Gitte’s research currently focuses on women as agents of violence in contemporary Japanese cultural expressions, which is the topic of her PhD dissertation at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge. She is particularly interested in connections between normative notions of femininity and women’s violent acts – both internally directed violence such as eating disorders, self-harm and suicide as well as externally directed violence such as murder, child and partner abuse. Her research project is a cross study between sociology and literature and deals with diverse cultural expressions, such as Murakami Haruki's, Kanehara Hitomi's, and Kirino Natsuo's literary works, as well as Miyazaki Hayao's animation and artwork by Aida Makoto, among others.

Gitte Marianne Hansen is a PhD Student from ambridge University.