Abstract (Sociology of Women) - Assignment Example

Sexual Minority Issues and Human Rights Education in Japan The world over, the rights of minority groups have been abused than that of any other group (quote). This has often been as a result of the fact that these minority groups have no advocacy groups to defend their rights. The same has been the story of the Burakumin group in Japan. This minority group who are made up of gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgender, and intersexual have often had no one to defend their rights and champion their equal existence in society; especially when they are students.

The article therefore lays emphasis on the Dowa, which is a human rights education program that was instituted as a mechanism of educating the masses on the biological and psychological make-up of the sexual minorities in society. This is because the Dowa was instituted with the rationale that should people understand the true identity of the sexual minorities in society, they would see the need to respect the rights of these people and make provisions for the rights of the sexual minorities to be duly executed without fail.

As part of the advocacy and education program, a strategy was adapted that focused on the need for members belonging to the sexual minority groups to tell their stories to the world through television broadcast programs. One of the popular stories that were told was that of Nao, who told her story on the television show, Kinpachi Sensei or Teacher in 2002. This lady told the story of many other people in the minority sexual group who had to transit from female to male at one point in time or the other in their lives (Ofuji, 2007, p. 132). A critical area of the article has to do with the news that as part of the advocacy program, it became necessary that the legislators revise some of the laws of the land that did not make provisions for the sexual minority groups.

For example, the Gender Identity Disorder Special Law became operational. This was a law that made room for a categorized group of people, particularly, “transgender people, who are older than 20, unmarried, and without children, to undergo gender reassignment surgery and to legally change their names” (Ofuji, 2007, p. 131). Regardless of this major success that was accrued, the article still identifies several other areas that need to be attended to in order to make the human rights education of sexual minorities in Japan complete and whole.

One of such areas is in the education of teachers to stand in human rights advocates for these minority groups in schools. With a teacher population that understands the biological and psychological needs of the sexual minority student, it will be possible that the social discrimination that is commonly carried out against these people will out rightly seize. Until there comes such a time when there will be the integration of sexual minority issues in the governmental guidelines for schools, it is advocated teachers continue to use the sogo kyoiku hours, which centers on integrated studies to champion the cause of the sexual minorities in schools.

Teachers who by themselves are members of the sexual minority groups are also advised to come out boldly to disclose their sexuality and use their attainment in society to champion the course of other group members. CITED WORKSOfuji, Keiko. Sexual Minority Issues and Human Rights Education in Japan . Journal of Gay & Lesbian Issues in Education, Vol. 4(4) 2007.