Female Spirit Possession and Sexuality in Genji monogatari

In Murasaki Shikibu\u27s Genji monogatari , the readers follow the protagonist, Hikaru Genji, on his journey of romance and political power within the Heian period\u27s polygamist court (784-1185). Due to high ranking males in Heian court possessing sexual privilege, women are often neglected as their courtiers seek extraneous love affairs. A perplexing consequence of this permissible male lifestyle leads women to use the supernatural force of spirit possession or mono no ke. While many scholars conclude that insatiable female emotions unconsciously elicit spirit possessions, women who are involved in the act willfully push the boundaries of male sexuality through sacrifice, mental synchronization and performativity. This suggests that Murasaki Shikibu resorted to fiction (tsukuri monogatari) to implicitly project her own social commentary about the sexual privileges men received in this polygamist society