Please review my essay. Thank you!
Did you know one in ten in Japan identify themselves not as neither female nor male but as LGBTQ+ (stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and others). However, there are many laws and policies in Japan that only treat people based on two genders, male and female, such as marriage laws, regulations on uniforms, ... How much suffering have they been when they are treated as a society’s outcast? So, today I’d like to talk about school uniforms and gender issues in Japan.
In Japan, the typical uniform pattern is the military style uniform for boys and the sailor style for girls. Students are required to wear uniforms according to the sex they were assigned at birth, female, or male. For me, I was born with a female biological sex, and I recognize myself as a female. So, wearing a skirt and showing my femininity is my happiness. However, for some students like transgenderstudents, uniforms can be a nightmare. Imagine if you were a boy and you had to wear a skirt to school every day. It's a bad feeling, isn't it? Like me now, I’m wearing a boy uniform, I feel embrace and not comfortable because what I’m wearing force me pretending a person I am not. It’s just not a feeling, the more important issue when students must wear clothes not suitable to their gender is that they are dispossessed of the right to live as themself and aren’t accepted by society.
As I mentioned before, there is about 10 percent population in Japan belongs to the LGBTQ+ community. However, a survey conducted in June 2021 at schools across the country indicated that, when asked, “Are there LGBTQ+ students at your school?”, more than 55% of students surveyed said that they do not know, and 15.4% said that "no". Maybe they don't care enough about their friends? Or is it LGBTQ+ students hide themselves so well. No, rather they were forced to hide. “Uniforms deny themself who they are.”
Since 2015 many movements to spread using “Gender-neutral uniforms”, which allow all students to dress in a way that expresses how they see themselves, have taken place across Japan. As a result, more and more high schools have been introducing some pants version of the uniform for girls. By 2020, about 600 schools across the country have adopted Gender-neutral uniforms. 600 schools, a number that seems large. However, there are more than 10,000 schools across the country, that number only accounts for less than six percent. Moreover, the skirt version of the uniform for boy has almost never been applied. Why has the adoption of Gender-neutral uniforms been so slow and unequally in Japan? The main reason is stereotypes. A professor of Kwansei Gakuin University, Chieko Sakurai, pointed out that in the Meiji period, uniforms for boys were designed based on military uniforms, followed by uniforms for girls, which is the foundation of today's uniforms. Boys were educated to be strong to support a wealthy nation and powerful army, and girls were educated to be good wives and wise mothers to support their male partners. After the war, even though the school became coeducational, the separate uniforms boys and girls still symbolize the individual image of each. Rigid thinking on gender like that makes the application Gender-neutral uniforms in Japan to be difficult. For this reason, we should change our mind about gender. Stop separating everything based on female and male because we have more than five genders. Everyone needs to be free to express their personality and live up to who they want.
To conclude, I once again restate my view that uniforms is the barrier that prevents students from being able to live as themselves. And freedom to choose the uniforms is one of the ways that helps all the students to have a happier life. I believe that all conceptions that have been considered true aren’t always correct. They will be changed by the way we think. Now skirts are defined the women’s clothes but as you know, more than 1000 years ago samurai also wore clothes look like skirts, and they looked cool. Therefore, one day it won't be unusual for men to wear skirts to the street and maybe skirts for everyone will become a trend in the next few years.
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I will have a 7 minutes speech to show my view about a Japanese society issue. I can speak 700~800 words in 7 minutes.
I would appreciate it if you could check it.
Thank you for your comments.
I'm writing a speech to show my view about Japanese social issues which is required 700~800 words count.
I would appreciate it if you could check it.
Thank you.
Did you know one in ten in Japan identify themselves not as neither female or nor male but as LGBTQ+ (stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and others – Comment: You might want to brush up on the definitions of these terms: https://www.vanderbilt.edu/lgbtqi/resources/definitions ). However, there are many laws and policies in Japan that only treat people based on two distinct genders, male and female, such as marriage laws, child adoption laws and regulations on dress. uniforms, ... How much suffering have they endured been when they are treated as a society’s misfits outcast ? So, today I’d like to talk about school uniforms and gender issues in Japan.
In Japan, the typical uniform regulations are based on pattern is the military style uniform for boys and the sailor style for girls. Students are required to wear uniforms according to the sex they were assigned at birth, female, or male. For me, I was born with a female biological sex, and I recognize myself as a female. I have no issue with the rules. So, wearing a skirt and showing my femininity is my happiness. However, for some students like transgender students, uniforms can be a nightmare. Imagine if you were a boy and you had to wear a skirt to school every day. It's a bad feeling, isn't it? Like me now, I’m wearing a boy's style uniform, I feel embrace embarrassed and ashamed and not comfortable because what I’m wearing forces me to act like or present myself as pretending a person I am not. It’s just not a feeling; the more important issue when students must wear clothes that do not suitable conform to their gender is that they are dispossessed of the right to live as they envision themselves and they aren’t accepted by society.
