Pinky Violence: Shock, awe and the exploitation of sexual liberation

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article examines Pinky Violence films, exploitation movies from 1960s and 1970s Japan, focusing specifically on radical portrayals of gender and sex. Utilizing the subversive space of exploitation cinema, Pinky Violence films provide alternative constructions of gender and female sexuality through the character of the sukeban: the girl gang boss. An evaluation of both the cultural and the historical factors that led to the development of Pinky Violence films demonstrates how the changing post-war society indelibly influenced new iterations of gender for Japanese women. An assessment of the tropes of the films and an analysis of the ideology behind them pinpoints Pinky Violence as an unvalued, and hence understudied, area in transgressive Japanese cinema. By doing so, the article ultimately attempts to position Pinky Violence films as a valuable source of untapped material that can offer a unique insight into constructions of gender in Japanese cinema.