Attitudes Toward Non-Normative Sexualities Among University Students in Japan: Quantitative Analysis (Part 2)

Following the presentation by Kazama, et al., we will present the results of a preliminary analysis of attitudes toward homosexuality, transgenderism and other non-normative sexualities among university students in Japan, focusing on the mechanisms through which gender, other attributes and personal experiences might shape their attitudes.

A definite and sizable body of literature on attitudes toward LGBT issues has been accumulated in the Euro-American context. Such studies are limited, however, in Asian countries. There are informative ethnographic studies on the theme in several Asian societies, and yet, without the data based on large-scale surveys, it is difficult to comprehend the environment in which people live or to reveal how non-normative sexualities are situated. As the first step toward filling such a gap, we conducted a survey at three private universities in 2012 and 2013. The questions include knowledge and awareness of, as well as attitudes toward sexual minorities (discomfort, judgment, perception of what is “normal”) and also experiences of contact, including personal, media, educational, of such people/issues.

A preliminary analysis of the data of more than 700 cases shows that in many of the attitudinal items, women students show more liberal attitudes compared to their male counterparts. Personally knowing someone who is homosexual and/or transsexual also tends to make one more accepting of variant sexualities compared to students who do not have such connections. In the presentation, we will provide a comprehensive picture based on further analysis of the data, including how such attitudes relate to attitudes toward other issues, such as gender, family and nationalism. We hope to draw implications on how heteronormativity, homophobia, sexism and binary thinking of men and women constitute the experiences of young generation in the Japanese context.