cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/9618293
Archived version: https://archive.ph/qbB52
Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20240208021134/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/08/japan-transgender-man-status-change-ruling-court-sterilisation
I can’t be the only person who read this and went “Jesus fucking Christ, they were doing what?”
Finland was the same until about a year ago. Changing your legal gender used to require “inability to procreate”, which effectively meant sterilisation.
It’s tragically very common. Many US states won’t update documents without bottom surgery as do many European countries. Far be for a trans person to exist with thr ability to give birth. What if their child… catches it?!?!
It’s sort of disgusting what passes as progress for us. Mandatory sterilization says a lot about how the world views trans folk. Hopefully this turns into a Denmark situation where these requirements are apologized for, not like $5k really makes up for losing the ability to start a family.
I am a proud member of Team Rainbow and have been actively engaged since ACT UP, and I am ashamed to say I did not know this.
I donate to Trevor and HRC and the Matthew Shepard Foundation, so if I didn’t know about this, I can’t even imagine how ignorant others must be. There’s so much going on right now that it just gets overwhelming.
Thank you so much for those links. You’ve really opened my eyes.
Removed by mod
I can’t tell if your question is intended to be sarcastic or not, but just in case the majority of trans persons, including a large majority of trans women, never get surgery. A larger portion of trans men get surgery (mastectomies) because it’s a lot harder to pass if you have prominent breasts. Trans men with smaller breasts, including younger people, will often use a binder, which compresses the breasts so that they’re much less noticeable.
There are a number of reasons trans persons don’t get surgery. Some simply do not want it, and that’s okay. We don’t get to be gatekeepers on this issue. Being trans can be entirely about presentation. Some would ideally have it, but they’ve set up a lot of hoops for people to jump through. There can be a long series of consultations and exams that are required to determine if a person is going to be considered a candidate for surgery. It can be expensive, and isn’t always covered by insurance. As with all surgeries, there’s always a risk of complications and variability in outcomes.
Again, I hope you were being sarcastic, but if not (or for others), I hope that answers some questions.
This is extremely outdated thinking and something many people actively take offense over. Genitals mean nothing when it comes to identity.Consider your life and your day to day interactions, how much does your genitals factor in to things? In your job or with your friends? Presumably not much aside from sex, in which case it’s no one’s business but you and whoever else is involved with that. Genitals are not gender.
To speak nothing of the finical or legal hurdles one has to go through, but bottom surgery is not something every trans person does. No trans person is “more serious about it” or any more/less valid than any other person, regardless of their medical history.
You can be trans and not want bottom surgery. Trans isnt about your genitals.
Finally, a small bit of good news!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
A court in western Japan has approved a transgender man’s request to have his gender changed in official records without undergoing sterilisation surgery, the first known ruling of its kind since the country’s top court struck down a surgery requirement for such record changes.
Japan’s supreme court ruled in October that a provision of a 20-year-old law that made the removal of reproductive organs a precondition for the legal recognition of gender changes was unconstitutional.
The Okayama court found that the hormone therapy Usui received made him eligible for gender affirmation.
Many LGBTQ+ people in Japan still hide their sexual orientations and gender identities due to fear of discrimination at work and schools.
But change has come slowly in a country led by a conservative government that sticks to traditional paternalistic values and is reluctant to accept gender, sexual and family diversity.
It stated that individuals who wanted to register a gender change needed to have reproductive organs, including testes or ovaries, removed.
The original article contains 384 words, the summary contains 163 words. Saved 58%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
🤷🏻♀️
