The project is intended to be a repository of blog entries, scholarly papers, news articles, videos, music, poetry, etc. etc. available in English but created by (mostly radical) queers from non-English speaking regions, to provide a collection of rad-queer voices in non-Western, non-English speaking worlds that are often overlooked by English-language LGBT journalism.
Tag: agency
The Privilege To Say ‘I Don’t’
As I was going through the daily routine of browsing Facebook & Twitter, I found a NYT article, Gay Couples, Choosing to Say ‘I Don’t’, the title of which caught my eye, as I oppose the institution of marriage, and the like-minded people who shared the link in FB/TW seemed content with anti-marriage opinions circulating at last in the mainstream media. Excited, I read on, only to be disappointed, but in a way that was quite unexpected, by the elitist tone of the article.
Read before you write about LGBT politics in Japan
Although this isn’t intended to be an exhaustive summary of history of LGBT politics in Japan, which I cannot possibly provide given my limited knowledge, I just couldn’t take anymore the shittiness of the news articles written about LGBT politics in Japan.
The most typical, all-too-common article written in English never fails to make the followings clear:
- Japan lags behind the West. There’s nothing legal about gay partnerships, and people there are afraid to come out.
- But things are changing. And such changes are welcomed with enthusiasm by all LGBTs in Japan.
And I say, THIS IS BULLSHIT.
Stop the Arrests! PERMANENTLY!
At SWAAY I found out about this new campaign calling for a moratorium on arrests etc. of sex workers until the end of the Olympics.
Notes on Haruki Murakami’s “Honey Pie”
Yesterday I was invited to Prof. Miho Matsugu’s class at DePaul University entitled “Queer Japan” to discuss with the class as well as Prof. Yuki Miyamoto “Honey Pie”, a Haruki Murakami short story. The class was composed of students with various backgrounds and motivations for study of Japan, and the discussion turned out to be quite an opportunity for me…
‘Mother’ Is Not All She Is
When we queers feel loved and accepted by our families, we often see it as a beautiful thing, maybe even as one of the most desirable moments that can happen in a queer person’s life. We usually feel happy for the queer kid when we hear stories like the book by Cheryl Kilodavis. And, yes, indeed, I’m happy for queers…
Mother: Part 1
How is it that just because I am sexual minority my understanding mother must be a “wonderful mother” to whom I “should be grateful”? I AM grateful to her not because she knows some queer theory and feminist thoughts which may make others believe that she’s studied for the sake of her son, but because she is and has always…