As I mentioned before, there is about 10 percent of Japan's population in Japan belongs to the LGBTQ+ community. However, a survey conducted in June 2021 at schools across the country indicated found that, when asked, “Are there LGBTQ+ students at your school?”, more than 55% of students surveyed said that they do not know, and 15.4% answered said that "no". Maybe they don't care enough about their friends? Or is it that LGBTQ+ students hide themselves so well. No, rather they were forced to hide. “Uniforms deny the students the right to be themself who they are.”
Since 2015 many movements espousing to spread using“Gender-neutral uniforms”, which allow all students to dress in a way that expresses how they see themselves, have been spreading taken place across Japan. As a result, more and more high schools have been introducing some pants a modified version of the uniform for girls, permitting them to wear slacks or trousers. By 2020, about 600 schools across the country have adopted Gender-neutral uniforms. Six hundred is a number that seems large. However, since there are more than 10,000 schools across the country, that number accounts for less than six percent. Moreover, the skirt an equivalent modification version of the boy's uniform, permitting a skirt to be worn, is non-existent. for boy has almost never been applied. Why has the adoption of Gender-neutral uniforms been so slow and unfair? and unequally in Japan? The main reason is stereotypes. A professor of Kwansei Gakuin University, Chieko Sakurai, pointed out that in the Meiji period, uniforms for boys were designed based on military uniforms, and those for girls followed suit, becoming followed by uniforms for girls, which is the foundation of today's uniforms. Boys were educated to be strong to support a wealthy nation and powerful army, and girls were educated to be good wives and wise mothers to support their male partners. (Comment: My book club is reading a book about the young ladies, Tei Ueda, Shige Nagai, Sutematsu Yamakawa, Ume Tsuda and Ryo Yoshimasu, who were sponsored to become educated in America and live in American families in the late 1800's after the Meiji Restoration in 1868. I highly recommend it. It is historically well researched. "Daughters of the Samurai: A Journey from East to West and Back" by Janice Nimura. https://www.janicenimura.com/daughters-of-the-samurai/ ) After the war, even though the schools became coeducational, the distinctly separate uniforms for boys and girls still symbolize the two traditional genders. individual image of each. Rigid thinking on gender like that makes the application Gender-neutral uniforms in Japan to be difficult. For this reason, we should change our mind about gender. Stop separating everything based on female and male because, the scientific evidence is overwhelming that there are we have more than five genders. Everyone needs to be free to express their personality and live up to who they want to be.
To conclude, I once again restate my view that the rigidity of the policy of traditional uniforms is the barrier that prevents students from being able to live as themselves. And freedom to choose the uniforms is one of the ways that helps all the students to have a happier life. I believe that all preconceptions that have been considered true aren’t always correct. They will be changed by the way we think. Now skirts are defined as the women’s clothes but as you know, more than 1000 years ago samurai also wore clothes look like skirts, and they looked warlike, ferocious and cool. Therefore, one day it won't be unusual for men to wear skirts to the street and maybe skirts for everyone will become a trend in the next few years.
Thank you so much for checking my essay. That helped me a lot.
I can't open the link you attached, but I have read some other definitions of LGBTQ+. "Daughters of the Samurai: A Journey from East to West and Back" seems an interesting book, I think I will go to the library to find it tomorrow.
The system is extremely slow in validating the links. Usually it happens in a few minutes. There must be a bug.
Here are the two links in my post - remove the space characters. (I put them in so the system will not recognize the text as hyperlinks that need to be disabled and checked.
https: // www. vanderbilt.edu/lgbtqi/resources/definitions
https: // www . janicenimura.com/daughters-of-the-samurai/
I was a little surprised and happy when saw your comment. I will read the article about LGBTQ that you showed me.
And I would like to let you know that I found the "A daughter of the Samurai" in my university's library. It was a Japaneses version and it was really interesting.
Thank you so much for your kind comment and book recommend.
I am not surprised that the book "Daughters of the Samurai" was translated into Japanese. It should be of interest to the Japanese people as it represents a critical period of their history. I believe that Japanese women now have equal legal rights with men however, the still have some ways to go in adoption of full equality into the culture.