LOVE IN TIME OF CENSORSHIP

Chinese women are turning to Thai Boys' Love media as a form of symbolic resistance and emotional escape

- STORY: THANA BOONLERT

I Told Sunset About You (2020).

Women negotiate with China's repression of queer romance through consumption of Thai boys' love (BL), according to research by Xiaoping Wu.

"As media is regulated in China, I am wondering how Chinese fans consume Thai BL," said Wu.

Wu presented her dissertation for a master's degree at Thammasat University's Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication on Feb 25. Her study is based on academic research, interviews, and participation in online and offline communities. In this way, she adopts the position of academic fan.

Her study coincides with China's crackdown on obscene materials, with a mass arrest of writers, mostly women, who had published their work on a literature platform known for BL. They were accused of violating China's pornography law, which targets explicit description of gay sex or sexual perversions. Those who earn a profit could face a jail term of over 10 years.

Earlier, Chinese BL had a cult following at home and abroad. The Untamed (2019), for example, catapulted Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo into stardom. Critics said the genre provided an outlet for women to express female desire, which is seen by authorities as subversive of their roles associated with marriage and motherhood.

Wu traced the development of Chinese BL, known as danmei, in the 1990s to Japan, where yaoi literature emerged in the 1970s. At the heart of its narrative tropes is the romantic relationship between male couples based on the seme (active) and uke (receptive) dichotomy, which generates jouissance among viewers.