CGS Newsletter 013 Available Now!
The thirteenth issue of the CGS Newsletter is now available both in print and online. Click the URL to download the PDF version.
Download CGS Newsletter 013
Contents of the CGS Newsletter 013
Kimiko KIMOTO
Director of Center for Gender Research and Social Sciences
(CGraSS)
Graduate School of Social Sciences, Hitotsubashi University
【The article below is the same as the article that appears in the thirteenth issue of the CGS Newsletter.】
The Tama Gender Education Network was formed in 2009 in response to the call for a network to facilitate interaction among the often-isolated university educators in the field ofgender (see CGS Newsletter, vol. 11). It is co-hosted by CGS and Hitotsubashi University's Center for Gender Research and SocialSciences (CGraSS).
Etsuko Kato
CGS Director, ICU Senior Associate Professor
【The article below is the same as the article that appears in the thirteenth issue of the CGS Newsletter.】
Dialogues. There can never be enough discussion over the experiences, discoveries, worries and battles concerning gender and sexuality. The educators and activists in
this field are frequently brought face to face with the prejudices of society as well as their own. They strive to somehow redress those prejudices by themselves and they encourage others to do so as well. Will discussions of "education" in this broader sense, and in an Asian context, help us to discover the rich potentials of education and of Asia?
Furthermore, will it enable us to examine the validity and the limitations of "Asia" itself as a category?
Kana SHIMIZU
Undergraduate Student
【The article below is the same as the article that appears in the thirteenth issue of the CGS Newsletter.】
On February 16th, 2010, I attended an open lecture on Christianity, Sexual Minorities and Community. The speaker was Rev. Yuri Horie, spokesperson for the Ecumenical Community for Queer Activism (ECQA) and pastor of the United Church of Christ in Japan. She informed us of ECQA's activities such as peer counselling and discussed the situation of sexual minorities in Japanese Christianity with quotes from the Bible.
Yu NEGORO
Official Blog of the Kyabakura Union: http://ameblo.jp/cabauni/
Official Homepage of the PAFF: http://freeter-union.org/
Official Blog of the PAFF: http://d.hatena.ne.jp/spiders_nest/
【The article below is the same as the article that appears in the thirteenth issue of the CGS Newsletter.】
The Kyabakura Union (lit. cabaret club union) is the first labor union in Japan for people in the "nightlife business" (mizushobai), a category that includes bars, nightclubs and cabaret clubs. It was established in December 2009 as a branch of PAFF(Part-timer, Arbeiter, Freeter & Foreign Worker, otherwise known as the All Freeters Union), a labor union for non-regular employees. In the following article, Ms. Yu Negoro, a member of the Kyabakura Union who has previously worked in a cabaret club herself, shares the insights she has gleaned through her involvement in the union.
CGS Editorial Committee
Taro SATO
NPO Peer Friends
【The article below is the full version of the article that appears in the thirteenth issue of the CGS Newsletter.】
"Understanding Sexual Minorities Week," held from 17 to 21 May 2010 with government sponsorship, aimed to disseminate accurate information about sexual minorities who are often subjected to prejudice and lack of understanding. It was also designed to gather the voices of sexual minorities themselves. The week featured a special counseling hotline and a symposium attended by Mizuho Fukushima, the Minister of State for Special Missions (Gender Equality, Youth Development and Suicide Prevention). Taro Sato from Peer Friends, an NPO for protecting the human rights of sexual minorities, reports below on the planning and realization of this event.
(CGS Editorial Committee)
Kazuyoshi KAWASAKA
Graduate School Student
【The article below is the same as the article that appears in the thirteenth issue of the CGS Newsletter.】
On February 22nd, 2010, a public symposium entitled "The Possibilities for Queer Studies in East Asia" was held at Tokyo University. At this symposium, Professor Wei Cheng Chu spoke about the reception and expansion of Queer Studies in Taiwan, and Professor Denise Tse Shang Tang spoke about the past and present of Queer Activism in Hong Kong. Due to space constraints, this report will focus on aspects of the former lecture that I found particularly thought-provoking and inspiring.
