Poster Exhibition “Do you know sexual minorities?”

2015年10月30日更新

Figure 1: The presentation panel

A group of interested students held a poster exhibition titled “Do you know sexual minorities?” at the university library from October 19 to 30, 2015, aiming to convey the voices of sexual minorities to the students who are not interested in the issue of sexual diversity.

The presentation panel first introduces three important elements of sexuality; biological sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation. Secondly, it shows a diagram which is commonly used to explain sexual minorities, and then it refers to some categories of sexuality which are not shown in the diagram, such as X-gender, Asexual, and Questioning. (Figure 2)

Figure 2: Sexuality Map produced by DENTSU diversity laboratory, quoted with permission
http://www.dentsu.co.jp/news/release/2015/0423-004032.html

Sexuality consists of diverse combinations of elements, and it is difficult to explain sexuality as everyone has different sexuality including straight. The exhibition tried to provide people with an opportunity to think about sexuality. We had carried out a questionnaire survey and gathered voices from our friends about their sexuality, coming-out experiences, and their messages to the people who come to see the exhibition. A brochure including the messages from twenty interviewees were produced for the visitors to read on site or to take home.

Here are some reactions to the exhibition and the brochure from students.

“I talked about sexual minorities with my friends and family after looking at the panels.”

“I’ve learned about sexuality and I thought I have a positive attitude toward those minorities, but I realized that I said “Do you have a boyfriend?” to female friends in my daily life.”

“There are many kinds of “love”. I’m really happy to know the category of sexuality such as Asexual.”

“It was really interesting to know that there are more sexual minorities around me than I expected. I just thought that it is maybe because most of them hide their sexuality. Possibly, they can be the “majority”. I think it is important for everyone to think about sexuality.”

Figure 3: Stickers expressing “like”
by the exhibition visitors

We are really glad to receive many positive reactions from the visitors, as many of them expressed their appreciation by putting “like” stickers on the reaction panel. (Figure 3)

We are planning to hold queer movie sessions or chatting meetings on the same subject. Thank you all who helped us with this project.

（Kaori Shimizu, Chisato Namatsu, Akari Yagishita,
4th year students, Faculty of Letters and Education）