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Queer As Cat

gender・ sexuality・ race ・intersectionality

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  • Home
  • About
    • About QAC
    • About Vesper
  • Photos
    • Instagram
    • Tokyo Rainbow Pride
      • 2014
      • 2015
      • 2016
      • 2017
      • 2018
  • Resources
    • Asexual POC Resources
    • #LGBTQIA in Japan
  • Contact

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  • [A]sexuality,  Japan[ese],  Queer[ness]

    Japanese gender / queer theory, anyone?

    May 22, 2017 / No Comments

    …so i randomly went to Book Off (used bookstore) today after work and happened to find two used books on gender studies / gender theory that not only ① explicitly discuss binarism and how society ignores those who are neither of the binary genders (male / female) nor either of the binary sexualities (gay / straight)– there’s also ② explicit mention of asexuality and the alphabet soup where the acronym LGBTIAQ is used and I is defined as “Intersex”, A as “Asexual” and Q as “Queer”. notably, these books were published in ① 2013 & ② 2006 and are original works by Japanese authors rather than books imported into Japan and translated into Japanese. below are super rough (because i’m starving, exhausted and need to go to bed damnit) English translations for the above snippets.

    continue reading
    Vesper H.

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  • [A]sexuality,  Japan[ese],  Queer[ness]

    on the discrepancy between “asexual” in English & Japanese and confusion regarding demisexuality.

    May 12, 2017 / 2 Comments

    if you’re unfamiliar with ace terminology in Japanese, it may come as some surprise to you to know that Aセクシャル / アセクシャル, the Japanese word that is phonetically equivalent to and derived from the English word “asexual”, does not mean what “asexual” means in English. while it is used at times as an umbrella term to refer to all aces, it’s often used both by aces and non-aces alike to refer specifically to what English speakers now commonly refer to as “aromantic asexuals”– or rather, people who experience neither sexual nor romantic attraction. Japanese speakers use a different word entirely to refer to people who do not experience sexual attraction but who do experience romantic attraction: ノンセクシャル, a word that is phonetically equivalent to and derived from the English word “nonsexual”… despite the fact that word means something entirely different in English. as this linguistic and cultural discrepancy is something that affects me personally not…

    continue reading
    Vesper H.

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  • [A]sexuality,  Gender[queer],  Japan[ese],  Queer[ness]

    botched allyship & language barriers #TRP2017

    May 11, 2017 / No Comments

    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…

    continue reading
    Vesper H.

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  • Japan[ese],  Q&A

    Q&A: “Could a fairly feminine looking person get away with boku?”

    March 2, 2017 / No Comments

    anonymous said: actually I’ve been wondering for awhile what “I” word you use in Japanese, I’ve been learning Japanese and just wondering as far as queer communities in Japan if they ever step out of the (w)atashi is for girls/neutral and boku/ore is for boys thing. Could a fairly feminine looking person get away with boku? just wondering about what the situation actually is surrounding those words usage. i don’t use any particular set of first person pronouns ( i / me / my / mine) because i’m not comfortable using any of them. rather, i use various different pronouns or no pronoun at all depending on the register i’m speaking in, the situation i’m in, who i’m speaking to, how i’m feeling that particular day at that particular time, etc etc. thankfully Japanese is a very flexible language when it comes to pronouns in general and doesn’t even require usage of…

    continue reading
    Vesper H.

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  • Q&A

    Q&A: “I was wondering about gender neutrality in other languages.”

    January 23, 2017 / No Comments

    buffintruda said: I was wondering about gender neutrality in other languages. What pronouns do you use in Esperanto? Does ili work the same as they in English? Could you create new pronouns like ni or something? And what about some nouns like patro and patrino? Would a word like gepatro make sense or would it be easier to ungender it completely and not ever use the ino suffix for feminist reasons as well as nb ones? And in Japanese how easy is it to go completely ungendered by others since it doesn’t use pronouns as much as English. I’ve heard that using different formality levels of ‘I’ can make you sound more feminine or masculine so how would you recommend a female perceived nb to get by? (3/3)   re: Esperanto no, “ili” cannot be used as a singular, gender-neutral pronoun in Esperanto. trying to use “ili” in that way will only…

    continue reading
    Vesper H.

