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© KYODOMost people in Japan know acronym LGBT but understanding limited: survey
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Yubaru
Online survey, without posting actually respondents nor anything regarding demographics is pretty much like me posting a facebook poll among my friends and then extrapolating the results to include everyone in the country.
Yubaru
I question the accuracy of these statistics, and they should not be taken with anything other than a grain of salt.
Hell my 10 year old niece could have responded! There is no way to know if it is accurate.
Want to get opinions, get your arses on the street and talk to live people!
Chip Star
Japanese people know a phrase but don’t understand it?! No way! Stop the presses!
seadog538
Many may be unfamiliar with the acronym---perhaps they just aren't interested.
theFu
If those are the questions, I don't understand many of them either.
X gender? What's that?
Disillusioned
So, what they are saying is, many Japanese have no education expanding beyond what they learned in high school or what they see on the heavily government sanctioned NHK news. It's quite normal for Japanese to know nothing about anything that does not concern them sirectly.
Yubaru
You give NHK too much credit! More people watch the other stations instead of them!
JJ Jetplane
@Burning Bush
It honestly just depends on the news outlet that covers the story. You may see LGBT, LGBTQ, LGBTI, LGBTQ+, LGBT+, or a range of other acronyms. Since 1996, the most common used form is LGBTQ.
girl_in_tokyo
The people criticizing the validity of the survey don't seem to understand how quantitative research actually works. A large scale survey can be accurate, and since this article doesn't explain the methodology, you have nothing to base criticism on - so it seems what you are really mad about is the results.
The question is, are you mad it was done at all, because you'd rather LGBTQIA people be totally ignored? Or are you mad that most people seem to have at least heard the acronym, which indicates awareness is rising, albeit slowly?
A valid reason to be upset is that so many people are still unaware of its exact meaning. Clearly, the Japanese public to be better educated on LGBTQIA issues, including adding the QIA to the end of the acronym so as to be inclusive of all sexual and gender identities.
girl_in_tokyo
Thank you for asking! X gender is someone who is agender, or non-binary, which means a person who doesn't identify with any gender.
Alfie Noakes
Many struggle with explaining what NHK stands for so this shouldn't be a surprise. Just tell them it's a sandwich and they should ask for "an LGBT please, no tomato, hold the mayo" next time they visit New York.
Bugle Boy of Company B
Now I know my ABC’s, next time won’t you sing with me?
This is how they can get the Japanese people to remember.
Yubaru
Boy what a leap of the imagination here! Someone, me, questions the validity of the survey methods, and you automatically assume they, I, am "mad".
Fishing to make an unsubstantiated point, and I will add your conclusion is totally off the mark!
This survey is far from accurate as there is no possible way to verify the results!
Yubaru
Another thing, it seems that you take these types of surveys at face value, and that is not wise!
finally rich
Here we go again....
I have a feeling people would be more respectful and open toward LGBTXYZ people if they didn't make this 'a cause'.
Different from my country Japan is not a country gay ppl have to 'fight' and/or fear violent assaults.
Last time I saw there was even an option to search for "LGBT-friendly" apato/manshons...
What the heck does that even mean to your landlord/neighbors??
wanderlust
LGBTQIAPK is the current full version; details here:
https://www.callmeharlot.com/all-learning-content/lgbtqiapk-lets-unpack-the-acronym
nakanoguy01
most people in the world don't understand LGTB; even those within the community have this problem. Why? Because every few months new letters are added. we can't even use he or she anymore. it "should" be they.
Akie
If you know it, you understand it.
BertieWooster
What's to understand anyway?
akerusan
Title: "Most people in Japan"
Article: "The online survey"
O.K.
PerformingMonkey
I stop reading as soon as I see "cis-".
canigetawhatwhat
Who cares
commanteer
I see where this is going. I claim the letter X, before anyone else does. After the whole alphabet has been taken, what will be left for new genders/sexual preferences? And how will we say it? "A to Z" works for me.
Pukey2
All I can say is thank god the next generation don't have to put up the the antics of Hard Gay.
Garthgoyle
Would be so much easier to simply call them "gay" rather than LGBTQR2D2+++++.
