I. Introduction
Through the presentations, by other students in my zemi, about different kinds of inequality in modern Japanese society, I started to be interested in sexual minorities, particularly the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) communities, and decided to research this as a main topic. I especially interested in the approaches to achieve sexual equality in Japan. This might be difficult to achieve, but some organizations are making efforts to solve this big problem actually.
In my research, I addressed the following main questions:
What are the difficulties that LGBT people face?
Why has the difficult situation for LGBT people continued in Japan?
Which organizations support them?
How do they support them?
I also looked at the idea idea of "genderless" and what role this can play in promoting sexual equality. My main focus was on two organisations of young people in Japan supporting LGBT rights, ReBit, LGBT Youth Japan
As a result of my research, I questioned how organizations take action to support LGBT people and their rights. I found that different actors promoting sexual equality have completely different methods: one teaches about LGBT issues to various parts of society; another actor expresses people’s sexuality through fashion. I wanted to know deeply about this in order to understand the situation of sexual diversity in modern Japan.
In this report, I will explain the definition of the minority sexualities known as LGBT and current difficult environment for sexual minority groups, especially in schools and workplaces, including the reason why teachers and companies generate such situation. Then I’ll suggest possible solution related to the idea of being an “ally”. Next I am going to describe and compare two organizations, “ReBit” and “LGBT Youth Japan”, which are working to change the society which is uncomfortable with sexual diversity for the better. Finally, I will talk about our discussion about this topic with other students in the zemi and the experience to meet with staff at ReBit.
II. Different types of sexuality
LGBT is defined groups with minor sexuality called Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender. Beside them, there are other sexual types such as asexual, xgender, and heterosexual. Asexual is a sexuality which does not experience sexual attraction, and xgender person has both male and female physical identity within one body. Furthermore, heterosexual is sexual attention between persons of the opposite sex or gender; it is recognized as “normal” in many countries.
According to sexuality graph on the left, sexuality is determined by three categories; physical sex, mental sex, and love interests. It means that all people have their own sexuality gradationally and LGBT is not strange. Therefore, staff at ReBit claims that we should be kind to people regardless of their sexuality and this can be connect to sexual diversity in Japanese society. However, some Japanese still feel odd against sexual minority people and make uncomfortable society for LGBT people. Environment without concerns of sexual minority would be seen in educational and working place. The staff says it has to be changed soon because this situation will become pressure to LGBT minorities.
III. Difficulties for LGBT people in Japan
There is still a difficult situation for LGBT young people in the educational field and workplaces in Japanese society. In schools, although 7.8% of students are LGBT, over 70% of them haven’t learned about sexual diversity. The reason why teachers do not include LGBT in their subjects is that “sex education” may increase the complaints from parents and it is recognized as taboo in educational field. Moreover, school life is often premised on heterosexuality. Therefore, there are still systems which separate males and females such as toilet, uniform, medical examination, and so on.
There are also difficulties in companies due to lack of LGBT knowledge. In the step of job-hunting, LGBT people often start to worry about their future because there is no consideration of sexual minority groups within companies. In fact, ReBit’s staff explaines that LGBT people often cannot build relationship with other people due to the difficulty of self-disclosure and may not be able to work as themselves. Although some organizations hold seminars for companies, 52.9% of adults in companies do not know about sexual minorities and 35% feel bad about working together with LGBT people. As a result, these factors make Japanese society more uncomfortable for LGBT to express their sexuality and live as they like. This might cause mental illnesses, such as depression, in LGBT people.
IV. The Role of 'Allies' in Reducing Prejudice
In order to improve this bad environment for sexual minorities, it would be important to increase the number of “allies”. Allies are straight people who want to reduce the prejudice against LGBT people. Allies will be essential factor to solve LGBT matters due to the fact that some LGBT people can show their sexual identity to ally and it will help their mental health. In order to become ally, we should focus on many things (do not believe premise about sexuality, do not use discriminatory words such as okama and homo, use rainbow-goods, and so on). In Japan, There is a premise that sexuality is divided only male and female. It is completely false and we should consider about other sexual minorities. Rainbow goods are symbols to show great understanding for LGBT, so people with rainbow one can be recognized that they are allies. Paying attention to all of the terms sounds so difficult. However, staff at ReBit says that it is important to make an effort to be ally. Unfortunately, many people don’t know information about being an ally or even about LGBT people themselves. Therefore, NPO groups called “ReBit” and “LGBT Youth Japan” have tried to encourage ally with their own ways.
