one member of a girl gang.Yonekawa, Akihiko. Beyond Polite Japanese: A Dictionary of Japanese Slang and Colloquialisms, 2001, pages 26–27. {{ISBN|978-4-7700-2773-3}}.
The word {{transliteration|ja|sukeban}} was originally used by delinquents, but has been used by the general population to describe the subculture since 1972. {{transliteration|ja|Sukeban}} were formed as a direct result of male gangs' refusal to accept female members, consequently the term has come to refer to the massive movement that brought feminism to public attention at a time when men of the yakuza were thriving.{{citation needed|date=November 2021}}
{{transliteration|ja|Sukeban}} reportedly first appeared in Japan during the 1960s, presenting themselves as the female equivalent to the {{transliteration|ja|banchō}} gangs, which were composed mostly of men. During the 1970s, as {{transliteration|ja|banchō}} gangs began to die out, {{transliteration|ja|sukeban}} girl gangs began to rise in number. Gangs were initially small groups of girls sneaking cigarettes in school bathrooms, but eventually grew in numbers, as did their level of criminality.{{citation needed|date=November 2021}} These gangs were commonly associated by violence and shop-lifting. Gangs ranged in size from Tokyo's United Shoplifters group, comprising roughly 80 members, to the Kanto Women Delinquent Alliance, rumored to have had around 20,000 members. {{Citation needed|date=March 2024}} Criminal activities and violence of the girl gangs in Japan reached such a high that sketches used to identify them in Japanese police pamphlets in the 1980s described aspects of their fashion as "omens of downfall".
Characteristics
=Appearance and other signifiers=
The common signifiers of {{transliteration|ja|sukeban}} include brightly-dyed or permed hair, in colours of either blonde or light brown.{{Cite web|date=2 August 2018|title=1970's Sukeban Subculture: Japanese Delinquent Gangs|url=https://japadventure.com/sukeban-subculture|access-date=1 December 2021|website=japadventure.com}} Members of {{transliteration|ja|sukeban}} also modified their school uniform by wearing coloured socks, rolling up their sleeves and lengthening their skirt, which were sometimes decorated with gang-affiliated symbols, kanji and/or slogans. The long skirts were a rejection of the popularity of the miniskirt, which had become popular in the 1960s during the sexual revolution. Though their skirts were long, {{transliteration|ja|sukeban}} often cut their shirts to expose their midriffs. Converse sneakers were also another addition, and their clothes often had handmade modifications, including badges and buttons. They wore very little make-up and sported thin eyebrows. Adding to these features, {{transliteration|ja|sukeban}} usually wore surgical masks, and often carried with them razor blades, bamboo swords and chains, which could be concealed under their skirts.{{Cite web|last=Webb|first=Beth|title=How Vicious Schoolgirl Gangs Sparked a Media Frenzy in Japan|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/how-vicious-schoolgirl-gangs-sparked-media-frenzy-japan-sukeban/|access-date=1 December 2021|website=vice.com|date=16 February 2016 }}{{Cite web|date=18 July 2019|title=The True Story Of Sukeban: Violent Girl Gangs Of '70s Japan|url=https://groovyhistory.com/sukeban-school-girl-gangs-japan|access-date=1 December 2021|website=groovyhistory.com}}
The style of the sukeban have been interpreted as a rebellion against traditional gender norms, sexism, and the objectification of women, while, more specifically, the length of their skirts has been read as a reaction to the sexual revolution.{{cite web |last1=Healy |first1=Claire Marie |title=Remembering Japan's badass 70s schoolgirl gangs |url=https://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/28261/1/remembering-japans-badass-70s-schoolgirl-gangs |website=Dazed |access-date=11 April 2024 |date=5 November 2015}}{{cite web |last1=Gravili |first1=Mattia |title=SUKEBAN: Japan's 70s Delinquent Girl Gangs |url=https://www.yokogaomag.com/editorial/sukeban |website=Yokogao |access-date=11 April 2024 |date=27 December 2023}}{{cite web |last1=Schmidt-Rees |first1=Hannah |title=Sukeban - The Forgotten Story of Japans Girl Gangs |url=https://www.per-spex.com/articles/fashion-history/2019/2/16/sukeban-the-forgotten-story-of-japans-girl-gangs |website=Perspex |access-date=11 April 2024 |date=16 February 2019}}
