The Causal Factors of Otoko’s Homosexuality
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Oki remembered that two months after the death of her baby Otoko took an overdose of sleeping medicine. Had she also remembered? He had rushed to her
side as soon as he learned of it. Her mothers efforts to get Otoko to leave him had brought on the suicide attempt, but she sent for him nevertheless. Oki
stayed at their house to help take care of her. Hour after hour he massaged her thighs, swollen and hard from massive injections. Her mother went in and out
of the kitchen bringing hot steamed towels. Otoko lay nude under a light kimono. Still only sixteen, she had very slender thighs, and the injections made
them swell up grotesquely Kawabata,1996:12.
Otoko took an overdose of sleeping medicine two months after she lost her baby. The fact that Otoko lost her baby and had never seen it and her mother’s efforts
to get her to leave Oki had given her a massive pain which resulted a severe stress thus brought her on the suicide attempt. She could not endure it all emotionally and
physically that made her could not do anything but laid nude under a light kimono and got a massive injections that made her very slender thighs swollen. Reffering to
Judith Herman’s theory, the death of her baby had overwhelmed her ordinary system of care that gave her sense of control, connection and meaning, thus brought her to
suicide attempt. He stayed by Otokos side for three days without sleeping, until she finally
opened her eyes. She writhed and moaned in pain, pawing frantically at herself. Then her glaring eyes seemed to fix on him. No, no Go away Kawabata,
1996:12.
The stress Otoko faced had made her being unconscious for a several days. When she finally opened her eyes, she writhed and moaned in pain, pawing
fractically at herself. She gave an unpredictable reaction when she saw Oki. She did not want to see him and asked him to go away. It showed that even though Otoko was
so madly in love with Oki, the fact that she lost her baby had hurt her really bad.
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About two months after her suicide attempt Otoko had been hospitalized in a psychiatric ward, behind barred windows. He learned of it from her mother, but
was not allowed to see her Kawabata, 1996:15.
After her suicide attempt, Otoko was hospitalized in a psychiatric ward. As Judith Herman stated that traumatic events overwhelm the ordinary system of care
that give people a sense of control, connection and meaning, the death of her baby had caused her a trauma. The death of her baby had brought her to suicide attempt
and also being hospitalized in a psychiatric ward. Frist, it failed Otoko’s ordinary system of care that brought her into suicide attempt, furthermore it brought her into
being hospitalized in a psychiatric ward. She was unable to bear the grief. Judith also stated that traumatic events are extraordinary, not because they occur rarely, but
rather because they overwhelm the ordinary human adaptation of life” 1992: 33. The death of Otoko’s baby was extraodinary. It overwhelmed her ordinary adaption
of life that it brought her into a psychiatric ward. But they say she hasnt gone crazy. The doctor tells me not to worry, shell
only be there a little while. Her mother gestured as if cradling a baby in her arms. She often goes like this, wanting her baby. Shes really pitiful.
Kawabata, 1996:15
Otoko was not gone crazy. She always gestured as if she was cradling a baby in her arms. She wanted her baby so bad. She was just shocked and could not accept the
fact that she lost her baby, as Judith Herman stated that immediately after the traumatic event, shock and denial are typical. In this case, Otoko might apply self
defense mechanism called denial of reality. Otoko deny to acknowledge and accept that her baby was dead.
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Long after separating from Oki, she was shocked to read in A Girl of Sixteen that on his way to meet her he would be trying to decide how to make love to
her, and that he usually did exactly as he had planned. She found it appalling that a mans heart would throb with joy as he walked along thinking about it.
−Thanks to her, he wrote, he had experienced all the ways of making love Kawabata, 1996:77.
Oki wrote a novel about his love affair with Otoko after he parted with her. The novel was tittled A Girl of Sixteen. It told everything about their love affair in detail.
The novel gave Oki a massive advantage, popularity and money. It was clear that Oki took advantage from Otoko by writing a novel about their love affair. Oki used Otoko
only for a model for his novel. All he had was not love. When she read that, Otoko burned with humiliation. But she could not suppress
her lively memories of his lovemaking; her body tensed and began to quiver. Finally the tension was released, and delight and satisfaction spread through her
whole body. Her past love had come back to life Kawabata, 1996: 79.
