2018 | Queer As Cat

[A]sexuality, Mental [Un]health, Queer[ness]

Burnt Out & Neurotic: The Toll of Blogging While Ace and Mentally Ill

December 26, 2018 / 3 Comments

Over the course of the past few years or so, I've had no choice but to come face-to-face with the fact that I'm not exactly the spitting image of mental health. That, in fact, I never have been, having struggled with persistent depression and social anxiety for years, whether I was conscious of that fact or not. As such, debilitating depression/anxiety isn't new to me. Simultaneous burnout and mental breakdown on account of blogging was, however.

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Vesper H.

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パレードの皆さん、お疲れ
April 26, 2015

QAC 75 – Questioning In Silence?: Identity | Self-Discovery | Stigma || Random Thoughts
February 27, 2019

romantic orientation pride
May 29, 2013
[Random] Thoughts, Black[ness], Japan[ese], Queer[ness]

Sixty-six // Thirty-three

December 22, 2018 / 1 Comment

One-third of my life. That's how much of my life I've lived outside of America. My so-called "home country."

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Vesper H.

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Re: “”Visibility””
September 18, 2017

adventures in Japanese TV: “Gathering of 13 Trans Women”
February 9, 2017

ARTICLE: “Why Transgender People In Japan Prefer To Be Told They Have A “Disorder””
August 17, 2016
[A]sexuality, [Random] Thoughts, Gender[queer], Queer[ness]

1978 Call Out Culture Is Fierce…! lmao

November 26, 2018 / No Comments

…so, I’ve been reading “The Bisexual Option”, originally published in 1978 by Fritz Klein, in order to write A Thing, when I came across this gem. Feeling personally Called Out by it (who knew 1978 call out culture was so fierce?!) and yet am also not– all at the same time. Either way, feeling the need to put my sardonic lulz here for my own future entertainment. Oh, and no. As interesting as it is at times, I don’t recommend reading the book yourself unless you’re prepared to metaphorically grit your teeth the whole way through. Consider this to be me having read it so that you don’t have to. 🙂 Willing to share my findings with those who are interested, but really I’m just reading the book to critique it zzz…

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Vesper H.

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Black Mirror: “San Junipero”
July 6, 2017

“You are freaking perfect how you are.”
June 19, 2018

sigh.
July 23, 2017
[A]sexuality, Japan[ese], Queer[ness], YouTube[r]

QAC 73 – 【Asexuality In JAPAN】An Interview ♠【アセクシャルって？】日本ｘ英語圏 || #AAW2018

October 26, 2018 / 1 Comment

Happy Asexual Awareness Week! I hope you, reader, are doing well. Last month, I had the pleasure of sitting down with two activists in Japan to shoot this interview about a topic that is pretty dear to me; that is, about the current state of the asexual community in Japan. It goes without saying that everything that’s said in the video is nothing but the experiences and opinions of three people and should NOT be mistaken as being representative of the experiences or opinions of everyone, but at the same time, who better to ask than two of the most active and dedicated people that I know in what is essentially the current hub for ace activity in Japan (Tokyo)? In this 23-minute and 10-question long (bear with me) interview, I sit down with 21 year old YouTuber, ace activist and friend, Nakaken of Seisei Doudou / 性性堂堂, as well…

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Vesper H.

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QAC 71 – Testosterone, Libido & Asexuality: Has HRT Changed My Sexuality? || The T Files #009
July 9, 2018

QAC 39 – Biromantic + Panromantic Pride! | Being Both Bi & Pan
September 23, 2015

QAC 48 – Non-Binary Gender Norms & (A)sexuality: Yeah, No.
March 27, 2016
[A]sexuality, Japan[ese], Queer[ness]

「やがて君になる」/ “Yagate Kimi ni Naru”: an aro/ace coded, sapphic ‘love story’…?

October 8, 2018 / 3 Comments

cw: non-consensual touch and invasion of personal space this past Friday say the TV premiere of 「やがて君になる」 / “Yagate Kimi ni Naru” (“Bloom Into You”), a new anime based on the on-going manga of the same name by 仲谷鳰 / Nio Nakatani. while those who understand Japanese will benefit from the trailer shown above (and here, have another one), continue reading if you’re able to stomach my rudimentary rendition of the basic premise of the anime and what happened in the first episode that has me clinging to my seat in the hope that this particular series may not be your typical 百合 / yuri (sapphic / lesbian) story, but rather an aro/ace coded, mixed orientation ‘love story’. a story about two girls– one an avid reader of romance manga who struggles with having never once experienced for herself the love she reads about, the other having never experienced attraction…

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Vesper H.

