Dealing with heteronormativity in everyday practice: Nuanced resistance of Taiwanese Nutongzhis

ABSTRACT

This paper presents the multiple nuanced ways in which Taiwanese Nutongzhi (Taiwanese lesbians) engage in resistance in a heteronormative society. It explores the strategies they use – such as playing “goodness”, manipulating normativity, pushing back, improving social capital and status, and constructing “Nutongzhi” – to demonstrate that resistance occurs not only at the level of social movements but also and, perhaps more importantly, at the personal level through daily interactions. Ten Taiwanese Nutongzhis were invited to share their stories of resisting social norms, heterosexual marriage, and the values that affect their lives. The findings highlight the complexity of resistance, where Taiwanese Nutongzhis fight back against the dominant heterosexual world. They engaged in resistance through nuanced diverting and reconstructing of the meanings of their bodies and values. The findings also indicate “co-existing with normativities” as the way of resistance. It subverts the position of marginalization.

本文呈现在异性恋常规性的社会中，台湾女同志如何以多样而细腻的方式进行抵抗。她们的策略包括：假装“优秀”、操纵常规性、反击、增加社会资本及地位、及建构“同志”的意义。这些策略显示，抵抗不仅仅发生在社会运动中。同时，更重要地发生在个人的日常互动里。十位台湾女同志参与访谈并分享她们抵抗社会常规、异性恋婚姻、及生活日常价值的故事。本研究凸显台湾女同志向异性恋社会反击时抵抗本身的复杂性。她们透过细腻地转移并重新建构身体与价值的意义来抵抗。研究结果也指出“与常规性共存”作为一种抵抗方式能够翻转这一群体的边缘位置。

KEYWORDS:

• LGBTQ
• heteronormativity
• resistance
• Taiwan
• lesbian
• Nutongzhi

Acknowledgments

Special thanks are due to Dr Maurice Poon, my supervisor, who generated the ideas and analyses, encouraged me, and patiently spent many hours discussing this with me. Thanks to Dr Denise Tang for supervising my master’s thesis, which is the foundation of this article. I would also like to thank the editors and anonymous reviewers for their critical and helpful comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.