week seven: gender and sexuality
This week, I reread My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness by Nagata Kabi, which is an autobiographical manga that details her sexuality and also her experiences with mental health. I was first recommended this manga about a year ago by an LGBT friend on tumblr, who was living in Japan at the time as a University student. I read it in one sitting that day, stunned by the sort of blunt honesty and contrast between the sweet drawings and the rough life the author had. It's a pretty intense read, but I really enjoyed it. Japan isn't that great when it comes to LGBT issues, even though it's definitely a part of the developed world. Asia has a big problem with moving forward from traditional societal views. This was a very intimate, genuine autobiographical story and I was particularly impacted by how the author depicts having anxious thoughts, depression, and guilt over her own "inadequacies." She actually published a sequel last year, and the first volume was