No. of people changing registered gender rising at record pace in Japan

One thing is sure: DNA doesn't lie.

Check what's inside your pants. Your reproductive organs are what determines your sex. It is a mental sickness to think you are what you are not.

In a country of 125 Million or so, 950 is not such a huge number considering that up until now they have had to live in the dark.

N.M.Today  09:19 am JST

gender identity disorder

Really Japan? It's not a disease.

Nobody said it's a disease. A disease is a pathophysiological response to internal or external factors. A disorder is a disruption to regular bodily structure and function.

@burning bush

Tell me, why do you assume a transgender woman/ man would threaten others in a bathroom? Sat in a closed off cubicle literally going about your business and all.

And for what it’s worth, you’ve probably used the bathroom at the same time as a trans person countless times. And guess what, it hasn’t affected you whatsoever! Isn’t that amazing?

There are legitimate questions to be asked. One is in the area of sports and many female athletes have spoken out against the unfair advantages of those born with a male body competing in women’s sports. This is not bigotry and cannot be dismissed with a simple ‘a trans woman is a woman’.

@Burning Bush: Can you explain why according to you the definition of being a woman is to feel childbirth and what they go through during puberty? Also, your discussion about biological differences is very old fashioned and has been scientifically already disputed; hence there are terms "trans" and "cis", trans women are non-biological women, but their gender is female. A discrepancy in between the brain and the body; your discussion about what biological women go through and the biological differences between a trans woman and a cis woman make no sense. Your stories about being threatened are based on nothing but inappropriate fear, ignorance and hate.

Some activists complain the Japanese system is really strict but if someone really wants to go through with it then they'll do what's necessary.

From the article, it sounds like what's necessary includes disposing of any underage children, through adoption or possibly more gruesome means. I do not see why an estranged parent of a teenager who has already had a sex change operation and cross dresses can't go down on paper as their new gender. The teenage child will already know about it from the sex change and the cross dressing. You can have the sex change and the rest, but the on-paper description of you cannot change to supposedly protect any children you have had. That strikes me as bureaucracy at its finest. This particular aspect of it may affect only a few trannies, but the same thinking, a family must fit this description, hits many other people in many different ways.

The trend reflects widespread public awareness of those with gender identity disorder and the law, experts say. But they also warn that the environment surrounding such people has not improved significantly, citing strict conditions for them to apply to change their sex in family registries.

"gender identity disorder" and by calling it that, do they imply it can be treated like an eating disorder or a mental disorder? That's one hell of a slippery slope that leads down the deepest of rabbit holes. PC or not, I am not sure if they even know what they are talking about let alone where all this will end. At what point did this all get so out of control? Is this consider the evolution of humans or a deviation of such?

Applicants are also required to meet other conditions including being aged 20 or above, unmarried, having no underage children, and no longer having functioning reproductive organs of their former gender as a result of undergoing sex-change surgeries.

Those are extremely restrictive conditions. "Unmarried" will be to protect the no-same sex marriage ruling but I don't see what having "underage" children has to do with it. Such a person by this definition must already be unmarried and quite possibly will not have custody of any children they may have had in the past. In Japan many non-custodial parents are completely estranged and the child will never (be allowed to) see them.

Im not a believer at all. A women is more than body parts. A women is born as a women. If you are a man and feel like a women, well, that's just called another term.

So those who think this is all great and good....

You would be fine with me a 40’s something male putting on a dress and make up and going into the women’s changing rooms where your daughters are getting ready for swimming?

Yet another article conflating the words sex and gender.

P. Smith

Great question, seems like some identities need to set up barriers of entry to keep exclusively more than others? Honestly, a great question.

We are not denying their existence. But we ARE denying that they are women when in fact they are not.

Whether you are cis gender or trans gender, your gender identity is who you are.

@Jimizo, I agree to some extend, however the discussion point about sports (if trans women should compete in the same category as cis women) should not be carried over to the discussion whether or not transmen and transwomen should on paper be allowed to be and recognized as women and men. These are the slippery slope arguments used by transphobic people to hide their ignorance.

Why are we pressured to accept people when they decide they feel like the opposite sex, but not when people feel like a different race/ethnicity?

Because there is a power imbalance between white and non-white people or, in countries like Japan, between Japanese and non-Japanese. Adopting the "identity" of someone disenfranchised signals accepting the appeal of someone else's race while having the privileges of your own race, which is deeply insulting to those belonging to the disenfranchised race. If you're a white person identifying as black, you're still white because you experience the same privileges as a white person.

