Publication Cover
Culture, Health & Sexuality
An International Journal for Research, Intervention and Care
Volume 24, 2022 - Issue 12
791
Views
7
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Articles

“I did not know I was gay”: sexual identity development and fluidity among married tongzhi in China

ORCID Icon, , &
Pages 1681-1694 | Received 27 Jul 2021, Accepted 18 Oct 2021, Published online: 28 Oct 2021

References

  • Bedford, O., and K. ‐K. Hwang. 2003. “Guilt and Shame in Chinese Culture: A Cross‐Cultural Framework from the Perspective of Morality and Identity.” Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 33 (2): 127–144.
  • Braun, V., and V. Clarke. 2006. “Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology.” Qualitative Research in Psychology 3 (2): 77–101.
  • Fahs, B., and K. M. Koerth. 2018. “Female Bisexuality: Identity, Fluidity, and Cultural Expectations.” In Bisexuality: Theories, Research, and Recommendations for the Invisible Sexuality, edited by D. Swan and S. Habibi, 112–126. Cham: Springer.
  • Cao, J., and X. Lu. 2014. “Preliminary Exploration of the Gay Movement in Mainland China: Legacy, Transition, Opportunity, and the New Media.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 39 (4): 840–848.
  • Cass, V. C. 1979. “Homosexual Identity Formation: A Theoretical Model.” Journal of Homosexuality 4 (3): 219–235.
  • Chou, W.-S. 2000. Tongzhi: Politics of Same-Sex Eroticism in Chinese Societies. New York: Routledge.
  • Cohler, B. J., and P. L. Hammack. 2007. “The Psychological World of the Gay Teenager: Social Change, Narrative, and “Normality.” Journal of Youth and Adolescence 36 (1): 47–59.
  • Creswell, J. W., and C. N. Poth. 2016. Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing among Five Approaches. 4th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
  • Diamond, L. M. 2015. “Sexual Fluidity.” In The International Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality, edited by P. Whelehan and A. Bolin, 1115–1354. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
  • Diamond, L. M. 2016. “Sexual Fluidity in Males and Females.” Current Sexual Health Reports 8 (4): 249–256.
  • Dong, X. 2015. “The Fluidity of Sexual Orientation Qualitative Research - A Field Study Based on a Gender Group in Beijing.” Master’s diss., Beijing Forestry University.
  • Engebretsen, E. L., and W. F. Schroeder. 2015. “Queer/Tongzhi China.” In New Perspectives on Research, Activism and Media Cultures, edited by W. F. Schroeder, H. Bao, & E. L. Engebretsen, 35–56. Copenhagen: University of Copenhagen NIAS Press.
  • Fu, X., and K. Zhang. 2013. “Zai yinxinghun yu zhiduhun de bianjie youzou Zhongguo nantongxinglian qunti de hunyin xingtai fenxi” [Travel on the Border of Implicit Marriage and Institutional Marriage: Analysis on the Marriage Models among Chinese Gay Population].” Journal of South China Normal University 6: 22–30.
  • Hammack, P. L. 2005. “The Life Course Development of Human Sexual Orientation: An Integrative Paradigm.” Human Development 48 (5): 267–290.
  • Hammack, P. L., D. M. Frost, I. H. Meyer, and D. R. Pletta. 2018. “Gay Men's Health and Identity: Social Change and the Life Course.” Archives of Sexual Behavior 47 (1): 59–74.
  • Harper, G. W., P. A. Serrano, D. Bruce, and J. A. Bauermeister. 2016. “The Internet's Multiple Roles in Facilitating the Sexual Orientation Identity Development of Gay and Bisexual Male Adolescents.” American Journal of Men's Health 10 (5): 359–376.
  • Higgins, D. J. 2002. “Gay Men from Heterosexual Marriages: Attitudes, Behaviors, Childhood Experiences, and Reasons for Marriage.” Journal of Homosexuality 42 (4): 15–34.
  • Higgins, D. J. 2006. “Same-Sex Attraction in Heterosexually Partnered Men: Reasons, Rationales and Reflections.” Sexual and Relationship Therapy 21 (2): 217–228.
  • Jagose, A. 1996. Queer Theory: An Introduction. New York: New York University Press.
  • Jiang, H. 2005. “ICCGL: Cultural Communication via the Internet and GLBT Community Building in China.” Paper presented at Sexualities, Genders and Rights in Asia: 1st International Conference of Asian Queer Studies. Bangkok, Thailand. July 7–9. Accessed 19 April 2021. https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/8687?mode=full.
  • Kang, W. 2012. “The Decriminalization and Depathologization of Homosexuality in China.” In China in and Beyond the Headlines, edited by T. B. Weston and L. M. Jensen, 231–248. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
  • Kinsey, Alfred C., Wardell R. Pomeroy, and Clyde E. Martin, eds. 1948. Sexual Behavior in The Human Male. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders.
  • Kong, T. S. 2016. “The Sexual in Chinese Sociology: Homosexuality Studies in Contemporary China.” The Sociological Review 64 (3): 495–514.
  • Kong, T. S. 2019. Oral Histories of Older Gay Men in Hong Kong: Unspoken but Unforgotten. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
  • Kong, Travis S. K. eds. 2011. Chinese Male Homosexualities: Memba, Tongzhi, and Golden Boy. London: Routledge.
  • Li, Y. 2009. Tongxinglian Yawenhua [The Subculture of Homosexuality]. Hohhot: Inner Mongolia University Press.