Sneezy
Easier for you, perhaps. Not so much for them.
Yubaru
Why the need to call "them" anything other than by their name?
Garthgoyle
Totally agree to that.
Blacklabel
why is it necessary and seemingly mandatory that I fully understand and support all of this?
has nothing to do with me.
Strangerland
Until it comes time to get married, or make decisions for a loved one dying in the hospital. Then they are treated like some random person who walked in off the street.
jiji Xx
came across a new one (to me) yesterday in the Guardian: hetero-normative, which quite a few people were using with gay abandon (no pun intended). I wonder how it differs from hetero. 「(°ヘ°)
also wonder if it's better to be hetero-normative than cisgendered. maybe I'll just stick with 'man'.... if that's still 'allowed'.
jiji Xx
the figures
....how about everyone just tries to better understand everyone....
commanteer
The alphabet soup, the constant stream of new words and pronouns for every slight sexual variation (or perceived gender identity) just makes it all a joke. People are people - they come in all types, with all types of preferences and desires. Try to recognize each little variation with a special name, it gets absurd.
This is a problem. And it's not confined to gay couples. I known who woman who passed prematurely and left a tidy sum of money behind. Her constant companion of 30 years had no say at all in the funeral. Worse, her estranged family who she hadn't spoken to in 20 years came into all her money. They sure looked happy at the funeral. And I'm pretty sure she wouldn't have wanted them to gain her estate.
People should be able to designate whomever they want to handle their affairs if they are unable to themselves. In many cases they are, but that needs to be corrected so that all people can be cared for by people they love and trust.
But please stop with the plethora of alphabet letters and pronouns.
sourpuss
I understand the Ls the Gs and the Bs, it's the rest of the alphabet I have trouble with. It's the same as religion.
I can't for the life of me reconcile why, for example, I must (and yes, people, we must...) believe that a person who is born female, is the same as a person who was born male, but along the way chose to have some surgery and hormones to appear female. In my opinion, extreme trans activists are ruining it for transgender people. They say that we must believe this fairy tale, and if we don't, we are the worst people on earth, a
Wow, nice sales pitch. I preferred it before, when we were told a perfectly believable explanation: Transgender people think they are the opposite sex.
Raw Beer
I guess this survey indicates that the Japanese have not been as indoctrinated as the west regarding gender.
And how does everyone "understanding" LGBT.... help ?
Isn't initialism a category of acronym?
Educator60
There’s one small change I’ve noticed this year in Japan through a family member’s hobby of applying to win prizes in drawings. In the past the forms invariably required you to select “male” or “female”. Many are still like that but now some have eliminated that part or given more options such as “neither”, “other”, or “I prefer not to answer.” Just seeing forms like that should cause more people to think about the issue.
Speaking of initials, again the extremely annoying Invalid CSRF making it a real pain to try and post anything on this site
Chip Star
It’s not. Why are you playing the victim card?
Illyas
Then why is this organization saying "measures need to be taken for a better understanding of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people"? Why are they requesting that the government spend tax dollars on their own self-gratification? I know a lot of niche sub-cultures, but only these LGBT organizations demand things like this, because they need to justify their own self-existence. Which is the entire problem with non-profits like this.
shogun36
That's a lot of numbers. Is this an article about sexual minorities or a calculus problem?
All that matters is that everyone work unpaid overtime, pay their 10% consumption taxes and make a very low minimum wage.
Isn't that right Japan?
Maria
Nightmare. Someone expects you to be informed about the world around you. Blinkers at the ready, walk right past this information. Nothing to do with you, move along.
Bugle Boy of Company B
I just refer to everyone as “man” or “woman” and the accompanying pronouns. If the explain that they are LGBT etc. I explain that I am simply addressing them by their birth gender.
Strangerland
Yes because it’s plausible you ever meet transgendered people, and act the same to them in public as anonymously.
Bugle Boy of Company B
is that English?
Could you explain a little better?
