Social Construct And Being Queer In Asia

Being Queer in Asia Name: Institution: Date: This course has been an eye-opener on many issues in Asia. It has prompted me to appreciate my community and the way society has evolved. It has shed a light on the plight of some Asian natives who live in communities that have a narrow definition of gender as a binary concept. Though the situation has been improving, the animosity directed towards the people with different sexual orientation has been destroyed lives, families, and friendship. The new global homogenization of defining sexuality and gender has strained the social fabric in most of these communities and the war to have an all-inclusive society for everyone even the queer people is far from being won. The predominantly cultural factions that have not updated their definition of gender and sexuality are religiously connotated; Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. These three religions have varying resistance to admit and support ‘non-conventional’ gender constructs. They are hard lined to demonize the people who show and have different gender identities. It came to my realization that the freedom of expression and ‘gender’ identity is not ‘automatic’ in other parts of Asia. The cultural values of these communities largely discriminate against the people with nonconventional gender identities. Gender identity is complex and it is unlikely that we’ll ever be able to attribute it to one neat, contained a set of causes but it deserves no less recognition or respect than any other facet of humankind CITATION Kat16 \l 1033 (Wu, 2016). Gender is a product of mass behavior. What is considered normal is a product of observing certain characteristics and either connecting them to a girl or a boy. Thus, the animosity directed to the queer people in Asia is not a product of nature, but a shallow social construct on how they define gender. Redefining gender in these communities and change its mass definition that has continually been a tool to ostracize, stigmatize and suppress the voice of the people with different sexual orientations. Gender expression should be determined by how you feel and what you like irrespective of your biological sex assignment rather than what other people expect you to look or act like. This flawed and shallow definition of gender has created a very unfriendly atmosphere for the queer people in Asia. They live in fear of many things among them their lives. Though there is an increased visibility of queer people in Asian communities since the 90s because of democratization, industrialization and urbanization, increased transnational interaction, pop culture representations and academic interest, new technologies, economic independence and changing family structures, the communities have not yet embraced non-conventional sexual orientation to make the indifferent people lead happy and free lives amongst them. Some have resorted to doing convenience marriage where two lesbian and male gay couples have a formal heterosexual marriage but secretly, they live with their gay and lesbian partners CITATION BBC171 \l 1033 (BBC, 2017). This shows the legal framework has welcomed homosexual partnerships or in the very least decriminalized it but the societal values, beliefs, and dogma have not been updated to match the new gender definition the society is adopting. Many have taken to have marriages of convenience to please their parents and their communities because they fear being ostracized and or even being killed. In some cases, people with different sexual orientation also get into convenient marriages to protect their families. Their families in some cases are in grave danger for being related to a person who is gay or lesbian. These marriages of convenience have become a tool to enable gay people to live their lives and with whom they want while still remaining to be part of their families. These marriages are destructive and they bind people to partners they do not love for fear of the backlash from their respective communities CITATION Mat14 \l 1033 (Silver, 2014). These convenient families often fail and they destroy more lives because the community is not tolerant of some of its own who have a different sexual orientation. In the light of these heart-wrenching happenings I Asia, it necessitates more to be done to create a community conducive for living for everyone. It may not perfe...