Q&A: “I read your post about transphobia of Japan….”
anonymous said: I read your post about transphobia of Japan. I identify myself as genderqueer and MtF lesbian. I tried to join the event for lesbians in Tokyo, but they rejected me at the entrance. Because, I have my beautiful beard and my ID says I am biologically male. I was there with my classy black dress, but they didn’t think me as woman! This is so transphobic! Also, I think the term lesbian itself is very transphobic. TERF lesbians should go to hell. We need safe space for queer and non-binary in Japan! i’m really sorry to hear about the shitty experience that you had, anon. sadly, it’s not the first time that i’ve heard of someone having this experience and i suspect that i might even know the event that you tried to go to. it’s incredibly frustrating how a lot of LG(BT) spaces / events in Japan…
navigating trans misogyny in the Japanese lesbian community…
translation: Accepting participants for the Ibaraki Lesbian Outdoor Meetup ★ [ …… ] Women loving women, FtMs, non-binary people & those questioning, let’s relax and chat together! However, this time only those who are registered as single and female on their family register are allowed, sorry. (Trying to gradually be a little more lax, but… ?) ….and THIS is why i almost always end up having to go all the way to Tokyo to participate in stuff, because the most (seemingly) active part of the LGBT community here (the lesbian community) is so goddamn transphobic. for the last two meetups, the OP was like “no trans women, sorry!” and that was the end of it. this time it doesn’t even mention trans women at all, only providing enough wiggle room for trans men and non-binary people provided they have “F” on their family register… am i or people like me supposed to…
transphobia & non-binary erasure in Japanese media
on Twitter i live-tweet my frustrations with various things i see on Japanese TV, including how trans and non-binary celebs are treated. the downside to this is that tweets quickly get lost in my timeline and then it’s a pain in the ass to dig them back up if/when i want to reference them. this post is me digging up some of those tweets and putting them here for my own ease of reference and so others can see examples of transphobia & non-binary erasure in Japanese media.
”Daily ? UGHs”
random doodle about random things that i hear my students say to each other or that they say to me on any given day that make me go UGH. “SHE’s 30 and not married! lol” “you don’t have kids??” “don’t worry, you still have time! (to get married, have kids)” “lol T-chan もしかしてお前オカマ？！ (don’t tell me you’re a tranny!)” “sensei’s on OUR team!” “but you’re a girl!” “キモイ！ホモかよ？！ (eww! what are you, a homo?!)” “only girls would understand, right *given name*!” and the saddest, most frustrating part is that most of this is said by kids under 10 years old…