The organizations welcomed allies because they will encourage LGBT people to live as they like. In fact, there are many sexual minorities who cannot come out their sexual identities to other people and it can become mental stress, which can become the danger of self-harm. However, the staff at ReBit explains that if there are people who understand sexual minority people deeply, they can decrease 30% of suicidal ideas in the youths. Therefore, increasing allies will be effective for LGBT people to live positively.
V. The Work of ReBit and LGBT Youth Japan
ReBit is one of the organizations working for sexual minority groups (LGBT people) in Japan. It is mainly composed of university students who are LGBT and straight allies. It supports LGBT young people with three methods in particular; LGBT education, LGBT coming of age ceremony, and LGBT job-hunting. It wants each activity to spread knowledge about sexual diversity and the idea of being an ally.
LGBT education conducted through lectures for students and teachers about sexual minority people. ReBit’s staff often go to schools and local government to teach basic sexual information and explain troubles that LGBT persons often face. That knowledge can create great understanding about LGBT people and it might be chance to become ally. The LGBT coming of age ceremony is held once a year and 180 people participate in this event. In normal coming of age ceremony, LGBT people cannot express their sexuality to others and so feel awkward. In the LGBT coming of age ceremony, however, they can show their sexual identity and live as they like. LGBT job-hunting support includes the trainings for LGBT people who look for their job. In fact, LGBT youths often worry about their future career because of their sexual identity. ReBit gives advice based on the experience of LGBT adults and even companies which want to take sexual diversity more seriously.
Another significant organization working for LGBT people, called “LGBT Youth Japan” also conducts activities in order to increase the number of ally, but the method is different from ReBit’s. It focuses on the LGBT situation in foreign countries. Its staffs claim that the environment for sexual minorities is changing in America and France, so there are some motive powers to achieve such changes in those nations. Therefore, LGBT Youth Japan often includes international activities.
One of these activities is the “LGBT study tour”. This is study abroad to New York about LGBT issues. During that study, participants will visit 13 organizations and learn about supports for LGBT youths, LGBT in workplace, and LGBT’s old age. The staff claims that after that, they will be able to see Japanese situation from an overseas perspective and consider its sexuality situation in the future, which might be useful to find objective solutions. Another activity is “LGBT Student Leader Council”. It is a meeting of students who want to change LGBT environment for the better. The Council are three main goals: understanding modern LGBT volunteer, gaining high motivation to solve the issues, meeting people who have same opinion. This activity is an opportunity for students to discuss LGBT matters and make a plan to solve them.
Comparing these organizations, although they have the same target, there are big points of difference in the process they use. ReBit is the organization which takes action to solve LGBT issues directly. Actually, the staff visits schools and companies to teach about LGBT sexual minority groups. On the other hand, LGBT Youth Japan is a group which training people to become great human resources for solving problems facing LGBT people. It supplies opportunity for people who are quite interested in sexual minorities to experience the reality of LGBT prople. Therefore, it would be necessary for us to recognize those organizations have different roles in making a better situation for sexual diversity.
VI. Discussions with Other Students and Staff at ReBit
In the discussion about this issue with other students, I strongly felt that many people don’t imagine the situation such as their friends coming out about their sexuality. That’s because they lack knowledge about sexuality and cannot imagine the reality of LGBT people's lives. In order to consider about LGBT, it will be essential to suppose the situation with LGBT persons and it can also be helpful to become an ally.
When I met with ReBit’s staffs, they talked about LGBT people not being 'strange'. They said that many people see LGBT persons as being like Okama, which leads to the stereotyping of sexual minorities. Therefore, I will be quite important to reduce premises to sexual issues in Japanese society; Japan often separate sexuality only to male and female, and do not care about other sexual minorities. The staffs want to eliminate these prejudices and grow understanding about sexuality. In other words, I feel the difficulty to achieve it with modern ideas because of the less opportunity to contact with sexual minorities. Therefore, it will be necessary to look for more ways which are effective to support environment for sexual minority people.
