Besides Tongzhi: Tactics for Constructing and Communicating Sexual Identities in China

Abstract

Through examining queer men’s labeling practices, this paper illuminates the competing system of constructing and communicating queer identities in China. My research demonstrates that, in addition to relying on the term tongzhi, Chinese queer men have deployed three labeling tactics to make sense of distinct male homosexualities, using a wide range of slang terms. I argue that these tactics reveal the internal division and hierarchization on the basis of generation, class, self-acceptance, and affective presentation, among other distinctions. Queer men deploy certain labels to draw symbolic boundaries of separation from other queer men and to construct ideal or superior sexual selfhood. Examining the labeling practices of queer men helps us better understand how queer communities both resist external categorization and create internal marginalization.