Illyas
I don't believe that sex is a spectrum. I believe it's binary, man and woman. Yet this organization expects the government to spend tax dollars cramming their beliefs down the public's throat. Yet that's just the beginning, as we all know. Eventually these same organizations will demand that the government punish people who express beliefs contrary to theirs. They will deem it 'hate speech' to question anything to do with the prevailing dogma surrounding transgender identity. Yes, this is indeed a nightmare. It's already happening in the UK:
https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/cwn/2019/february/uk-mom-arrested-for-calling-transgender-activist-a-man-nbsp
"UK officials arrested a woman after she called a transgender activist a biological man on Twitter.
The Daily Mail reports that three officers showed up to the home of Kate Scottow in Hitchin, Hertfordshire and arrested her in front of her children on Dec. 1. The 38-year-old was reportedly detained for several hours, processed, and is currently under investigation. "
These organizations support this 100% and will welcome the same thing coming to Japan.
CrazyJoe
I stand with LGBTQ+ for equal civil rights.
I look forward to the day when all of us stop concerning ourselves with other people’s sexual predilections.
Yubaru
So I suppose you ask for their birth certificate too!
commanteer
Seems like a contradiction. By calling people LGBTQ, you yourself are defining them by their "sexual predilections." Otherwise I agree. The least interesting facet of most interesting people is their sexuality.
Bugle Boy of Company B
Of course not. I Don’t need to. I can tell 99.9% of the time by looking at someone.
But I DO require photo ID when they stay at my bnb.
Bugle Boy of Company B
Exactly. And people said Jordan Peterson was overreacting when he said that not using someone’s preferred gender pronoun would eventually lend you in jail. He was spot on.
BertieWooster
Ladies and gentlemen, boys, girls and everything in between.
Do what you want, with whom you want, as long as it doesn't cause harm.
Just don't shout about it.
And don't expect everybody to agree with and support your particular method of having "fun."
Each to his or her or its or their or (insert pronoun of choice here) own.
WilliB
That is a stupid rule. "Heterosexual" should have nothing to do with it. Marriage should be applicable to people who are able to create children, i.e. a male and a female. Simply biology should define the applicability (xx and xy). No one should be asking about sexual preference.
David Varnes
Except that it doesn't, and the ability to create children has never been. Sure, we attach it backwardly, but if the ability to procreate alone were the case, then all infertile men and women would be unable to marry. Or those who have injuries to their sexual organs. Or when a post-menopausal woman marries, or a man who is old enough that he is unable to produce viable sperm.
Or those who choose to have so-called 'test tube babies' or use other forms of assistance. Because that's outside of marriage.
Then again, if you choose to redefine it as any couple that has the possibility of raising or caring for a child, then all LGBT couples would be eligible as well.
For example, my cousin. She and her husband were unable to conceive due to her health issues, so they used a surrogate mother. Does that mean they should not be recognized as married?
Or what of a lesbian couple who chooses artificial insemination of one partner? Or a gay couple that chooses to use a surrogate?
Or what of a hetero couple where one partner 'cheats' on the other and a child is produced?
All of these end up in biological reproduction. At the same time, there are thousands if not tens of thousands of married couples who do not have children, either by choice or by biology. They could be, as mentioned, infertile. It could be that they marry after menopause. It could be they just choose not to.
Should their marriages not be accepted?
So no, it's not just about reproduction.
Cosmos1
LGBT is not a acronym because it's not a word. You don't go out LGBT diving or watch LGBT
on the BBC TV . You can go SCUBA diving .
mike1492
In America we add a Q on the end. Don't forget those.
JonathanJo
LGBTQIA - a really bad hand for scrabble players.
albaleo
That's how the Daily Mail reported it. This is what I read elsewhere:
"The Crown Prosecution Service said she had been charged over 'persistent' messages designed to cause 'annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety' to another person between September 2018 and May 2019"
memoryfix
Is it okay to call a person who is queer “ A queer”?
Years ago, “queer” was derogatory slang for a homosexual.
Yubaru
Please join the rest of the world in the 21st Century and get rid of these Judeo-Christian, misplaced and misguided morals along the way!
girl_in_tokyo
Your personal beliefs don't define reality. Science does, and every major psychological and medical association recognizes transgenderism.
Do you think the government should recognize individual people's personal feelings as a valid reason to stop scientific inquiry?
As someone else mentioned, this woman was arrested for persistent harassment of a person due to their gender identity.
