Performing (Homo)Sexual Citizenship Under Authoritarian Rule: Gay Couple Vlogs and Everyday Intimacy in China.

IF 2 4区心理学 Q2 PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Journal of Homosexuality Pub Date : 2025-07-16 DOI:10.1080/00918369.2025.2529364

Zihao Joseph Zhou

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

This article explores fufu () vlogs-user-generated video diaries of Chinese gay male couples on Bilibili-as performative acts of (homo)sexual citizenship under authoritarian rule. Drawing on frameworks of sexual, cultural, and performative citizenship, the study examines how these vlogs negotiate relational recognition, legal marginality, and mediated visibility within a tightly censored digital ecology. Combining digital ethnography and reflexive thematic analysis, the article demonstrates that fufu vlogs simultaneously reproduce and resist heteronormative ideals, offering emotionally legible yet normatively constrained depictions of gay life. While these performances often align with conservative scripts of monogamy, domesticity, and filial piety, they also tactically inhabit legal loopholes-such as the Assigned Guardianship System and hukou affiliation-to enact forms of symbolic and relational legitimacy. Crucially, viewer interactions through danmu and comment threads constitute informal pedagogical spaces, circulating information and cultivating civic awareness. The article conceptualizes these mediated practices as performing Chinese authoritarian (homo)sexual citizenship-a mode of gay belonging negotiated through ambivalent performances of public visibility, normative proximity, and strategic intimacy.

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专制统治下的同性恋性公民：中国同性恋情侣视频和日常亲密行为。

这篇文章探讨了哔哩哔哩上由用户生成的中国男同性恋伴侣的视频日记——作为专制统治下同性恋公民身份的表演行为。利用性、文化和表演公民的框架，该研究考察了这些视频博客如何在严格审查的数字生态中协商关系认可、法律边缘化和中介可见性。结合数字人种学和反身性主题分析，本文证明了福伏视频同时再现和抵制异性恋规范理想，提供情感上清晰但规范上受限的同性恋生活描述。虽然这些表演通常与一夫一妻制、家庭生活和孝道的保守剧本保持一致，但它们也巧妙地利用了法律漏洞——比如指定监护制度和户口关系——来制定象征性和关系合法性的形式。最重要的是，观众通过主题和评论的互动构成了非正式的教学空间，传播信息，培养公民意识。这篇文章将这些中介实践概念化为中国专制（同性恋）性公民身份的表现——一种通过公众可见性、规范性接近性和战略性亲密性的矛盾表现来协商的同性恋归属模式。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Homosexuality Multiple-

CiteScore

5.60

自引率

7.70%

发文量

164

期刊介绍： The Journal of Homosexuality is an internationally acclaimed, peer-reviewed publication devoted to publishing a wide variety of disciplinary and interdisciplinary scholarship to foster a thorough understanding of the complexities, nuances, and the multifaceted aspects of sexuality and gender. The chief aim of the journal is to publish thought-provoking scholarship by researchers, community activists, and scholars who employ a range of research methodologies and who offer a variety of perspectives to continue shaping knowledge production in the arenas of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) studies and queer studies. The Journal of Homosexuality is committed to offering substantive, accessible reading to researchers and general readers alike in the hope of: spurring additional research, offering ideas to integrate into educational programs at schools, colleges & universities, or community-based organizations, and manifesting activism against sexual and gender prejudice (e.g., homophobia, biphobia and transphobia), including the promotion of sexual and gender justice.