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Q&A: “do people in japan know about asexuality or intersex , graysexuals , aromantics…?”
anonymous said: i was wondering, do people in japan know about asexuality or intersex , graysexuals , aromantics…? they know about lgbt but what about these? is there any kind of awareness to it? ( i discovered that im ace flux and still questioning whether demisexual or graysexual, but also that im biromantic seemingly and was wondering if it would be a problem there? are people accepting or aware of them or just lgbt?) it’s hard to make a broad generalization about an entire country of people, but generally speaking, i’d say that awareness of intersex people, the ace spectrum and the aro spectrum– and indeed, LGBT everything– is behind where it is in, say, the US. at the same time, Japan is a very diverse place. within the same country, even among the same demographic of people, awareness can vary greatly. everything i’m saying and about to say is…
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botched allyship & language barriers #TRP2017
ie. that time when a women’s sex toy store promoted much needed awareness of diversity at Tokyo Rainbow Pride, but due to incredibly poor research on their part as well as a language barrier that is not their fault, inadvertently ended up spreading damaging misinformation about intersex people, polysexuality and ‘skoliosexuality’, among other things. and of course i kind of went off on Twitter about it because that’s what i do when i’m not going off about something on Tumblr instead. like every year, Love Piece Club, a very well known Tokyo-based shop and website for women, had a booth at Tokyo Rainbow Pride this year. at past Prides that i’ve been to (both in and outside of Tokyo) they have been one of (if not The) Only booth(s) selling miscellaneous small goods (badges, stickers, etc) in more than just rainbow flag colors. because of that, i know that they have…
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National Geographic: “Gender Revolution” (Japanese Edition)
just got the Japan edition of National Geographic’s special issue “Gender Revolution”. bearing in mind that i haven’t actually sat down and read through it yet, here are a few snaps along with my initial impression. prior to getting my hands on this magazine (and in fact, before it had even been released), i already had a general idea of what to expect based on snippets of featured articles that i’d come across online. plus, you know, the fact that it’s NatGeo. as such, i feel like there was never any chance of me being pleasantly surprised in any way, even though i’d set my expectations low to begin with. well, i’m glad i did, because i’m nitpicky as all hell. but we all already knew that. at a glance, there are some great things going on in this magazine, such as the increase in awareness of trans, intersex and non-binary…
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Q&A: “Could it be possible that there really only are 2 genders?”
anonymous said: Hey, Vesper! I have a very serious question to ask. It’s about gender. It might come off as offensive, but in no means is it meant to be. Could it be possible that there really only are 2 genders? Hear me out: it can be argued that gender is not really determined by characteristics or genitals, instead more by chromosomes, XX or XY. For humans, biologically there is only male and female(no, i did not forget intersex), but gender identity can be a whole other deal! You see, gender identity can be how someone feels about their gender. Like, I was born female, but I did not feel like that fit. Male didn’t fit either, so I identify as agender. But, I didn’t really feel like it was an actual gender as much as an identity, a way for me to express myself. I may just be getting…