I imagine that you would get upset if someone persistently harassed you for being a straight male, so I'm sure you can understand why harassment due to gender identity or sexual orientation should not be tolerated.
Yubaru
This is 99.99% impossible to believe!
girl_in_tokyo
Thank you for asking. You should not call someone "a queer". It's not used as a noun. It's used as an adjective, to describe sexual identify. If someone self-identifies as queer, it's fine to refer to them in that way. E.g., you can say "Bob told me he identifies as queer." But throwing around the word in a way that shows contempt for that person's identity is defintely using the word as a slur, so you should be careful you are not using it in a way that may give listeners that impression.
girl_in_tokyo
I think my question would be, why would you refuse to use someone's perferred gender pronoun in the first palce? The only reason someone might do that would be to disrespect that person and show them contempt and hate. In other words, to harass them. To a transperson, this type of harassment is similar to using slurs against other miniorities, such as homophobic slurs or the types of slurs often used again racial minorities. That's why it isn't to be tolerated.
Strangerland
Why would you want to? Is this something you do regularly, walking around calling people queer?
How about just using their name?
Strangerland
Jordon Peterson has said he doesn't have a problem with using people's pronouns, his problem was with being compelled to do so.
Which I would agree with myself. I think it's silly if someone wants to be called Zir. But I'll do it, because why not?
Bugle Boy of Company B
Exactly. And I don’t want to. So forcing me or otherwise punishing me for not doing so is the problem.
Bugle Boy of Company B
Because I don’t want to relearn my native tongue. And as I already pointed out, I use pronouns based on people’s birth sex. It’s a lot easier than trying to remember a bunch of new words just so somebody doesn’t get offended.
Bugle Boy of Company B
If it’s an adjective, we can just say “Bob is queer.” Just be sure to leave out the “a” and you can avoid calling him a slur. Grammatically speaking, this is correct.
commanteer
Persistent Tweets, let's be clear. Tweets.
And while persistent harassment of this sort would be annoying, it's a part of life. We grow up and deal with it, especially if we are in the public sphere. It would never in a million years occur to me to have someone arrested for expressing their dislike of me. That's called fascism. What happened to "tolerance" anyway?
Yubaru
Punishing you? What an exaggeration, no one is punishing you, just making the point to educate you and others who are recalcitrant and refuse to accept that there are people that are different than you!
It's like calling a woman or man a secretary now-a-days, once a totally acceptable word, but now considered sexist, yet Idont hear anyone making outlandish claims that they are being "punished" for using a different word, or whatever.
It's phobias, and fears, about one's own sexuality that is the root of the problem!
Bugle Boy of Company B
Have you been following the news? Or even this thread?
"UK officials arrested a woman after she called a transgender activist a biological man on Twitter.
The Daily Mail reports that three officers showed up to the home of Kate Scottow in Hitchin, Hertfordshire and arrested her in front of her children on Dec. 1. The 38-year-old was reportedly detained for several hours, processed, and is currently under investigation. "
Leftists seek power to create laws to punish people for words they don't like. My refusal to use other people's pretend words does not equate to me accepting that there are people different than me.
Bugle Boy of Company B
That should be: my refusal to use other peoples pretend words does not equate to me NOT accepting that there are people different than me.
kurisupisu
It me an hour to make up that ditty...
starpunk
There's also a second 'Q' for 'questioning', which leads to 'LGBTQ+' or something like that. These people are a minority and always will be due to nature but they shouldn't be persecuted or mistreated. Many gay, lesbian, etc. people have contributed greatly to humanity and that can't be denied or ignored. God doesn't create junk.
Zoologists have found that homosexuality exists in a few animal species too, which only goes to show that it's not a choice or 'lifestyle'.
And if you ran into the character 'Ziggy Stardust' who hails from a planet where all the people are asexual beings, you'd just 'Ziggy played guitar'.
girl_in_tokyo
Using the correct pronoun for someone who has transitioned doesn't require you to relearn your native language. But it does require you to be a decent human being, so well... I guess you have shown where your moral ground lies.
girl_in_tokyo
She was arrested for "a campaign of targeted harassment" on Twitter. In other words, she was arrested for harassment. It says a lot that you would think it's perfectly okay to harass someone because of their gender identity.
