Transgender Debate/Discussion: Biological Sex and Gender
Before reading this article, please understand that some Individuals struggle with gender incongruence and go to the hospital, eventually undergoing Gender-Affirming surgery.
Gender incongruence is the medical term for “the mismatch between one’s gender identity and biological sex.”
(The WHO removed gender identity disorder from its classification of “mental disorders” and changed it to gender incongruence.)
LGBTQ+ is used as the appellation for Individuals regarding their sexual orientation, meaning whom they are romantically interested in.
Gender incongruence is treated as part of LGBTQ+ because if someone accepts their “mismatch between their gender identity and biological sex”, they are treated as transgender. If they feel negatively about this, they may be diagnosed with gender incongruence.
We feel that understanding of LGBTQ+ is growing within society.
However, I also feel that there are still Individuals who struggle from fear of social prejudice and harassment.
It would be completely off-topic to discuss the entire LGBTQ+ in this article.
This article covers the ‘T’ in LGBTQ+, specifically transgender Individuals.
We believe we should seriously discuss the significant issue of transgender Individuals.
However, despite the lack of progress in discussions between transgender Individuals and society, we feel a strong sense of discomfort with attempts to hastily change systems.
There are cases where judicial rulings have been issued without any disclosure of how deeply this issue was discussed.
In other words, we believe there are cases where the judiciary respects the opinions of a minority, causing distress to the majority.
Our sense of discomfort is that biological sex and gender are being discussed within the same classification.
We believe biological sex and gender should be treated separately.
In debate about transgender issues, self-identified feminists claimed that “anyone who identifies as a woman can become a woman.”
When the other party asked “Can I become a woman too ?”, that feminist responded “Are you gender incongruence ? If not, then no.”
This exchange made us consider the following two points.
The first is about gender incongruence.
The Daijirin dictionary(one of Japanese language dictionaries) explains “incongruence” as “a lack of agreement. incompatible. a mismatch.” This means gender incongruence indicates a mismatch in gender, specifically a condition where a person’s gender identity does not match their biological sex.
And we can understand that “gender identity” is the term that indicates “gender”.
The website of JSPOG(Japanese Society of Psychosomatic Obstetrics and Gynecology) also states, “It is a disorder in which the sex of one’s body (biological sex) and the sex of one’s mind (how one feel one’s own sex) do not match.
Gender is the mind’s sex (gender identity), a sex distinct from biological sex.
Second is that despite self-proclaimed feminists claiming “anyone who identifies as a woman can become a woman,” but he told the other party that “ you cannot become a woman if you are not gender incongruence .”
In response to this contradictory answer, the other party asked “How can we recognize someone as gender incongruence just by looking at them?”
However, the self-identified feminist was unable to answer this question and changed the subject.
From these claims defending transgender Individuals, it feels as if they lack theoretical and clear data, but are just trying to push their own claims .
According to their theory, a person can become either a woman or a man depending on their mood. Don’t you think this is extremely dangerous?
Biological women are granted certain rights. Representative examples include restrooms, baths, changing rooms, and sports.
What feels uncomfortable to us is that court rulings including the Supreme Court of Japan have decided that Individuals who identify as women are women even if their appearance remains unchanged (without surgery).
Why did they treat biological sex and gender identity as equivalent, granting the same rights as biological females to those who ‘just say their gender identity is female’?
These judges are saying that when children change clothes for swimming or gym class, if a biologically male teacher or student says “My heart is female”, they’ll be allowed to change with the girls, right ?
At hot springs or public baths(Sento), if a biologically male person says “My heart is female”, they’ll be allowed into the women’s bath, right ?
In women’s combat sports tournaments, if a biologically male athlete says “My heart is a woman’s,” they’d be allowed to compete, right ? (In this case, the judicial branch would be acknowledging that the risk of biological women suffering fatal injuries is part of the sport.)
In other women’s sports competitions too, if a biologically male athlete says “My heart is a woman’s,” they could enter any women’s sporting competition, right ? (I’m sure competition records would be broken one after another.)
For these reasons, we can only feel discomfort with the Supreme Court’s ruling.
It seems the judicial branch has deliberately disregarded the majority of biological women for the benefit of the minority.
We believe the discussion should proceed on the premise that biological sex and gender are distinct classifications.
Of course, we must also be mindful in our discussion that there are Individuals who have undergone Gender-Affirming surgery.
Within this framework, we should clearly define the cases where biological sex and gender should be treated separately, and the cases where they can be treated as the same.
The following are merely examples. In reality, these are issues requiring deep discussion and resolution.
・Distinction based on biological sex: Sports, baths, restrooms, changing rooms, etc.
・Individuals who have undergone Gender-Affirming surgery: Baths, restrooms, changing rooms, etc. – Only when there are no issues with their appearance.
・Biological sex and gender identity: Cases where neither biological sex nor gender identity is affected such as normal social life
It is often said that many transgender individuals suffer significant stress when using restrooms, baths, and changing rooms designated by biological sex.
Therefore, we need to discuss how to avoid disadvantages for both biological sex and gender identity. As a result, it would be possible to add new classifications beyond male and female.
For example, in facilities like baths, restrooms, and changing rooms, we could add a gender identity classification in addition to (biological) male and (biological) female. Furthermore, we could consider adding gender identity to the time-based rotation systems already used in places like hot springs.
Of course, this would entail significant cost burdens for both society and businesses.
Therefore, as we have said many times, we urge deep discussion to find better solutions.
In mainstream society, it is important to accept not only transgender individuals but the entire LGBTQ+ individuals.
Reference: NHK WORKD – Japan (2024/02/11)
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20240208_02/
Reference: the japan times (2025/12/08)
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/09/25/japan/crime-legal/sex-change-requirement-unconstitutional
Reference: PRIDE JAPAN (2025/12/08)
https://www.outjapan.co.jp/pride_japan/news/2019/5/13.html
Thanks.
2024/02/11 – 2025/12/09