= Codes of Conduct and similar attitudes =
{{transliteration|ja|Sukeban}} girls followed strict rules and codes of conduct within their gangs. Each gang possessed a hierarchy as well as their own means of punishment; cigarette burns were considered a minor punishment for stealing a boyfriend or disrespecting a senior member. {{transliteration|ja|Sukeban}} were reported to engage in activities such as stimulant use, shoplifting, theft, and violence, but if arrested, could be charged with the lesser offence of "pre-delinquency".{{cite book|last=Cherry|first=Kittredge |year=1991 |title=Womansword: What Japanese Words Say About Women|publisher=Kodansha International Ltd.|orig-year=1987|isbn=4-7700-1655-7|edition=First mass market |location=Tokyo |pages=51–52|chapter=Christmas Cake Sweepstakes: Girlhood to Wedding|type=paperback}} Stimulants used often included sniffing paint thinner or glue.{{Cite web|last=Everyday|first=Vintage|date=October 18, 2018|title=Sukeban: 20 Amazing Photographs Capture Badass Girl Gangs in Japan From the 1970s and 1980s|url=https://vintagenewsdaily.com/sukeban-20-amazing-photographs-capture-badass-girl-gangs-in-japan-from-the-1970s-and-1980s/|access-date=1 December 2021|website=vintagenewsdaily.com}}
Media and cultural influence
In the 1970s and 1980s, {{transliteration|ja|sukeban}} became popular characters in {{transliteration|ja|seinen}} manga. {{transliteration|ja|Sukeban}} characters could also be seen in {{transliteration|ja|shōjō}} manga publications. {{transliteration|ja|Sukeban Deka}}, Tales of Yajikita College and {{transliteration|ja|Hana no Asuka-gumi!}} were three popular {{transliteration|ja|shōjo}} series that had a mostly {{transliteration|ja|sukeban}} cast.[http://okazu.yuricon.com/2004/03/03/yuri-mangayuri-anime-sukeban-deka/ Yuri Manga: Sukeban Deka Review], Okazu, Erica Friedman of Yuricon {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905235728/http://okazu.yuricon.com/2004/03/03/yuri-mangayuri-anime-sukeban-deka/|date=September 5, 2015}}
Pink film director Norifumi Suzuki made the first films in the seven-film Girl Boss ({{transliteration|ja|Sukeban}}) series. He also started the four-film Terrifying Girls' High School series (1971–1972) featuring {{transliteration|ja|sukeban}} characters. Both series featured prominent Pinky violent actresses Reiko Ike and Miki Sugimoto, as well as former beauty queen Reiko Oshida. On December 6, 2005, Panik House company released a four-disc region-1 DVD collection surveying {{Transliteration|ja|Sukeban}} films entitled The Pinky Violence Collection. These films challenged traditional constructions of gender and female sexuality in postwar Japan.{{cite journal|first1=Alicia|last1=Kozma|title=Pinky Violence: Shock, awe and the exploitation of sexual liberation|url=https://doi.org/10.1386/jjkc.3.1.37_1|journal=Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema|date=1 January 2012|issn=1756-4905|pages=37–44|volume=3|issue=1|doi=10.1386/jjkc.3.1.37_1|s2cid=147655347 |url-access=subscription}}
Japanese crime writer Jake Adelstein said with regards to {{transliteration|ja|sukeban}}:
{{blockquote|What is unusual is that in the yakuza, women have no authority and there are almost no female members. That the female gangs even existed is an oddity in Japan's generally sexist male-dominated deviant culture... the world was about feminism and liberation, and perhaps they felt like women have the right to be just as stupid, promiscuous, risk-seeking, adrenaline junkies and violent as their male counterparts.}}
See also
- {{Transliteration|ja|Oira Sukeban}}
- Bōsōzoku
- {{Ill|Yankī|ja|ヤンキー (不良少年)|display=1}}
- {{Ill|Teamer|ja|チーマー}} (Chīmā)
- {{Ill|Color Gang|ja|カラーギャング}}
Footnotes
{{Reflist}}
Sources
- Ashcraft, Brian with Ueda Shoko (2010). Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential: How Teenage Girls Made a Nation Cool. Kodansha. {{ISBN|978-4-7700-3115-0}}.
- Weisser, Yuko Mihara (2nd Quarter 2001). "Japanese Fighting Divas 101". Asian Cult Cinema #31.
{{Japanese social terms}}
Category:Female stock characters in anime and manga
Category:Japanese words and phrases
Category:Juvenile delinquency in fiction