Gender dysphoria, on the other hand, is having a different gender identity than you were born with. It's not something you can just "decide" to do or to be. If you're a trans woman or man (or non-binary), you're not only denied any privileges your "original" gender has, but you also have to deal with the stigma and other hardships of being a transgender person.

Honestly, I find it hard to understand why people have such a problem with this. Noone who has ever met any transgender people in person and took the time to listen to their stories can deny their existence.

Burning Bush

yes, and vice versa....

but in any case, some people want to do this, and do, and will......

If you’re a woman, would you not mind using the same bathroom with Y chromosome carriers who underwent transsexual surgeries?

For all intensive purposes they are women. 

That’s usually “for all intents and purposes” unless you have some “intensive purpose” in mind.

One danger of changing the gender of record is the possibility of certain medical conditions or dangers being overlooked. Transmen usual have vaginas and some mammary tissue. Would they unfailingly receive information regarding vaginal and breast cancer? They may be considered men but die as women.

Thing is that also this population are able to date males that are interested in a relationship with them.

World is changing and there is a whole structure for transgenders to be able to have a common life.

when you look in internet, you can see there are even specialised dating sites for transgenders such as www.ladyboydating.net where everyone can know each other as other in dating apps.

you can agree or disagree but gender identity is a fact.

Yotomaya..

We are not denying their existence. But we ARE denying that they are women when in fact they are not.

They are welcome to call themselves “Jane”, wear whatever they like, even use the toilet of their choice... But they cannot expect us to go against reality just to humour them.

I honestly find it hard to understand why people have such a problem with this.

I think all people are not aware of all types of disorders.

Some are with mental only disorder, others have both female and male organs. So no case is the same.

Some may even have 3 chromosomes XYY or XXY.

So outside mental disorders, it is appropriate.

I will always help and try to learn about such rare condition and a balck or white stance is hence no appropriate.

Indeed for some asking obviously what you are not is not appropriate because all wishes should not all become reality.

Need fair assessment but I am not able to judge if Japanese conditions are fair. It seems not about having children or not.

Maybe I’m just more open minded about these kind of issues because it really doesn’t bother me. Don’t ask me why but I have a couple very good transsexual friends who work normal office jobs. For all intensive purposes they are women. You would never know. So for me, hearing someone call these people men hits a raw nerve. You can call it gender appropriation but what does it matter and why does anyone care?

no longer having functioning reproductive organs of their former gender as a result of undergoing sex-change surgeries...how do they prove this in court? Videos with a black line going across the eyes?

If you’re a woman, would you not mind using the same bathroom with Y chromosome carriers who underwent transsexual surgeries?

I would not mind.

 If I suddenly decided to put a dress on and call my self a "woman"

I'm not sure why you have written 'woman'. Can you explain why?

Also, transgender people don't "suddenly" do anything. Did you not read the article? There is nothing sudden about any of their decisions.

You would be fine with me a 40’s something male putting on a dress and make up and going into the women’s changing rooms where your daughters are getting ready for swimming?

Are you transitioning, or are you a sexual predator taking advantage of how the media suggests that transwomen are just men looking to sexually assault girls and women?

It's a real pity that life for some consists of nothing more than obsessing about their sex/gender.

@Burning Bush, have you ever spent anytime around a transsexual woman who just received her hormone therapy session? It’s like a super period. So yeah, I think they have a pretty clear idea of what it’s like to be a “woman”. Transsexual women are not men.

Why would one's feelings be registered?

you can agree or disagree but gender identity is a fact.

The attempts to differentiate between sex and gender are nonsensical if you think about it. Biology is real and the concepts of both words derive from biology. It’s really exhausting keeping track of the corruption of language for the purposes of keeping pace with latest ideological trends coming from Progressives. People suffering from gender/sex dysphoria need help in dealing with a crisis that leads to very high levels of suicide whether they go through permanent surgical physical changes or not. The worst of this current rash of surgical solutions for a non-surgical problem is what is happening to impressionable children who haven’t yet gone through puberty. We are regressing back to the back old eugenics days.

This is pretty alarming. There can biologically be only two male or female no she male.

One thing is sure: DNA doesn't lie.

DNA is an idea. (LOL)

gender identity disorder

Really Japan? It's not a disease.