Breasts removed at the age of 20: soccer star comes out as transgender


Breasts removed at the age of 20
Soccer star comes out as transgender

Kumi Yokoyama is a star in Japan. The professional soccer player plays in the Women’s World Cup and is currently employed in the USA. And now causes a stir: He comes out as a transgender man. It took years abroad for him to develop the courage to speak out.

The Japanese soccer star Kumi Yokoyama, participant in the Women’s World Cup 2019 and active at 1. FFC Frankfurt in the 2017/2018 season, has come out as a transgender man. “The term LGBTQ has become popular in Japan recently, and you can see it in the media these days. But things won’t move if people in my position don’t speak up,” the 27-year-old said in a statement the YouTube channel of ex-teammate Yuki Nagasato, 2011 world champion.

The attacker is currently under contract with the US women’s professional club Washington Spirit. Life in the US has made it easier to be “open” about sexuality and gender. At the age of 20, Yokoyama had her breasts removed during an operation, and another gender reassignment operation is to be carried out after retirement.

“Would have been caught if I had taken hormones”

Since he knew about his gender identity when he was a child. He always had short hair and never wore female clothes. “I never saw myself as a girl, so I hated puberty,” said Yokoyama. “When I reached adulthood I thought I might play football for another year or two, so I had my breasts removed after the season.” He explains: “Normally you can’t have that if you don’t get hormones, but my doctor understood my situation. I would have been caught in doping tests if I had taken hormones, so I just had an operation upstairs.” The career ended up being longer than expected.

According to Yokoyama, there is great pressure in Japan to conform to gender norms. There is less discrimination in the USA and Germany. “When my friend said that there was no reason for me to stay closed, it really hit me,” said Yokoyama of the starting point. “Coming out wasn’t something I was excited about, but when I think about my future life it would be more difficult to live closed, so I found the courage to come out.”

“In Japan people always ask: Do you have a boyfriend? But here it is normal to ask: Do you prefer men or women?” Said Yokoyama. “In the beginning I hid it from my teammates, but they told me I was don’t have to do that. ” Washington Spirit responded with a tweet: “We support you and are so proud of you, Kumi!”, The club wrote: “Thank you for showing the world that it is okay to be who you are ! “

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