Amelia said she wanted to interview me for the AniFem website, and I agreed, part of the reason being it’s a new website and yet they promise to pay all writers starting 2017. That should not be a big deal, but it kinda is when so many writers around the world are underpaid or not paid at all. That, and I just liked the idea of creating a sort of like an online hub where you can find lots of queer and feminist information, resources, critiques etc. about otaku cultures.
Tag: representation
New Tumblr Project: Rad-queers Speaking English For You
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.
Compilation of Negative Responses to Akie Abe’s Participation in Tokyo Rainbow Pride 2014
The Tokyo Rainbow Pride, which I talked about last year on this blog, marked its 3rd anniversary on April 27, 2014. Its commercialization and increasingly neoliberal, militarist, and conservative crystallization of LGBT politics have become almost intolerably, grotesquely obvious. I could go on and on about sponsorships and participation of embassies and corporations at the Pride, but today I am so devastated by the participation of Prime Minister Abe’s wife, Ms. Akie Abe at the Pride, that I am almost in a shock state.
Pass ENDA?
I found this animated GIF by glaad for the ENDA campaign.
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.
Queer x Poverty: HinQ (Hinkon o nakusu tame no Kuia [Queer] no kai) launched on April 21, 2013
As previously announced on this blog, a new queer group in Japan has been formed and officially launched on April 21, 2013 in Kuki city. The group’s name is Hinkon o nakusu tame no Kuia [Queer] no kai, literally translated as Queers for Ending Poverty.
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.
I don’t have the right to consume the misfortune of people in Japan
(This post was originally written as a response to a friend of mine’s Facebook post. Minor modifications have been made.) Japan tsunami and earthquake: 30 children sit silent in classroom after parents vanish | Mail Online. Ok. I almost cried. I almost cried not because of the devastation that those people in those stories and photos are experiencing, but because…
A Talk with Prof. Chalidaporn Songsamphan
This article appeared in CGS Newsletter, Issue 12, Center for Gender Studies, International Christian University. HTML / PDF Pornography Chico Masak (CGS staff, CM) What would you say your stand on pornography is? Prof. Chalidaporn (SC) I think we should look at pornography as a form of sexual fantasy, which each individual should have the right in their private time…
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…