Unrstandg Che Gay Men’s and Lbians’ Experienc of Copg wh the Prsure to Marry om the Lens of Suzhi Disurse - PMC

Contents:

• HOW TO SAY "I'M GAY." MANDAR CHE.
• HOW TO SAY YOU ARE GAY CHE
• BEG GAY IN CHA (AS A FOREIGNER 2020-21) ?️‍? WHAT’S THE TTH?
• UNRSTANDG CHE GAY MEN’S AND LBIANS’ EXPERIENC OF COPG WH THE PRSURE TO MARRY OM THE LENS OF SUZHI DISURSE
• TRANSLATN OF GAY – ENGLISH–TRADNAL CHE DICTNARY

HOW TO SAY "I'M GAY." MANDAR CHE.

I’d done the rearch and all seemed to suggt that, although gay unns weren’t regnised Cha, I’d have no problems livg as a gay woman. I’d also read that due to expectatns of fay, many gay members of Che society kept their sexualy hidn, which ma me wonr, should me and my wife keep our ‘gayns’ somewhat quiet too? I’d also seen many gay upl too, both male and female, but I was yet to see a gay uple wh children or a ‘rabow fay’ as we like to ll them.

The biggt difficulti by far are burecratic, so if you’re planng on gettg married to your partner or havg a child as a gay uple Cha, uld be hard work. There is a large unrground gay scene Beijg, pecially for men, but there are also some gay nightclubs and you will see gay upl walkg around the streets holdg hands.

There has been some excellent rearch to the emergence of gay and lbian inti Cha, cludg how the have been shaped by ro-Amerin ias of “gay sensibily” and characterised by “dividualy, difference, sophistitn, liberatn and morny”. One 2018 study tailed gay bars Shanghai that rivalled those of any wtern pal, the anisatn of “pri” events and the tense ntexts which “queer” film ftivals and wir cultural productn and activism occur the face of ntued regulatn by the thorarian state. Inspired by those experienc, for the past eight years, I have been rryg out rearch wh gay men the regn and, 2018, pleted a PhD this explorg gay liv Haan.

HOW TO SAY YOU ARE GAY CHE

I wanted to fd out how gay liv are lived on the margs of global LGBT polics and activism, away om ci imaged as smopolan centr of morny. My rearch explor how gay men Haan unrstand themselv, build muni and negotiate the prsur to nform to the heterosexual life script of marriage and reproductn.

BEG GAY IN CHA (AS A FOREIGNER 2020-21) ?️‍? WHAT’S THE TTH?

I looked to how gay liv are figured out everyday teractns, how they are shaped by the spac which they unfold and how this plays out over time.

“When we get there, don’t say any gay stuff, ” Ah Tao warns me as we approach a shop the cut-out rner of a buildg at an tersectn wh an even narrower alley. In the island’s biggt ci, Haikou and Sanya, there are gay bars and tablished cisg areas certa parks, centrally loted yet variably beyond the view of the wir public. Haikou’s current gay bar is accsed by climbg through a wdow on the fifth floor of an ageg tower block, out onto a balny, past a long dried-up swimmg pool and down a stg stairse.

In Sanya, the well trodn pathways that criss-cross a bamboo grove where the edge of a park meets a riverbank are a by gay meetg spot, while the cy’s gay bar, durg the time of my fieldwork, was aga loted a dised hotel.

UNRSTANDG CHE GAY MEN’S AND LBIANS’ EXPERIENC OF COPG WH THE PRSURE TO MARRY OM THE LENS OF SUZHI DISURSE

In the spac, fears of beg “outed” and the possible damage this uld do to fay and profsnal relatnships, mean that, as I was warned by Ah Tao, is bt not to “say any gay stuff”. Careful regulatn of the language and knowledge that is allowed to circulate the spac ensur that gay men are only visible as gay men to one another.

Yet, the time spent the spac is marked by anxieti that, at any moment, cracks might appear the barrier between parallel gay and straight worlds. In distct ways, gay spac Haan’s ci and towns are characterised by juxtaposns of visibily and visibily, centraly and margaly, prence and absence. Still standg that nvenience store Jiaji, a gay meetg place visible pla sight, Ah Tao has jt told me that all the men here are gay.

TRANSLATN OF GAY – ENGLISH–TRADNAL CHE DICTNARY

Jt as gay spac Haan exist as cracks an otherwise heterosexual public sphere, so too do the time that gay men dite to socialisg gay muni.