“May I talk to you?” ethno-sexual encounters in Taipei’s New Park—A queer ethnography

Media, Erotics, and Transnational Asia

“…By training our lens on media erotics, we broaden this inquiry, asking what forms of interpersonal relations, including sexual and corporeal or not, might be brought into being, perhaps even across great physical distances, through participation in mediated worlds? Fields of corporeality and materiality are necessarily fraught and unclearly demarcated; desires for sexual encounters intertwine with those for commodities or lifestyles (see Wiggins 2000), likewise pushing the limits of what is thought of as corporeal. Desires for medical normalcy, or for freedom from pain, intermingle with erotic knowledges gleaned, in Zhang's instance (this volume), from a Chinese radio talk show voice.…”

Coming Out, Going Home

“…With the rise and expansion of socialized production, He(2007)argues,Taiwanesequeercultureisheavilyinfluencedbythe western consumption culture propagated via global media such as magazines, TV, advertisements,andfilms(Jones2007;Shiau2008a;b).Additionally,transformations in popular opinion in Taiwan have led to tacit support for queer identity (or in Chinese: tong-zhi) and relationships as a marker of Taiwan's ambition to be seen as a sophisticated and developed society (Martin 2000). With the presence of new global,regionalandlocalactors,multipleconstructionsofgenderandfamilycoexist and interact within the situated "regulatory frame" of the heterosexual matrix, as Taiwan-asanunrecognizedstate-frequentlyattemptstointegrateitselfwiththe internationalcommunitythroughprogressiveimagery,ofwhichgreateracceptanceof sexualdissidentshasbecomeanintegralpart(He2007;Shiau2008b).LikeChristianity is often a central discourse against homosexuality in western societies, Confucian philosophyasadominateddiscourseinTaiwanesesocietyseeshomosexualityrunning counter to the yin-yang harmony of heterosexual relationship, family integrity, and social order prescribed by Confucian philosophy (Hsieh & Wu 2011;Wiggins 2000;Tang,Lai,&Chung1997).WhathasbeenenvisionedinTaipeiisasthefirst emergingclassinwhichpeopleinLGBcommunitieshavingrarelyfearedabuseor assaultinAsia,buttheincreasedemploymentopportunitiesinGreaterChina-such as Shanghai where approximately 500,000 Taiwanese have moved and relocated; Hanoi in Vietnam where Taiwanese manufacturing factories have moved to, and the ties with the US and Canada formulated in the cold war era where Taiwanese immigrantschosetorelocatehavereconfigured.TheTaiwanesemillennialsgrowing up in the age of social media may struggle with their identities of place regarding whetherornottocomeouttotheirparents;andhowtograspthehigherdegreeof regionalandglobalmobility.Atatimeasemploymentmarketsremainstagnantbut thecostofrealityestatesacrossGreaterChineseregionescalate,co-habituationwith parentswhohaveownedtheirpropertiesisperceivedasmaterialisticallyrealisticfor many people in LGB communities. However, the local places may not nicely offer theemploymentopportunitiesascomparedtootherareasintheEastAsiaorinthe West.…”

Gay men's identity attempt pathway and its implication on consumption

“…Some of the cultural reasons might be particularly salient in the context of Confucianist Chinese‐dominated societies with conservative views on homosexuality, which runs counter to conventional societal values (such as the yin–yang harmony of heterosexual relationship, family integrity, and social order) prescribed by Confucian philosophy (Tang, Lai, & Chung, 1997). As such, in Chinese society, homosexuality is typically perceived as taboo (Wang & Tang, 2004), and prevalent stigmatization and heterosexist persecution have forced homosexuals to hide their sexual orientation from society (He, 2007; Wiggins, 2000). In recent years, however, the emergence and proliferation of gay movements and gay communities have motivated a large number of homosexuals to express their identities outwardly.…”