Q&A: “I’m planning to apply for the JET Programme and I’m not sure what I should do with the “gender” section…”

anonymous said:

Hiya there, fellow Japanese-speaking asexual non-binary person! I’m planning to apply for the JET Programme in two years and I’m not sure what I should do with the “gender” section of the application. Should I select 女 (my DGAB) or is it possible to get an X in that section somehow? How did you approach this? Thanks in advance!

hello, anon. 🙂

when i applied to JET i had no means of understanding my gender let alone communicating it to someone else, so i was still defaulting to my DGAB at the time. that was 10 years ago (unbelievable how time flies), but i imagine that that part of the application process hasn’t changed since then, unfortunately.

speaking only for myself and what i’d probably do if i were to apply again today, i’d probably err on the side of caution and put my DGAB on the application form itself for the sake of not potentially getting my application automatically dismissed over what they might assume to be a mistake if i were to fill that part of the application form out in some unconventional way to convey my unlisted gender. i’d try to offset that by incorporating the fact that i’m non-binary elsewhere in my application (in the statement of purpose, for example) or at the very least bring it up during the interview, if possible.

i know that there are a lot of non-binary people currently on JET, as well as those who may not currently be on JET but who have applied more recently than i have– not to mention those who have just applied this year. if anyone else out there has advice or personal experience with this and is up for sharing with anon, please do! it’d be much appreciated.

good luck, anon!

edit: see the notes on the original post on Tumblr for people’s responses.