The "fish tank": social sorting of LGBTQ+ activists in China

Since 2013, LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, and other) activism in China has existed in a gray area between non-criminalization in legal terms and fragmented strategies of suppression. The expansion of home-grown social media platforms has provided a (relatively) safe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInternational feminist journal of politics Vol. 26; no. 2; pp. 351 - 374
Main Authors Bernot, Ausma, Davies, Sara E.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Routledge 14.03.2024
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Activism
Bisexuality
Censorship
China
Community
COVID-19
Harassment
LGBTQ
LGBTQ people
Marginality
Mass media
Pandemics
Sexuality
Social media
Social networks
social sorting
Surveillance
Transgender persons
中国
新冠疫情
监控
社会群体划分
China
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Summary:Since 2013, LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, and other) activism in China has existed in a gray area between non-criminalization in legal terms and fragmented strategies of suppression. The expansion of home-grown social media platforms has provided a (relatively) safe haven for LGBTQ+ people to connect, and a growing number of LGBTQ+ groups have established themselves in the country. However, in recent years, laws, policies, and mass closures of LGBTQ+ social media accounts have chipped away at organizational capacity. In this exploratory study, we center the voices of LGBTQ+ activist communities in China. Drawing from 26 interviews, we explore the effects of increased surveillance in digital and physical spaces on queer communities via the theoretical concept of "social sorting." The findings suggest that LGBTQ+ communities were already under extensive institutional and digital surveillance prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has further amplified state-led surveillance and censorship. The norm setting of an ideal citizen of China has occurred through enhanced institutional marginalization, digital censorship, and police monitoring and harassment. These practices have harmed but not broken the resolve of LGBTQ+ communities, who had been finding unconventional ways to connect prior to the pandemic, albeit constrained as if in a metaphorical fish tank.
ISSN:1461-6742
1468-4470
DOI:10.1080/14616742.2023.2261948