VII. "Genderless" Fashion
Another way to solve the problems of sexual minority groups is related to the fashion style “genderless”. Genderless is the idea that there is no separation among male and female clothing forms. From a fashion perspective, it means clothes that are suitable for people regardless of their gender. Moreover, there are “genderless-kei” boys in Japan, men who put female identity such as women’s beauty and mix both gender identities (Tokyo Fashion, 2016). For example, they have cute face and dyed hair and make themselves up.
Some people might think this gender style is the same as gay or unisex movements, but there are big differences among gays, drag queens and genderless identities. Generally, gay is the man who loves other men and drag queen is the man who likes to dress or behave as women. However, genderless-kei, such as Ryucheru (Japanese famous model) is the man who loves women and combines both gender identities (Sakurai, 2015). Furthermore, genderless isn’t same as unisex. Unisex is the idea that men and women can wear same clothes as normal. This idea focuses on the separation of sex with clothes such as dresses and jackets. For example, unisex skirts can be suitable for not only women but also men. On the other hand, genderless concept permits gender diversity of fashion: it means that men can wear skirt and women can wear jeans. These differences show that genderless style should not be categorized into any existing sexual types.
The reasons why people join this movement are mainly about the sexual prejudice. One reason for genderless movements is the desire to be released from gender prejudice, manhood and femininity; having typical qualities of men or women (森沢, 2016). Another factor in the growth genderless style is many people think changing fashion is an easy way to change themselves. For these reasons, more people start to participate in the genderless movement.
There are some groups which promote genderless movements. Zara, which is one of the biggest Spanish fashion brands, released “ungendered clothing” such as sweatshirt and sweater. Many people say that this movement can encourage people to accept diversity of gender forms. However, this movement might be not genderless but unisex. That’s because it promotes only masculine style for all genders and does not include femme identity to it (Noelle, 2016). Some people say if Zara wants to achieve genderless fashion, it should add femme style such as skirt and dress.
Another concern about ungendered clothing is that the mass market will use this idea to decide new queer beauty and dictate it to queer community of LGBT (Noelle, 2016). It may cause people to ignore minority group’s opinion and create new bound category. For example, if fashion brands consider only LGBT people, it can make more difficult situation for other sexual minorities such as asexual and xgender. In order to respect sexual minorities, fashion market should encourage more emphasis on gender diversity. In fact, there are Queer-owned brands like Stuzo and Sir New York. Therefore, it would be important for people not to rely on just one perspective but to look from various viewpoints.
Genderless movements are just getting started and will spread more and more. In the future, there will be more genderless fashion in public such as school uniform and business suit. Then, it will be necessary for us to accept genderless fashion as normal in Japan. Although fashion is one way to express their own life, I think we need to accept this fashion as Japanese usual in order to spread this movement, called Social understanding. In fact, skirt in school uniform is only for girls, but with this idea, we should accept boys’ school skirt in our daily life. This point will be main discussion in the future Japanese society.
VIII. Conclusion
Through the research, I strongly felt sexual minorities now face the difficult situation in many places such as schools and environment. However, it is also the truth that there is some organizations which have tries to promote great sexual diversity. I think Japanese people started to think about sexual minority groups because of the organization’s activities and the trend of genderless-kei. Therefore, I would like to help their actions with becoming ally.
On 11th October, I and Mayu visited ReBit and talked about its activities and aims. Through this experience, I felt that the staff's movements, such as LGBT education and LGBT job-hunting, are surely affecting to ordinary people in media and other fields of Japanese society. That's because more people started to consider about sexual monirities in schools and companies than before.
I also could have an opportunity to attend to LGBT seijinshiki, one of the ReBit's events to celebrate sexual minoroties, as a volunteer. There are about 180 participants to this event and this appeared in many newspapers. Although the volunteering was hard, I could get great experience and also could have more understanding to sexual minority groups.
IX. Reference
R, Sakurai (2015). Seeking Genderless.
森沢りんご(2016). スカート、メイク、ブラまで！？女子化する「ジェンダーレス男子」の謎
Tokyo Fashion (2016). Genderless Kei - Japan’s Hot New Fashion Trend
Noelle, S (2016). Why Zara calling sweats 'genderless' is problematic