Yoshie MORIKI
CGS Steering Committee Member, ICU Associate Professor
【The article below is the same as the article that appears in the thirteenth issue of the CGS Newsletter.】
An international conference entitled "Women's Health,Well-Being between Culture and the Law" was held on January 28th and 29th, 2010, in the Thai capital city of Bangkok. This conference was set up and run primarily by Asian researchers and NGO members who have long been active in the field of Women's Studies. One of these core members was Professor Chalidaporn Songsamphan of Thammasat University, Thailand, who was a visiting professor at ICU during the 2009 Spring semester. It was through Professor Chalidaporn that I fortuitously learnt of this conference.
Seiichi ICHIKAWA
Professor, Nagoya City University
【The article below is the same as the article that appears in the thirteenth issue of the CGS Newsletter. Charts are added.】
● The Epidemiology of HIV among MSM in Japan
From 1984, surveillance data reporting HIV infections and AIDS cases in Japan by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, now the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MOHLW) have been published in "Annual Reports of HIV Trends in Japan." The first surveillance data reports of AIDS patients in 1985 were of six notified cases, who were all infected through homosexual transmission.
Sachiko NOSAKA
National Mental Support Center for School Crisis,
Osaka Kyoiku University
http://www.sexba.jp
【The article below is the same as the article that appears in the thirteenth issue of the CGS Newsletter. 】
"Online dating sites are dangerous!"
"Getting paid for sex is just asking for trouble."
"Nothing beats romantic sex!"
Are all of these ideas surrounding sex really correct?With the increasing use of the Internet and cell phones in recent years, more and more individuals are finding clients for sex through dating sites and other matchmaking services online without working for a sex club. Consequently, we are now seeing a phenomenon which can be called the borderless age of professional and amateur sex workers.
Takashi YOSHINAKA
Shinji HOSHINO
Kanagawa Rainbow Center SHIP
http://ship.y-cru.com
【The article below is the same as the article that appears in the thirteenth issue of the CGS Newsletter. 】
In September 2007, Yokohama Cruise Network, in collaboration with Kanagawa prefecture, established a community center for sexual minorities called Kanagawa Rainbow Center SHIP. SHIP mainly engages in educational activities for the prevention
of STDs (such as HIV/AIDS) and the provision of mental health support for sexual minorities.
Mieko TAKENOBU
Asahi Shimbun Staff Writer
【The article below is the same as the article that appears in the thirteenth issue of the CGS Newsletter.】
●The Escalation of Female Poverty
Poverty has long been regarded as a problem mainly for men. However, statistics clearly indicate the low income of women. According to the employment income statistics of the Ministry of Finance, more than 40 percent of working women will have an annual income of less than 2 million yen. In fact, those women can barely survive with such an income, which falls far short of what is generally considered to be the minimum level for survival - for example, there was a popular book in Japan several years ago entitled "The Economics of Surviving the Era of a 3 million yen Annual Income."
Chieko AKAISHI
NPO Single Mothers' Forum,
a Member of the Exective Board
Miki OWADA
Graduate School Student
【The article below is the same as the article that appears in the thirteenth issue of the CGS Newsletter.】
The employment rate amongst Japanese single mothers, 84.5%, is far higher in comparison to that of women with children who have a spouse (50.7%) and that of single mothers in other countries (approx. 60% in the U.S. and in Germany). However, their average annual salary, including income like the Child-Rearing Allowance, remains at 2,130,000yen, which is lower than 40% of the average annual household income of 5,638,000yen. Why are single mothers prone to poverty? The chairperson of the "Single Mother's Forum," Ms. Chieko Akaishi (C.A), examines this issue in the following discussion with Ms. Mirai Oowa (M.O), a single mother and graduate student in sociology.
Aya TAKEUCHI
Freelance Writer
【The article below is the same as the article that appears in the thirteenth issue of the CGS Newsletter.】
●For women to secure housing
'I got married...' My friend, a self-proclaimed feminist, said those words somewhat apologetically when she phoned me a few years ago. Upon further questioning, she confessed that she'd had great difficulty in renting a new house and marrying the man she'd been seeing at the time had turned out to be an easy way to solve her problem. Back then it didn't make much sense to me, but now I can understand. In fact, it is my father, acting as my guarantor, who has enabled my own single lifestyle. Without the existence of a father or a husband, it is almost impossible for a woman in Japan to live even in a shabby apartment. How can single women or elderly women secure housing for themselves? I am growing increasingly discouraged as I wonder about my own future.