JP — Tokyo. A female individual who had her sex changed in the family register was disappointed to learn she is often considered male for insurance purposes, resulting in higher premiums and loss of coverage for female-specific medical treatments. On the other hand, she complained that the family register still recognizes that she was born female and does not give her the place of ‘first son.’
The journey of a person identified only as ‘A’ to get a “gender change on the family register” is chronicled in the June 15, 2022 issue of the serialization “Thank you for the story of the woman,” authored by journalist Minori Kitahara’s under the headline “Will insurance premiums go up when I change my gender on my family register? Anger erupted over the control of the family register marked ‘second son.’”
The writer and friend ‘A’ were shocked and dismayed when ‘A’, who has multiple insurance policies, heard from a major insurance company that “because I’m a man, my insurance premiums will go up.” ‘A’ pointed out to the company: “I’m biologically female, and my occupation hasn’t changed.” The company insisted: “Men’s insurance premiums will go up.”
Another insurance company took a different approach, informing ‘A’: “The customer’s body remains female, so the insurance content will not change.”
When ‘A’ learned that her menopausal treatment would no longer be covered by insurance, she began to regret her choice to have her sex changed in the family register.
“Ms. A has long suffered from the same symptoms as menopausal women” due to having had her ovaries removed, the journalist notes. “She suffers from severe dizziness and hot flashes and is currently undergoing treatment with low doses of female hormones,” a treatment commonly prescribed to menopausal women.
However, she was told that since her gender had changed to male, her menopause treatment would no longer be covered by insurance. ‘From now on, everything will be at your own expense,’ said the doctor with apologetic expression. … When she was told that she would have to pay for her own medicine, Ms. A thought for a moment, ‘Oh, should I change back to female?’
The journalist continues, lamenting:
[It] is even more difficult to change one’s gender back to the original once it has been changed. Although there have been people who have wanted to change their gender back to their original gender after gender reassignment, it is basically difficult to do so.
Some men who have changed their gender to female have complained that they regretted their gender change because there were so many job opportunities that disappeared as soon as they changed their gender.
‘A’ also feels slighted by the handling of the change in the family register. She “was previously listed in the family register as ‘second daughter’. But now that her gender has been changed to male, she is listed as ‘second son'” – despite having no brothers.
In addition, “being born female was not erased from the family register. … Instead of changing the gender and recreating the family register as a man from scratch, the date of becoming a man from a woman was simply recorded in the family register.”
Under Japanese law, in order to be legally recognized as the other sex, a person must be over 18, unmarried, have no minor children, be diagnosed with gender identity disorder by two or more doctors, have the gonads disabled or removed and have genitalia similar to that of the other sex.
While in her 20s, ‘A’ underwent surgical intervention to take on a masculine appearance, getting breasts, uterus and ovaries removed and receiving cross-sex hormones that allowed her to grow a beard.
However, because ‘A’ was partnered with a woman and same-sex marriage is banned under Japanese law, she waited until her 50s before seeking to have her sex changed in the family register. The Tokyo Family Court initially denied the change request, as there was no record of ‘A’s gender dysphoria diagnoses. Japanese hospitals have a five-year retention period for medical records. Following an appeal, the court reluctantly granted the request for ‘A’ to change her sex in the family register.
“When I look at Mr. A’s family register, which is marked as ‘second son,’ anger wells up,” the journalist wrote. The journalist condemned the family register as an “old analog system that cannot be used as an ID, a record of a house that leaks privacy. Why doesn’t this country let go of the family register?”
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AeroDot
戸籍の「性別変更」で保険料が上がる？ 「二男」と記された戸籍の支配に怒りが湧き上がった
それにしても性別変更が無事済んだかと思えば、その後の手続きも想定外のことが続いた。例えば戸籍である。
You can’t have it both ways. These people don’t want recognition, they want society to do what THEY want WHEN THEY want, HOW THEY want. Someone needs to tell this woman: s/he is getting what s/he wants!
“I’m biologically female, and my occupation hasn’t changed…” — Not even deep down they know they’re not the opposite sex, and that it’s impossible to change sex, but yet still, the crazy culture should adhere to their ever-changing whims and delusions.
Yes, it seems to me that often much of the motivation for those who engage in this “subculture”, with the rigid rules that it attempts to impose on others and indeed, on society at large (more often successfully than not) is far more one of sheer narcissism than the genuine desire to actually be the opposite sex.
Indeed, that would pretty much explain the rise of the entire phenomenon of the “non-binary” suite of identities – one could argue. Much of the entire movement does seem to be predicated on seeing just how far others can be pushed – first on an interpersonal level and then, of course, the legislative level. It’s more akin to a game of wild entitlement and demands made for the sake of entertainment run amok than a push for the recognition of legitimate human rights.
I’m as confused as she is! Was she hoping that she would become a first born son and inherit the family wealth instead of her elder sister?
You live by the transition, you die by the transition.
I believe Minori Kitahara, the writer of the original article, switched back and forth between calling the friend “Mr. A” and “Ms. A.” I’m not sure what the reason is for this.
The person is not happy because they want the benefits of both worlds and adhering to none. It is wrong to expect the world to validate you. Trans people scream at the world accept me as I am, while at the same time being unable to accept themselves as they are, therefore the need to “trans”.
Obesity can be verified externally, from a third person perspective. So we can say that someone who weighs 80 lb and states that they are “obese” are simply wrong about that. Gender is entirely in the head and cannot (as of yet) be verified from a third person perspective. Hence, we cannot verify either way and should therefore out of courtesy accept their identity as true.
Wow such strong conviction she’s a man, when it evaporates as soon as she might have to pay for stuff.. It’s also quite naive to expect insurances to not go for what benefits them in a country like Japan with strong gender roles, where being gay is still quite taboo unless it’s for entertainment.