Based on Judith Herman, longer-term reactions of traumatic events include unpredictable emotions, flashbacks, strained relationships and even physical
symptoms like headache or nausea. In this case, the publication of the novel was a traumatic event for Otoko. It had caused further injury to Otoko. Whenever she read
the novel, the memory of the love affair might come to live again. It brought her into flashback wich came along with unpredictable emotion. It such a humiliation to
Otoko where her pure love was only taken as a love making experiements for Oki to be written to a novel. The fact that their love affair was written in detail had caused a
further traumatic feeling to Otoko. Being used as a model for a novel was like being immortalized. Their love affair was immortalized in a novel called A Girl of Sixteen.
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Two years after he parted from her the novel was published. Otoko was living in Kyoto. Her mother must have left Tokyo because of his failure to respond to
her appeal; probably she could no longer endure the sorrow that she shared with her daughter Kawabata, 1996:18.
The novel was published two years after Oki and Otoko parted. It brought on pain to Otoko and also her mother. The fact that Oki could not fulfill the demand
which Otoko’s mother asked him has lead her to take Otoko leaving Tokyo because she could not endure the sorrow she shared with her. She wanted to leave behind all
the bad memories about Oki and all the pain he brought then start a new life in a new place with Otoko.
Still, Otoko had had many opportunities for love and marriage since coming to Kyoto with her mother. But she had avoided them. As soon as she realized that
a man was in love with her, memories of Oki were revived Kawabata, 1996: 76.
All the things which had happened during her love affair with Oki had given her a severe stress which lead her to a trauma. After she parted from Oki, she avoided
all the marriage proposal because it was only reminded her to memories of the most traumatic moment in her life. As she realized that there was a man falling in love with
her, memories of Oki were revived. It showed that Otoko applied self defense mechanism which was called repression. After Otoko and her mother moved to Koyo,
they stopped to talk about Oki which might remind them to the pain. “They had come to Kyoto because Otokos mother wanted to distract her daughter from her sorrow,
and so they both avoided mentioning Okis name” Kawabata, 1996: 105. Otoko and
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her mother repress their memory and feeling about Oki in order to free themselves from the pain it brought. The memory was not forgotten, but it was just repressed.
Her desicion to not remembering everything about Oki and also not mentioning his name was also the application of emotional insulation. Otoko reduced her
emotional involvement in situations which are viewed as disappointing and hurtful, as in this case was talking about Oki and mentioning his name. She also became a
passive recipients of whatever life brought her in order to protect herself from the bitter hurt or sustained frustration again. Coleman also stated that, “it provides a
protective shell which prevents a repetition of previous pain, but it reduces the individual’s healthy, vigorous participation in life” Coleman, 1964: 127. Otoko
seemed to waste away in the summer. Summer by summer after all the troubles caused by her love affair and also her moving to Tokyo, her weakness and loss of
weight seemed more severe. “Of course she became worn and thin, with a strange look in her eye, after all the troubles caused by her love affair” Kawabata,
1996:105. Her desicion to not talking about Oki and not involving any emotion anymore had affected her healthy.
The fact that she could not make it with any man anymore proved that her relationhip with Oki and also all the bad experiences during the relationship had been
a traumatic experience for her. In the longer-term reaction to traumatic experience according to Judith, it caused flashback and unpredictable emotions to Otoko.
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Her mother told her all she knew about the proposed marriage partner, a bank clerk. If youd like to meet him, lets make a visit to Tokyo.
What do you suppose I see before me as I listen to you? Otoko asked. Youre seeing something?
Iron bars. I see the iron bars on the windows of that psychiatric ward. Her mother was silenced Kawabata, 1996:77.
The trauma was not only caused her a flashback to her hurtful relationship with Oki, but also to her grief of her dead baby. Everytime her mother told her about
marriage proposal for her, the only thing she saw was iron bars. She saw the iron bars on the windows of the psychiatric ward she entered in the past time after her baby
dead. It was really traumatizing for her. Otoko also did self defense mechanism called repression here. Beside the memory of Oki, she also repress her memory of her dead
baby after she moved to Kyoto. As a traumatic thing, it would come to life again for her as she felt any pain she felt in the past time as if it was triggered by things which
related to her traumatic experience. It was true that Otoko had never thought of Oki as a poison. Even in the room
with the barred windows she felt no resentment or hatred toward him. It was only that she was half-crazed with love. The powerful drug she took to kill
herself was soon completely purged from her body; Oki and his baby were gone from her too, and the scars they left might have been expected to fade. Yet her
love for Oki remained undiminished Kawabata, 1996:106.
