“Try to be more feminine.” “Otherwise you can never get married.” “Homosexuality seems gross” This phrase has always left me with a doubt and prevented me from selecting my wearing, my lover, and even my future freely. Yes, I know I was born as a girl, but why can others compel us to have masculinity or femininity?
When I think about “their own lives”, I always recall the pleasant moment of meeting a famous cartoonist when I was 11 years old. Surprisingly, he allowed me to edit his manuscripts for the comic books. Through the experience, he told me the importance of having a dream. Since then, I have wanted to be someone who lets someone be proud of their own dreams as long as they want, even if they cannot manifest them for some reason.
These memories were a trigger that took me interest in the topic of LGBTQ+ inclusion. The more I have learned, the more keenly I have realized that many people are not able to, rather, be forced not to find their own way in life just because of their gender, not determined by themselves.
In my master’s degree, I decided to study gender in Thailand. Thailand is similar to Japan regarding insufficient progress in national policies for gender problems. On the other hand, the uniqueness of this country I found is that everyone lives as they want, and no one interferes in their lives. I have seen women with unusually deep voices, male students with makeup, and homosexual couples holding hands with each other. All of them live their own lives boldly, as they want. Then, why can we NOT see people like them in Japan?
Now it’s my turn to support people in achieving their dreams.
I keep pursuing a more inclusive society that enables everyone to be as they are. Now I am putting all my effort into writing my own thesis, which can provide readers with new insights related to gender. I believe that if people change, organizations will change, and if organizations change, societies will change, and if society will change, my country, and eventually the world, will change. No matter which kind of sexuality we have, no one should be unfairly deprived of their choices and everyone should be able to be who they want to be, love who they want to love. I hope that one day my big dream will be realized as well.