Progressives would like to create a world where everyone can live peacefully without being targeted for harassment due to their gender or sexual identity. And yes, if you refuse to accept someone has transitioned, that means you refuse to accept transgenderism, which yeah... actually does mean you are not accepting that there are people different from you.
girl_in_tokyo
"arrested for expressing their dislike of me" is not what defines harassment. You are minimizing.
Why should a transperson tolerate someone harassing them due to their gender identity? Should a black person tolerate harassment due to their skin color? Should a gay person tolerate harassment due to their sexuality? Should women tolerate harassment due to their sex?
How is it fascism when someone refuses to tolerate intolerance?
Bugle Boy of Company B
Well we found common ground here.
Bugle Boy of Company B
Censorship is not the answer. Respectful dialogue is.
girl_in_tokyo
Except there’s no censorship involved here, because arresting someone for harassment isn’t censorship.
Also, refusing to use someone’s correct gender identity when referring to them is the opposite of respectful.
The high ground in this belongs to the people who are requesting their gender identity be respected, not to the people who are demeaning them for it.
Bugle Boy of Company B
Whether that is respectful or not aside, comments here should be respectful.
I agree that demeaning people is not respectful. But are the opinions of those with the “moral high ground” the only opinions that can be shared here, Obi Wan?
Steve Conrad
LGBTQIAP+: We help you understand 23 gender terms ...
https://www.parent24.com › Teen_13-18 › Development › lgbtqiap-we-he...
May 16, 2019 - LGBTQIAP+ An acronym that stands for: Lesbian; Gay; Bisexual; Transgender; Queer; Intersex; Asexual; Pansexual; + (meaning "not limited to").
And this is why people cannot keep up with the terms used to describe a person's sexual identity. With new terms being added on a regular basis no one will be able to keep up.
girl_in_tokyo
You can’t request that the person you’re demeaning be respectful when engaging with your demeaning comments.
In other words, you don’t get to be mean to someone and then expect your victim not to get angry.
I’d also point out that my comments haven’t been disrespectful, but you’ve made it clear that it’s not problematic to purposefully use he wrong pronoun when referring to a transgender person.
Let me check what you mean.
You’d like to be able to post demeaning comments without anyone replying and telling you that your comments are demeaning.
Is that right?
Chip Star
Girl: Spot on.
Bugle Boy of Company B
I didn’t realize I was demeaning you. Please explain.
Please explain how you are a victim. I honestly do not understand how you have been victimized.
Nonsense. I have never purposefully used the wrong pronoun when referring to anyone.
I’m glad to know you have not been disrespectful. You’ll be glad to know that I haven’t either.
girl_in_tokyo
When a person asks you politely not to do something because it is upsetting to them, the kind and morally right thing to do is to stop doing that thing.
It doesn't matter if you don't understand their reasoning, and it doesn't matter if you disagree with their reasoning - the right thing to do is apologize and stop out of respect for their feelings. This is basic manners, socially correct human behavior, and treating each other kindly allows us to all live with one another peacefully.
If you decide that you don't care about someone's feelings and make the active decision to ignore that person's polite request and continue to do that thing on purpose, fully cognizant that it bothers them, you are being rude and disrespectful. You are being unkind. You are in the wrong.
That's the first thing.
The second thing is this: purposefully misgendering a transperon is considered to be a slur akin to using derogatory language. I suspect you already know that, because this issue has been discussed several times with you participating.
But just in case you didn't know that before, I'm letting you know that now.
Therefore, if you ignore a polite request to use a particular pronoun and purposefully misgender a transperson only because "you don't want to" use their correct pronoun, or because you think it's "a pretend word," then on top of being rude and disrespectful you are demeaning that person.
So to be 100% clear, here is your polite request: please use transgender persons correct pronouns out of respect for them. Don't purposefully misgender them. It's rude, it's morally wrong, and it's demeaning.
Thank you.
Bugle Boy of Company B
I have never intentionally used an incorrect pronoun for anyone that I can recall. I have no plans to either.
Still waiting for those other explanations. I'd like to apologize once it is clear how I demeaned or victimized you. Thanks.