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Paper short abstract

This paper examines how contemporary transnational anti-trans discursive flows have made Japanese anti-capitalist leftist movements merge into moral/religious rights movements.

Paper long abstract

This paper examines anti-gender/LGBTQ discourses from Japanese leftists, feminists and LGBTQ+ identifying individuals. While moral/religious right groups focusing on sexual morals and ‘traditional’ family values are prominent in Japanese anti-gender/LGBTQ movements since the late 1990s, Japanese leftist movements, including feminists, and LGB identifying pundits and influencers can be also observed to be driving contemporary anti-trans discussions in Japan. For example, Jōkyō, a new leftist magazine which started in 1968, featured trans issues in 2024 with vocal anti-trans opinionators. In these discourses, trans rights discourses are understood as a potential threat against women and freedom of speech, or creating new exploitation of Pharmaceuticalization and medical capitalism. This paper examines Japanese anti-trans leftist discourses from three viewpoints. First, it analyzes the leftist discourses on trans issues, examining how they demonize and oppose trans rights issues as anti-capitalist political positions. Second, it examines what kind of discourses have been introduced and translated for consolidating such ‘leftist’ positions, diverting other LGBTQ+ inclusive leftist positions. Third, it discusses how anti-trans feminist and cisgender LGB identifying individuals allows anti-trans leftists to still present themselves as promoting social justice and inclusion. Through these discussions, this paper examines how transnational anti-trans discursive flows have made Japanese anti-capitalist leftist movements merge into moral/religious rights movements.