Mediating Feminism: Newspaper and Magazine Coverage of Sartre and Beauvoir in Japan = 1966年の新聞、雑誌による来日のボーヴォワール

Abstract: This article explores media depictions of Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir during their visit to Japan in the fall of 1966. The author argues that differential coverage of the two philosophers reveals an implicit sexist bias whereby Beauvoir's stature and accomplishments are consistently downplayed in comparison to Sartre's. Evidence for this argument is drawn from a corpus of 55 articles in large-circulation newspapers and their affiliate magazines, with special attention to the way Sartre and Beauvoir are depicted in the articles' texts, headlines, photos and accompanying captions, and supplementary materials such as interviews and summaries of their speeches. Based on this evidence, the author concludes that editorial efforts to highlight Sartre while effacing Beauvoir reveal latent anxieties surrounding the role of the intellectual woman at a time when women were increasingly urged to prioritize wife and motherhood over career and academic pursuits.