Hatoyama and sex changes? Time for our media awards
The Japan Times
By PHILIP BRASOR
27 December, 2009


http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fd20091227pb.html


What makes Haruna noteworthy is that when she's not on TV she has sometimes talked about the difficulties that members of the LGBT community experience in Japanese society, and how the only way she can make a living in show business is to be "the oddball." Though she gets a lot of work, even on NHK, which not long ago shunned LGBT talent, she understands that she is playing a role for everyone's amusement. That's why she tends to be drawn into situations that compromise her hard-won feminine identity.

Yikes.  I suppose the pay is good, but the situation reminds me of how Hollywood expected African-Americans to act during the first half of the 20th century.  Does pandering to mainstream ignorance help our community?  I suppose it can be said that she is visible to transgenders, which is supportive.  But doesn't it comes at the cost of reinforcing bias?