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  • [A]sexuality,  [Random] Thoughts,  Gender[queer],  Japan[ese],  Queer[ness]

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

    October 7, 2016 / No Comments

    first the context: the above screenshot is from the registration form for a meetup that i’ll be attending that is exclusively for trans men and non-binary people who are AFAB who have not medically transitioned in any way. the meetup is being hosted by a group that itself is a support group for trans men and non-binary people who are AFAB and who have not medically transitioned in any way + their partners………..

    continue reading
    Vesper H.

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  • Gender[queer],  Japan[ese],  Q&A,  Queer[ness]

    Q&A: “Are there any (commonly used?) gender neutral pronouns in Japanese like there are in English?”

    September 7, 2016 / No Comments

    anonymous said: Are there any (commonly used?) gender neutral pronouns in Japanese like there are in English? I love your blog btw, your posts about Japanese are fascinating 🙂 (see also: this post) ah, thank you! although at this point i feel the need to throw out a huge disclaimer. [image reads: i’m totally a non-fluent, non-native speaker of Japanese and as such, i might not even know wtf i’m talking about! :’D but thank you for asking anyway! – Vesper] anyway, i’m inclined to say no, there are no gender neutral pronouns in Japanese like there are in English. in English, “gender neutral pronouns” generally refers to third-person pronouns used by one person to refer to another person. in Japanese, third-person pronouns aren’t used anywhere near as frequently as in English and it’s relatively easy to avoid gendering a person without using actual third-person pronouns at all, making gender neutral third-person…

    continue reading
    Vesper H.

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  • Gender[queer],  Japan[ese],  Q&A,  Queer[ness]

    Q&A: “How do I tell someone I’m non-binary in Japanese?”

    September 4, 2016 / No Comments

    anonymous said: How do I tell someone I’m non-binary in Japanese?

    continue reading
    Vesper H.

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    identity politics leave little room for agency; a thought.

    July 21, 2017
  • [Random] Thoughts,  Black[ness],  Japan[ese]

    adventures in Japanese TV: “haafu”

    September 1, 2016 / No Comments

    aaahhh, more annoying Japanese TV. despite what i said (in Japanese) while letting off steam livetweeting on Twitter, i know it’s not fair of me to expect anyone, let alone this guy (Jun Soejima, an actor / “talent” btw), to react any certain way or educate the people around him on behalf of other black people in Japan. i really don’t actually expect that or anything else of him, despite my whining, but it does admittedly annoy me when people on Japanese TV just laugh off some really shitty, problematic stuff that people say or do to them, be it re: racial issues, trans issues, or anything else. they’re in a difficult situation and have all kind of things to consider when they react to something, whereas i can huff and puff at the TV saying all the choice words i like without consequence. i get that…. but meh. it was…

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    Vesper H.

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  • [A]sexuality,  Japan[ese],  Q&A,  Queer[ness]

    Q&A: “I was wondering if you know of any articles or websites about what it’s like being ace in Japan…”

    August 20, 2016 / No Comments

    anonymous said: Hi there….I was wondering if you know of any articles or websites about what it’s like being ace in Japan (especially from the perspective of any ace people who are natively Japanese). I’m just interested in reading people’s experiences, where they learned about asexuality, etc. I tried searching google, but so much acephobic garbage came up that I had to finally shut down my browser. D: aside from the things that @harris-hijiri​ writes, which aren’t necessarily about the experience of being ace in Japan, i’m afraid that i don’t know of personal writing on being ace in Japan as a Japanese person that’s written in English. i tried searching for some, but i swear if i come across another article on herbivore men or ‘the japanese sex/population crisis’ written from a Western-centric point of view i’m going to throw my laptop out the goddamn window. everything that i could…

    continue reading
    Vesper H.

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123

VESPER H.

YouTuber & Blogger

Queer As Cat is the blog and YouTube channel of Vesper, an American expat currently living in Japan.
reoccurring topics include: #asexuality, #nonbinary, #queerness #blackness & #mentalhealth

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Recent Posts

  • literal “social distancing” from the ace community April 1, 2020
  • legalized weed in America: one of many chips on my Black shoulder March 7, 2020
  • willpower, sweat, and tears January 30, 2020
  • 🎬 QAC 79 – The Neverending Queer-y: My Queer Ace Journey || LGBT YouTube & COPPA January 4, 2020
  • #YouTubeIsOverParty: COPPA & The Hypocrisy of YouTube December 15, 2019

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