#and have a clearer understanding of his sexuality too since he'd be challenged to question it much earlier in life

[cursedvibes]

I had a bit of realization that in Stiches Across the Eye, Jin's only interactions with sorcerers are Kenjaku and Uraume and that as far as he knows all sorcerers are queer or exist and present outside the gender binary. Since Yuuji was born in like early 2000's with the world becoming more accepting to gay rights, adoption, marriage and the internet was more accessible I can't help to think of Jin wanting Yuuji who he already knows is different to feel happy and not ashamed of either his parents or their relationship or himself so he researches a lot of things on queer parenting, letting kids express themselves on clothing and hobbies regardless of gender, probably ask Kenjaku on advice and some textbooks but milage goes on helpful * that* would go depending although I feel Jin would probably learn a few things about himself along the way.

You really could get the impression that being gnc gives you superpowers lol so far he doesn't even know what sorcerers or curses are, he just knows that Kenjaku has some supernatural abilities and Uraume is also older than they look but their version of "immortality" is different from Kenjaku's. Also, he sometimes has scary dreams. And eating meat of suspicious origins is good for your health. He's gonna find out more soon though...

Japan's improvement on LGBT rights goes at a snail pace (there's no clear anti-discrimination law for queer people and same-sex marriage is also a grey zone), but they did have some reforms in the 2000s like recognising same-sex marriages from other countries and trans people are allowed to legally change their gender since 2003 (Yuuji's birth year yay), provided they're over 22, unmarried, in the process of or post-SRS, sterile and without children under 20. At least they lowered the age to 18 recently, but you still have to be sterile (tbf where I live trans people technically have to be sterile too to change their gender and have undergone some form of medical transition, marriage status and children are unimportant tho). In everyday action things look better and there's room for exceptions, but the legal and medical situation still has room for improvement. Recently, there have been a lot of positive changes. First case of same-sex adoption happened in 2017 and they introduced a partnership family system a few months ago which could potentially work in a similar way. Among other things it will allow you to pick up your kid from school even if you aren't the biological parent and make medical decisions for the child. Japan also allows mlm to donate blood, which makes them a lot better than my home country.

I definitely think that Jin would raise Yuuji with as open a mind to these things as possible. Both because of Kenjaku, but also because it's just not in his nature to think restrictive like that due to not being straight and adhering to strict gender-roles either. He's not that well-versed and up-to-date on the lingo or has a very close connection to the local queer community (Kenjaku and Uraume don't count), but for example Kenjaku made him realise that he doesn't actually care about his partner's gender. He learned about people changing their pronouns and names too and implemented it without much trouble. Same with Kenjaku's developing dysphoria. So, I think that he knows a lot of things instinctually, but just hasn't been confronted with them before and doesn't always put it into words. Like in the recent chapter for example, where he also kinda expressed that he doesn't see an issue with two men raising a child.

If Yuuji wanted to play with dolls or wear a dress, he wouldn't think about prohibiting that because Yuuji's wishes and wellbeing come first. He might not think of challenging Yuuji to try it out, like deliberately going to the girls section in a store, but if Yuuji ran over there on his own, he wouldn't think that's weird. Since he sees his relationship with Kenjaku as relatively normal, he'd explain it that way to him too. The whole "your mother used to be a woman, currently doesn't strongly identify with any gender but that might change in the future" is really the easiest part about their family relations...

He'd definitely get more educated through Kenjaku though and be very open to learning. It would also be a good opportunity for him to find out more about them by having them tell him about their experiences with the gay community in Chengdu or hearing about the new innovative surgeries they do in Thailand for example. There's gonna be a bit more exploration of Jin's attraction & sexuality in the final chapter, particularly in regards to how he feels about Kenjaku's current vessel, which isn't a woman (spoiler but not really). Lots of new experiences waiting for him.

Not sure how helpful Kenjaku's input on the matter would be for Yuuji... just being his mother regardless of gender identity already tells him enough as is and I don't think Yuuji needs much explanation from them anyway (I think most children are pretty quick on understanding these things unless they had a very conservative upbringing). I'm sure Kenjaku would still gladly give him a rundown of Japan's entire LGBT+ history. Now that will confuse him 😅

Btw, I think Wasuke has a similar attitude towards queer people & topics as Jin, he's just a little more steeped in tradition. So for example, his default thinking is that Jin will obviously seek out a relationship with a woman because the existence of gay people isn't really at the forefront of his mind, Jin already had a longterm relationship with a woman and even though Jin had some tentative gay feelings as a teenager, he never explored them due to already being in love with Kaori and definitely never told his father about it (as you can tell emotional talks aren't really their strong-suit). But if Jin had gotten into a relationship with some nice guy after Kaori's death, Wasuke wouldn't have had much of a problem with it. He'd be worried because of the risk of HIV and all the horror stories you'd hear about it on the news around that time, but he'd have no problem with the relationship itself. Maybe he'd be a bit surprised, but that's all. The problem he has with Kenjaku is more their abuse of his family members, not their gender. If Kenjaku had turned out to be a sweet, innocent little brain, he'd still be freaked out by the whole possession thing, but have less of a problem with their relationship with Jin.

#asks #itadori jin #btw this is specific to Stitches I can think of many scenarios where Jin would already be more informed about queer topics #like with my trans!Kaori hc he'd have a much closer connection to the local queer community and be informed about current regulations #he'd help and support Kaori in her transition #and have a clearer understanding of his sexuality too since he'd be challenged to question it much earlier in life