Gender identity transformed from 'freak' into rights issue

[LostInTime]

Link

Up to 70,000 transgender people are estimated to live in Japan, according to various Web sites and blogs, which are often used as a valuable tool in networking transgender support groups.

For example, a 50-year-old woman who goes by "K," used a blog to drum up emotional and financial support over the past few months when she filed a lawsuit against a former employer in Osaka who she claims bullied and discriminated against her.

[Hazumu]

up to 1 out of 1820 Japanese is gender disphoric enough to go against a VERY rigid society that has many, many subtle and not-so-subtle ways of 'punishing' nonconformity.

Compare to the American Psychiatric Association, et. al. numbers of 1 in 30,000...

Compare to Lynn Conway's numbers of around 1 in 500 Americans are disphoric enough to call themselves some form of TG and do something about it (Lynn found evidence that supports 1 in 2,500 American males being post-op MtF, leading her to research and come up with the 1 in 500 number.)

I wonder how many of the 70,000 Japanese are post-op?  Buddhism/Shintoism believe the body holy and should not be altered (altared?) unnecessarily.

Karen