It was because Otoko was only a child when Oki seduced her. She was half- crazed with love at that time. She was still really young and innocent that she had had
such a love story and a painful experience, therefore it left a deep scar to her which later became a trauma. But even after she got parted from Oki, she still loved Oki. It
was showed from her nightmare when she was sleeping. Did you have a nightmare?
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You seemed to be in pain. As Otoko gasped for breath, Keiko leaned over her and stroked her chest” Kawabata, 1996:41. One day after her meeting with Oki and all
the things which revived the memory of Oki, Otoko got a nightmare. It was about a green figure floating lightly around and around her bed. Dont make fun of me It
wasnt fierce-looking, just a green figure floating lightly round and round my bed.Kawabata, 1996:41. According to theory of post-traumatic stress disorder, it
was the result of the trauma experience. A person with traumatic experience would have nightmares about their traumatic experiences or things which related to the
traumatic experiences. Flashback and intrusive thoughts or memory may trigger nightmares which are related to their traumatic experiences. Before Otoko had that
nightmare, she had flashback and intrusive thought and memory of Oki which triggered the nightmare. In this case, Otoko’s nightmare of green figure floating
around her bed was actually illustrating her memory of Oki. She had the nightmare after she met Oki after all this years and also after the moment she was thinking to
paint the Uji tea plantation. She had made a preliminary version of the painting in her studio, on the basis of all the sketches. Actually, the Uji tea plantation reflected the
peak of her sadness after parting from Oki. After the breakup of her affair with Oki she had fled to Kyoto with her mother,
and then gone back and forth several times to Tokyo, but what especially lingered in her mind from those days were the tea fields around Shizuoka, seen
from the train window Kawabata, 1996:32.
After she met Oki, she recalled all the memories of their pas relationship. Otoko recalled the memory of tea plantation in Shizuoka, when she was in the peak of her
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sadness toward Oki. The memory that lingered forever in her mind was the tea fields around Shizouka, seen from the train window, when she went back and forth to
Tokyo after she got parted from Oki. It was just that at the sight of the tea fields, the sadness of parting, suddenly pressed in on her. “She thought of it whenever she felt
sad. Also the picture was to symbolize herself surviving all these years, as well as the beauty and sadness of her love for Oki.” Kawabata, 1996:107. All of her painting
reflected her sadness toward her love story with Oki and her loss of her baby. It portray her survive during the bad times after she lost her baby and got parted from
Oki. Therefore the green figure which was floating lightly around her bed was the bad memories of her relationship with Oki which kept haunting her thus traumatized her
also. From the explanations above, it can be concluded that the bad experiences in
Otoko’s relationship with Oki was one of the factors which made her a homosexual person. As Coleman said in his theory, one of the factors of homosexuality was
negative conditioning of heterosexual behavior. Otoko had a really bad experience during her relationship with Oki which resulted later trauma for her. According to
Coleman, Otoko did some of self-defense mechanism in order to cope with the trauma she had during the hard time after she parted from Oki. Otoko did self-defense
mechanism which Coleman mentioned as repression. After she moved to Tokyo with her mother, she and her mother agreed to not talking about Oki, even to not
mentioning his name anymore. It was because they did not want to be reminded of
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the bad memories which Oki brought in their lives. Otoko also repress her memory og her dead baby.
Otoko also did self-defense mechanism which is called sublimation. It was when Otoko decided to be a painter. It took place when she managed to displace her
emotions, which was sadness, into a constructive rather than destructive activity, painting. Otoko redirected her sadness into painting even though all of the painting
she painted was mostly based on her sadness, included the memory of Oki, her dead baby and her mother.
Otoko’s desicion to not talking about Oki and not involving any emotion anymore had affected her healthy. According to Coleman, it was emotional
insulation. “Of course she became worn and thin, with a strange look in her eye, after all the troubles caused by her love affair” Kawabata, 1996:105. Otoko seemed to
waste away in the summer. Summer by summer after all the troubles caused by her love affair and also her moving to Tokyo, her weakness and loss of weight seemed
more severe. Even after all this time, she still loved Oki. It was showed by her painting. All
the paintings she made were based of the sketches of tea plantation. But as what has been explained previously, Otoko could not do anything when she was young. She
was too afraid of Oki’s Family. She felt really powerless. And the fact that Otoko’s mother did not allow Oki to see her when she was hospitalized has given her the
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thought that Oki left her in her most dreadful experience without any reason. It seemed like she was only taken for granted.
