Risk Communication under Post-feminism: Analysis of Risk Communication Programmes after the Fukushima Nuclear Accident

Abstract

Management of risk perception, in addition to risk itself, is an important pillar of risk governance. Risk communication became pervasive in post-Fukushima Japan as the power industry grappled with the decline in support for and trust in nuclear power. Using case studies of risk communication programmes by the nuclear industry after the Fukushima nuclear accident, this article analyses the deployment of lay people, particularly women, in risk communication as an emergent characteristic of contemporary risk communication. The data are published documents, websites and videos made by two organisations affiliated with the electric power industry. Drawing on theories of neoliberal governmentality and post-feminist gender settlement, this article highlights how contemporary risk discourse refashions risk into something positive, rather than only potentially negative: risk becomes something to be bravely taken by savvy individuals, particularly women. This article shows how women are incorporated into risk communication not only as targets but also as messengers, and how the contents of risk communication weave feminist and post-feminist themes together in order to appeal to women.