Masculinities and sexualities matter! : a secondary study on demographics

Abstract

A new demographic era with population ageing and declining fertility as growing demographic phenomena are slowly restructuring societies at multiple levels, with Japan now dealing with the impacts related to this. As home to the oldest population in the world, combined with a low fertility rate, the country must adjust to and deal with many social challenges, but also opportunities, related to these changes. Especially during the last 50 years or so, masculine norms and sexual identities have gone through huge transformations which can be connected to the rise of new demographic dynamics and phenomena. The findings show that the demographic restructuring of Japan is challenging traditional masculine norms and sexual identities, as young Japanese citizens try to adjust to not only a new economic structure, but also a social society in vast change. A society where both traditional and modern values and norms are demanding its space, at the same time as a stagnating economy is putting pressure on a continuously decreasing working-age population. However, traditional demographic studies have been slow in including social aspects as a complementary component in their studies on populations, but within a changing demographic landscape there is a need for an approach which also embodies a social understanding of demographic changes. Only that way one can develop more productive policies and recommendations to buckle with them as they further develop.