Her loss of the baby and also Oki’s leaving had wounded her deeply thus led her to trauma. It all happened when she was just a child. It was because Otoko was
only a child when Oki seduced her. She was half-crazed with love at that time. She was still really young and innocent that she had had such a love story and a painful
experience, therefore it left a deep scar to her which later became a trauma that made her could not make it with any other men anymore. As soon she realized a man was
in love with her, then the memories of Oki revived. Also, as her mother talked about marriage proposal to her, the only thing that came into her mind was the vision of
iron bars window in the psychiatry ward. It really traumatized her, therefore it made her became a homosexual person later.
2. Homosexual experience and its positive reinforcement Reffering to Coleman, homosexual experience and its positive reinforcement
was one of psychosocial factor of Otoko’s homosexuality. It was associated with pleasant homosexual experiences during adolescence or early adulthood. Once an
individual experienced a pleasant homosexual experience and got its positive reinforcement in his adolescence or early adulthood which he could not get from
heterosexual relationship, he tends to become a homosexual after that.
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Otoko shifted from heterosexual to homosexual when shen was in her adulthood. She met Keiko for the first time still as a heterosexual person with a
traumatic past. Keiko had been a homosexual before she met Otoko. Keiko had just graduated from high school when she first came to Otokos
studio. She said she had seen her pictures at a show in Tokyo and photographs of her in a magazine, and had fallen in love with her Kawabata, 1996:68.
From the quotation above, it showed that Keiko had been a homosexual before she met Otoko. Keiko approched Otoko first. She was the one who was
attracted to Otoko first. After she graduated from high school, she came to Otoko’s studio. Keiko had been instantly falling in love with Otoko when she saw a
photograph of her in a magazine. So Keiko had appeared out of a pale bluish haze and begged to be taken in to
study painting with her. The fervor of that appeal shocked Otoko. And then suddenly Keikos arms were around her, and she seemed to be in the embrace
of a young sorceress. It was like an unexpected throb of desire Kawabata, 1996:69.
The first meeting of her and Keiko was really like an unexpected throb of desire for Otoko. Since Otoko was well known for her painting of two young geisha
playing scissors-paper-and-stone, it was like dream came true even it was with a girl. Deep inside, Otoko’s painting reflected her longing to have someone who gave her
security and comfort which was illustrated by being in the embrace of a young sorceress. According to Coleman, in this case, Otoko met both biological and
emotional needs. After she parted from Oki, Otoko’s biological and emotional needs were not fulfilled. She had no relationship with anyone who could fulfilled those
needs. As what had been explained, Otoko could not make it with any man after she
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parted from Oki. Suddenly Otoko was appealed by Keiko’s fervor at their first meeting. The illustration of her meeting with Keiko which was such a throb of desire
being in the embrace of a young sorceress was illustrated Otoko’s feeling. It was her longing for to have someone who gave her security and comfort. Surprisingly it was
fulfilled by Keiko. Otoko’s need for safety, security, belonging and approval was illustrated by it. Otoko saw Keiko as a young sorceress who could give her safety and
security. Also, “being in the embrace” illustrated belonging and approval. “Otoko came here only to sketch and to look at the stone garden, and had no
interest in its historical associations. Keiko followed her like a shadow” Kawabata, 1996: 54. Keiko always accompanied Otoko. Otoko and Keiko was inseparable since
the first time they met. Beside the fact that Keiko live with Otoko in Otoko’s place, she would always go to anywhere Otoko wanted to go. She was like a shadow to
Otoko. In this case, Keiko’s behavior pattern to follow Otoko anywhere she went represented her sincere feeling toward Otoko. Otoko never insisted Keiko for always
accompanying her all the time. It had been their behavior pattern to do anything together which made them being inseparable. Here, according to Coleman’s theory of
human needs, Otoko got her biological and emotional needs fullfiled by Keiko. She got her needs for safety, worth and meaning accomplished by Keiko. She felt safe,
worthy, meaningful because there was someone who always accompanied her. She did not have to do her activity alone anymore.
