The LGBT Boom Indicates a Transformation into a Society That Values Diversity

For many years, heterosexuality has been regarded as “normal” and homosexuality as “abnormal.” However, historical research has revealed that it was only in 19th-century Europe that heterosexuality/homosexuality began to be thought of as a dichotomy. Pederasty is known to have been practiced in Ancient Greece, but sexual intercourse for purposes other than procreation came to be regarded as a sin, due to the teachings of Christianity. The idea that it was abnormal became widespread with the development of modern psychiatry. A similar process occurred in Japan during the Meiji period (1868-1912). It was a time when Japan was actively assimilating modern ideas from the West, but this resulted in a society that imposed uniformity on all and became less rather than more diverse. It would be fair to say that this situation has continued through to the present day. In fact, practices involving sexual relations between members of the same sex, such as catamitism and pederasty, are known to have been commonplace until the Edo period (1603-1868), while transvestism was not considered all that strange either. There are stories on the subject of male homosexuality (for example, Ihara Saikaku’s “Nanshoku Okagami [The Great Mirror of Male Love]”) dating as far back as the Muromachi period (1336-1573), while “Torikaebaya Monogatari (The Changelings),” which deals with transvestism, is said to have been composed sometime between the end of the Heian period (794-1185) and the early Medieval period (1185-1600). From our contemporary perspective, the Japan of yesteryear seems to have been a society that accepted a variety of sexualities without question.

Thus, if we unfurl the history of human sexuality and gender, we discover that it varies considerably from one era to another. If we go back several centuries, we find that things that most people consider to be commonplace today were certainly not the norm back then. In sociology, unlike biology, we cannot make assumptions about what is universal or what is human nature. Even things that we today regard as perfectly normal could potentially change in the future. Right now, we might actually be in a crucial historical transition phase, on the verge of a transformation in the environment surrounding sexual minorities.

I also feel that the way in which the mass media cover sexual minorities has changed of late. Previously, apart from a few opinion leaders, virtually all cross-dressing celebrities who wear women’s clothing were portrayed in a comical way on variety shows and other TV programs. However, broadcasters are now starting to make programs that take a more serious look at the lifestyles of celebrities and non-celebrities who are sexual minorities and the difficulties that they face. Audience interests undoubtedly vary, but it is a fact that the representation of sexual minorities in the media is changing.

I believe that one factor behind the increasing focus on LGBT has been the impact of widespread TV and newspaper coverage of the ordinance enacted by Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward in April 2015, introducing certificates recognizing same-sex partnerships. Other municipalities that have introduced similar initiatives include Tokyo’s Setagaya Ward and Iga City in Mie Prefecture; these local governments have been engaged for some time in efforts to promote a gender-equal society that respects diversity. Attention is focused only on same-sex marriage, but I hope that this will trigger advances in people’s understanding of approaches to respecting diversity.

Recently, even the government and companies have begun to advocate diversity. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has been running the Diversity Management Selection 100 project since 2012. In 2016, it launched the New Diversity Management Selection 100 project, establishing new fields such as innovation in working styles and expanding work fields for women, seeking to attract applications that provide a wider range of effective examples for management to follow. A growing number of companies are introducing LGBT support and awareness initiatives in their personnel recruitment processes, in-house training, and CSR activities. The desire to strengthen corporate competitiveness is likely to be at the root of this. Of course, enhancing competitiveness to boost earnings is an important target for a company. However, in their efforts to respect individuality and achieve diversity, there are bound to be options that might cost them a little bit of money, but will enable them to create a corporate culture in which people are tolerant of each other’s differences. I believe that from now on, companies will need to make a decision about whether, in the course of their commercial activities, they want to contribute to making the whole of the society where they are based more relaxed and less tense. This links into the question of how we ourselves want to shape the present and what kind of society we want these efforts to create.