  • Liu, W. 2020. “Torture and Love: Wives of Chinese Gay Men and Their Cyber Communities.” In Mobile Media and Social Intimacies in Asia, edited by Jason Vincent A. Cabanes and Cecilia S. Uy-Tioco, 47–61. Dordrecht: Springer.
  • Miles-Johnson, T., and Y. Wang. 2018. “‘Hidden Identities’: Perceptions of Sexual Identity in Beijing.” The British Journal of Sociology 69 (2): 323–351.
  • Pan, S., and Y. Huang. 2011. “The Rise of Rights and Pleasure: Towards a Diversity of Sexuality and Gender.” In Sexual and Reproductive Health in China: Reorienting Concepts and Methodology, edited by K. N. Zhang, 215–262. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill.
  • Pearcey, M. 2005. “Gay and Bisexual Married Men's Attitudes and Experiences.” Journal of GLBT Family Studies 1 (4): 21–42.
  • Pijanowski, S. 2018. “The Sexual Identity Development of Gay Men in China.” Doctoral diss., Walden University. Accessed 19 April 2021. https://www.proquest.com/openview/2c86af3506ae166d245dc4350c2974d5/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750.
  • Plummer, K. 1975. Sexual Stigma: An Interactionist Account. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
  • Savin-Williams, R. C. 2005. The New Gay Teenager. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  • Savin-Williams, R. C. 2017. Mostly Straight: Sexual Fluidity among Men. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  • Savin-Williams, R. C., and K. M. Cohen. 2015. “Developmental Trajectories and Milestones of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Young People.” International Review of Psychiatry (Abingdon, England) 27 (5): 357–366.
  • Silva, T. J. 2021. Still Straight Sexual Flexibility among White Men in Rural America. New York: New York University Press.
  • Pan, S., Y. Huang, and D. Wang. 2011. Lun fangfa Shehuixue diaocha de bentu shijian yu shenghua [Social Research on Methods: Quantitative and Qualitative Sociological Studies in Chinese Context]. Beijing: China Renmin University Press.
  • Tang, K. 2018. Ruoshi yu Shengcun Guanyu tongqi qunti de xuni shehui renleixue yanjiu [Vulnerability and Survival: Virtual Social Anthropological Study on Tongqi]. Beijing: China Social Sciences Press.
  • Tang, K., and D. Liu. 2014. “Shehui wenhua shijiaoxia tongqi de shengcheng yuanyin fenxi Yixiang xuni shehui renleixue yanjiu” [Reasons for Gay’s Wife Phenomenon: A Perspective of Simulated Social Anthropology].” Journal of Eastern Liaoning University 16 (2): 127–135.
  • Troiden, R. R. 1989. “The Formation of Homosexual Identities.” Journal of Homosexuality 17 (1–2): 43–73.
  • Tsang, E. Y. H. 2021. “A “Phoenix” Rising from the Ashes: China’s Tongqi, Marriage Fraud, and Resistance.” British Journal of Sociology 72 (3): 793–807.
  • Wang, Q. 2011. “Rentong er bu chugui tongxinglianzhe shengcun xianzhuang de diaochayanjiu.” [Well-Identified But Not Coming Out: Contemporary Gay Minority Investigation]. China Agricultural University Journal of Social Sciences Edition 28 (4): 142–153.
  • Wang, Y., A. Wilson, R. Chen, Z. Hu, K. Peng, and S. Xu. 2019. “Behind the Rainbow, “Tongqi” Wives of Men Who Have Sex with Men in China: A Systematic Review.” Frontiers in Psychology 10: 2929. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02929
  • Ward, J. 2015. Not Gay Sex between Straight White Men. New York: New York University Press.
  • Wei, W. 2012. Gongkai Dangdai Chengdu Tongzhi Kongjian de Xingcheng he Bianqian. [Going Public: The Production and Transformation of Queer Spaces in Contemporary Chengdu, China]. Shanghai: Shanghai Sanlian Bookstore.
  • Wei, C., and W. Liu. 2019. “Coming Out in Mainland China: A National Survey of LGBTQ Students.” Journal of LGBT Youth 16 (2): 192–219.
  • Worth, H., J. Jun, K. McMillan, S. Chunyan, F. Xiaoxing, Z. Yuping, R. Zhao, A. Kelly-Hanku, C. Jia, and Z. Youchun. 2019. “There Was no Mercy at All’: Hooliganism, Homosexuality and the Opening-Up of China.” International Sociology 34 (1): 38–57.
  • Wu, J. 2003. “From “Long Yang” and “Dui Shi” to Tongzhi: Homosexuality in China.” Journal of Gay & Lesbian Psychotherapy 7 (1–2): 117–143.
  • Xie, Y., and M. Peng. 2018. “Attitudes Toward Homosexuality in China: Exploring the Effects of Religion, Modernizing Factors, and Traditional Culture.” J Homosex 65 (13): 1758–1787.
  • Yarhouse, M. 2001. “Sexual Identity Development: The Influence of Valuative Frameworks on Identity Synthesis.” Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training 38 (3): 331–341.
  • Zheng, T. 2015. Tongzhi Living: Men Attracted to Men in Postsocialist China. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
  • Zhongxin, S., J. Farrer, and K.-H. Choi. 2006. “Sexual Identity among Men Who Have Sex with Men in Shanghai.” China Perspectives 2006 (2):1–15.
  • Zhu, J. 2016. “Bufangbian chouyang zhongguo dalu nantong pianhun yanjiu de fangfalun qishi” [Inconvenient Sampling: Methodological Implications of an Ethnographic Study on “Gay Men’s Marriage Fraud” in Mainland China.” China Youth Study 10: 30–33.
  • Zhu, J. 2018. “‘Unqueer' Kinship? Critical Reflections on 'Marriage Fraud' in Mainland China.” Sexualities 21 (7): 1075–1091.

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.