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QAC 28 – On “Blackness”, Queer Identity & Intersectionality (a rant)
July 14, 2014

QAC 73 – 【Asexuality In JAPAN】An Interview ♠【アセクシャルって？】日本ｘ英語圏 || #AAW2018
October 26, 2018

QAC 50 – Biphobia x Non-Binary Erasure x Binarism || Bi Non-Binary People Exist
June 12, 2016
[A]sexuality, Gender[queer], Queer[ness], YouTube[r]

QAC 72 – Outted To Religious Mom: 4 Years Later | HRT | Non-Binary Relationship || #ItGetsBetter?

September 18, 2018 / No Comments

in 2014, YouTube outted me to my mom and she’s struggled to understand, let alone accept my sexuality and gender ever since. four years later, things are still touch-and-go when mom finds out that i’m on testosterone and in what she perceives to be a “lesbian relationship”… does her head implode yet again? #ItGetsBetter, they said. well, at this point i have zero fucks to give either way, buuttt i made this #LifeUpdate / #StoryTime video for you anyway. consider this me being ‘officially’ back from being MIA / AFK, i suppose.

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Vesper H.

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QAC 71 – Testosterone, Libido & Asexuality: Has HRT Changed My Sexuality? || The T Files #009
July 9, 2018

Tokyo Rainbow Pride 2016 musings
May 15, 2016

an example of intersectional acephobia if ever there was one…
December 16, 2015
[A]sexuality, [Random] Thoughts, Gender[queer], Queer[ness], YouTube[r]

humbled

July 31, 2018 / No Comments

it’s always humbling (for me) to be told by someone that something i made / did / said matters to them, but for whatever reason it feels especially… significant? when i’m told it out of the blue offline. i mean, the last thing i expected to happen going into work today was for a coworker, who happened to be in town for an in-house training event, to approach me about having seen me in a BuzzFeed video about asexuality…

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Vesper H.

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…one of many examples of why navigating セクマイ / LGBTQIA spaces in Japan can be painful at times.
October 7, 2016

QAC 39 – Biromantic + Panromantic Pride! | Being Both Bi & Pan
September 23, 2015

Ace & Non-binary Pride @Tokyo Rainbow Pride 2015 (04/26/15)
May 10, 2015
[Random] Thoughts, Queer[ness]

…and here we are. again. (cw: homophobia, nsfw)

July 17, 2018 / 1 Comment

NYTimes Opinion: “Trump and Putin: A Love Story” This is a three-part series of short satirical video cartoons called “Trump Bites” by Bill Plympton, a two-time Oscar-nominated animator. In Episode Two of “Trump Bites,” above, Mr. Trump’s not-so-secret admiration for President Vladimir Putin of Russia plays out in a teenager’s bedroom, where the fantasies of this forbidden romance come to life. “Trump Bites” is a series of three short video cartoons that combine real Donald Trump audio clips with hand-drawn fantasy animations by Mr. Plympton. The video cartoons riff on Mr. Trump’s absurd utterances to illustrate the president’s tumultuous inner life of paranoia, narcissism and xenophobia [ … ] lying in bed at 1:08am on a Tuesday, scrolling through my Twitter feed, this animation portraying the “forbidden romance” between Trump and Valdimir Putin in which the same-gender status of the ought-be rivals is the entirety of the ‘sick’, ‘edgy’ punchline…

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Vesper H.

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pen. ink. paper: journaling as self-care
January 27, 2019

…i just did something bad.
September 9, 2017

IF {subcommunity building} THEN {…?}
March 11, 2019
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This Is Fine.

July 14, 2018 / No Comments

in 2015, i wrote a random, word vomit of a post about being “WhenTheStarsAlignHyperRo[mantic]” while offhandedly reflecting back on what little ‘data’ i had to work off of in trying to figure out my own experience of romantic attraction (or lack thereof). it was the first second (in so far as i remember) time i had questioned not being (allo)romantic outside of my head (& journal) while shrugging off identifying as being on the aromantic spectrum.

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Vesper H.

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gossip 〜 the first gay culture cafe in Tokyo
August 24, 2016

the ‘Sin City’ asexual
January 10, 2019

Documentary Explores The Reality Of Being Black And Gay In The Church
November 14, 2015
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QAC 71 – Testosterone, Libido & Asexuality: Has HRT Changed My Sexuality? || The T Files #009

July 9, 2018 / No Comments

six months on testosterone and navigating having a (over)active libido (or “sex drive”) to show for it. as an ace, suddenly having to navigate having a high libido for the first time in my life has been…. interesting, to say the least.

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Vesper H.

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「私はゲイ」自分の言葉で、自分を語る / “I’m Gay” – Talking About Myself By Myself: Gay men talk about their own identity.
May 6, 2016

VICELAND – GAYCATION Episode 1: Japan
March 3, 2016

spotted: LGBT 101 on Japanese TV
February 21, 2015