"Onee" : The stereotypes of the media

While understanding of the LGBTQ+ community in Japan has been spreading over the past few years, there are still issues related to LGBTQ+ in various fields in Japan. One of the reasons is the lack of understanding of LGBTQ+ people and the stereotypes of the media (Tamagawa, 2020, p.48).

The stereotypical notion of LGBTQ+ = okama (faggot) persists, as many LGBTQ+ personalities exposed in the Japanese media are onee-kei TV personalities. The term "onee" has been used primarily as a slang term for transgender women, gay men, and men who disguise themselves as women and refered to the behavior of gay people who created exaggerated female language, called "onee-words” (Everyday Newspaper, 2016).

The Japanese entertainment industry lumps LGBTQ+ celebrities together as "onee" and consumes them for laughs. However, many of the people who watch these TV shows have never met an "onee" in real life. Now, "onee" is treated like a race or an attribute, and even sexual minorities, in general, are categorized and understood as one.

Japanese famous onee-kei TV personalities

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/b39d55_60d22049f9f64f44ad439f9a73a9161b/360p/mp4/file.mp4

To achieve equal rights for LGBTQ+ people, society needs to have a proper understanding of LGBTQ people and understand that sexuality is a characteristic. Therefore, the media will need to change the way they represent LGBTQ+ people and informing yourself and keeping yourself educated is important. It’s quite normalizing in Japan that being ignorant is not bad and the invisibility of LGBTQ+ people justifies the persistence of these stereotypes. Questioning all the thoughts you have and where they come from will help to develop the situation of LGBTQ+ people in Japan.