Starts airing July 12th every Wednesday at 10 pm JST on Fuji TV!

a heartwarming slice of life comedy set in the exquisite Gotō Islands, Nagasaki Prefecture

Starring Sugino Yousuke, Miyazaki Ririsa, Tsuna Keito, Endou Kenichi and so on

I would argue that forcing somebody to perform a gender that they do not personally identify or declare themselves as is a form of psychological abuse because it’s like they’re cosplaying a fictional character that they don’t want to be performing as but feel they have to so that they don’t get abused. They’re forced to cosplay who they are not to literally survive in life. To prevent themselves from being abused/violated/ostracised or whatever it may be.

And furthermore it’s cosplaying somebody that literally doesn’t exist. Is entirely fictional and perceived by the minds that carry this destructive ideology that “assigned gender” is a person’s gender identity even if they do not personally identify and declare themselves as that assigned gender identity.

Children may not be “cerebrally developed” enough to know/understand what they personally identify as, as they haven’t really figured it out yet, so they never declare what they actually are in gender identity. I’ll agree with that. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t FEEL wrong cosplaying as somebody they don’t even know or understand or recognize or believe in. That doesn’t mean that there is no issue there. What it means is that they’re too young to realise what the issue is. The issue is experiencing gender dysphoria.

And you know, I remember the song ‘Reflection’ from Disney’s Mulan. There’s a longer version of the song that’s not in the movie with a verse that very accurately describes the experience of gender dysphoria. First there’s the lyrics: 🎶Who is that girl I see staring straight back at me? Why is my reflection someone I don’t know?🎶 which is in the actual song from the movie and in all other versions/covers of the song. Everybody who knows the song or has seen the movie has heard those lyrics. But the longer cut has even more lyrics that carry on that same narrative. The thematic narrative of “I don’t know who this person is that I am being and I’m not happy about it but I don’t understand why” carries on through the longer version of the song that was cut down. The only way of hearing the longer version is when Lea Salonga performs it live because she refuses to perform the cut down version: the song in the movie. The reason as to why she refuses to perform the cut down version is because half of the intended story of the song is missing and therefore the context can be misconstrued. This is the longer version of the song.

🎶Look at me

I will never pass for a perfect bride, or a perfect daughter

Can it be

I'm not meant to play this part

Now I see, that if I were truly to be myself

I would break my family's heart

Who is that girl I see

Staring straight back at me

Why is my reflection someone I don't know

Somehow I cannot hide

Who I am, though I've tried

When will my reflection show, who I am, inside

How I pray, that a time will come

I can free myself and meet their expectations

On that day, I'll discover someway to be myself

And to make my family proud

They want a docile lamb

No-one knows who I am

Must there be a secret me

I'm forced to hide

Must I pretend that I am someone else for all time

When will my reflection show, who I am inside

When will my reflection show, who I am inside🎶

Powerful, no?

Am I right that this longer ‘Reflection’ is an accurate description of the experience of gender dysphoria? That transgender individuals that have not transitioned out of fear for their lives or for whatever other reason it may be is simply just playing a part they don’t know, understand, recognize or believe in?

I think so. Anyways, I will leave you with the wonderful Lea Salonga performing her preferred version of ‘Reflection’ live at the 2011 Disney D23 expo.