As long as I have you Im not afraid. How do you suppose Id paint if I lost you? Maybe Id give up my painting — and my life. Kawabata, 1996:33. Keiko
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really loved Otoko. She devoted her life for Otoko and so did Otoko. Keiko did everything to keep Otoko with her. She would give up everything she had only for
Otoko, even the thing she loved the most, her painting. All she wanted in her life was Otoko. Otoko means so much for her, even she was worth Keiko’s life.
Otoko somehow began toying with her at night, pressing her lips on Keikos eyelids, or nibbling at her sensitive ears until she squirmed and moaned. That
led Otoko on Kawabata, 1996: 74.
Otoko was the one who began toying with her. It was really different from what she did when she was with Oki. Otoko was really powerless when she was in love
affair with Oki. She accepted whatever Oki did to her and gave whatever he asked he to do.
Otoko Now, with Keiko, she was even freer, she had developed a bold, middle- aged eroticism. It had amazed her to learn through Keiko that she had ripened
as a woman during her long years alone. She feared that had her new lover been a man the vision she secretly guarded within her — the sacred vision of her
love with Oki — would have vanished at his touch Kawabata, 1996: 81.
This quotation strengthen that Otoko was more powerful in her relationship with Keiko. Unlike the role she had when she was in relationship with Oki, Otoko
had powerful role in her relationship with Keiko. She freely did everything she wanted when she was with Keiko. Even in her love making with Keiko. The first time
of her making love with Keiko was a shocking pleasant experience for Otoko. After she parted with Oki, she was insecure as if her new lover been a man the sacred
vision of her love for Oki which she secretly guarded within her would be vanished at his touch.
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When she recalled what he had taught her, and imitated it in making love to Keiko, she feared that the sacred vision might be stained or even destroyed. But
it remained inviolate Kawabata, 1996:78.
Otoko took the memories of her love making with Oki as a sacred vision. It was one of several reason that she could not make it with any man. She feared that the
sacred vision of her love making with Oki would be stained or even destroyed, but surprisingly it remained inviolate when she did it with Keiko. According to the theory
of human needs, Keiko fulfilled Otoko’s need for security, because Keiko did not ruin the sacred vision of Oki which was Otoko’s insecurity. Keiko also fulfilled
Otoko’s biological need, sexual gratification. For all this time Otoko feared that if she made love with a man, the sacred vision of Oki would be destroyed. But it remained
inviolated when she did it with Keiko, therefore she could get her need for sex from Keiko. Having sexual intercourse with Keiko did not revive the pain which was
brought by her traumatic experience with Oki either. Therefore, Otoko also got the biological need which was avoidance of pain. She could did sexual intercourse with
Keiko without reviving her trauma. From the explanations above, it can be concluded that Otoko’s homosexual
experiences with Keiko gave her positive implications. As Coleman stated in his theory 1976, homosexual experience and its positive reinforcement is one of the
causal factors of homosexuality. It may leads to later homosexual life-style if it is reinforced by pleasurable repetition andor meet emotional needs. It was also
strenghten by the theory of motivation by Coleman. In this case, Otoko had reached several both biological needs such as safety, avoidance of pain, and sexual
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gratification, and emotional needs such as understanding, adecuacy, competence, security, love, belonging, worth and meaning.
The first meeting with Keiko gave her the throb of desire. Her desire for security, safety, comfort, avoidance of pain and love after Oki’s leaving was fulfilled
by Keiko. Keiko kept fulfilling Otoko’s emotional needs as time went by. She gave the love which Otoko deserved. She totally supported anything which Otoko did.
Otoko meant so much to Keiko, and it also implicated values and meaning in emotional needs. Adecuacy and competence were implicated in their common
interrest in art. They shared their knowledge on art. They always did the painting together. Keiko had always been admired Otoko’s paints. Keiko also gave Otoko
understanding and approval by the way she understood and approved Otoko’s past. Otoko also got the sexual gratification from Keiko. And the more important thing
Keiko gave to Otoko was her life. She devoted her life only for Otoko. She’s rather lost everything she had than Otoko. Even though deep inside Otoko still loved Oki,
but the fact that Keiko had fulfilled both biological and emotional needs which Otoko did not have since Oki’s leaving and also Keiko did not revive the memories of Oki
made her opened her heart for Keiko thus being in relationship with her by becoming a homosexual.
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