User:Roastkiwi/sandbox

Japanese conceptualizations of gender and sexuality
In Japan, gender and sexuality are conceptualized through a spectrum wherein the various social roles of the “all encompassing” group are emphasized. Under this construction, expressions of gender and sexuality are varied, as is evidenced by Japan's gender-bending communities. Although there exists varied expressions of gender and sexuality in Japan, noted Japanese gay activist and public intellectual Fushimi Noriaki describes the modern conceptualizations of gender and sexuality in Japan as inherently heteronormative, where heterosexuality is considered normal, compulsory, and default. Fushimi describes Japanese society as a "hetero system" which promotes heterosexual, cisgender Japanese men as the default subject. In this hetero system, there are only two static genders: male and female, and the genders correspond to sexual attraction, with males having an active sexual desire for women, and women having a passive sexual desire for men. Fushimi notes this as a system of gender/sexual duality, where biological sex is equivalent to gendered and sexual identities.

Within this hetero system, any desire for men is coded as passive and feminine, and the bodies that hold that desire are understood to be biologically female. So, when men who desire other men exist, their desires are feminine, and they are inherently feminine. This process is what Fushimi calls “andrognynification,” (Baudinette, pg. 411). A common understanding of Japanese gay men was until recently (and is still held today) that they are women “trapped” in men’s bodies. They are understood to be “trans-gendered” as they exist and can cross between male and female static or “real” genders (Baudinette, pg. 412).

History
The concept of transgender originates from edo period in Japan. Actresses were forbidden to perform in the kabuki theatre considering the gender inequality and social hierarchy. Male actors are playing all the characters within the play, as they will dress up like women. These actors kept their attire both inside and outside the theatre. At the time, it was generally believed that only men could truly know what a woman looked like. People who behaves like a woman will be assumed to socialise as one. The latter is a result of how Japan conceptualized gender and sexuality in terms of adopted social roles. As Japan becomes more westernized there is growing concern for the treatment of the sexual and gender minorities.

With the introduction of Buddhism, one of the earliest forms of non-heterosexuality documented in Japan is found in young male homosexual practices during the Heian period (745 to 1185). Buddhism came to Japan from China by way of Korea during the Kofun period (300 to 710). Because Buddhist monks lived on steep mountains isolated within their own societies, they developed their own sexual customs. Young boys (age 11 to age 17) called “Tigo” served the monks sexually because female relationships were strictly forbidden.