Judith Butler’s concept of gender as performative provides a useful lens for interpreting “cheekiness” as a scripted enactment of femininity that both conforms to and destabilizes normative expectations. In Japanese pop culture, “cheeky” (in Japanese, chōkō or kakkoii when referring to audaciousness) often manifests through a mixture of humor, sexual innuendo, and assertive agency (Napier, 2005). Scholars such as Susan J. Napier and Hiroki Azuma have identified a lineage of “playful femininity” ranging from the kawaii (cute) to the yabai (dangerous) archetype. This research positions the cheeky girl at the intersection of those poles, treating her as a case study for how contemporary media negotiates the fluidity of gendered performance.
Judith Butler’s concept of gender as performative provides a useful lens for interpreting “cheekiness” as a scripted enactment of femininity that both conforms to and destabilizes normative expectations. In Japanese pop culture, “cheeky” (in Japanese, chōkō or kakkoii when referring to audaciousness) often manifests through a mixture of humor, sexual innuendo, and assertive agency (Napier, 2005). Scholars such as Susan J. Napier and Hiroki Azuma have identified a lineage of “playful femininity” ranging from the kawaii (cute) to the yabai (dangerous) archetype. This research positions the cheeky girl at the intersection of those poles, treating her as a case study for how contemporary media negotiates the fluidity of gendered performance.