scholarly journals The trouble with tongzhi

Pragmatics ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew D. Wong
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Sexual Minorities ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Gay Rights ◽  
Internal Resistance ◽  
Political Efficacy ◽  
Gay And Lesbian ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Communist China ◽  
History Of

A general address term in Communist China, tongzhi ‘comrade’ was appropriated by gay rights activists in Hong Kong to refer to members of sexual minorities. Examining its level of acceptance among non-activist gay and lesbian Hongkongers, this article argues that non-activists’ ideology about sexuality accounts for their rejection of tongzhi and their preference for strategies that leave same-sex desire unspecified. This study demonstrates how the discursive history of a label can both enable and impede its political efficacy. It also sheds light on the internal resistance that representatives of minority groups encounter when introducing new labels for those they supposedly speak for.

The Political Economy of LGBT Rights

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott N. Siegel
Keyword(s):  
Policy Change ◽  
Gay Rights ◽  
Equal Treatment ◽  
Gay And Lesbian ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
The World ◽  
Lgbt Politics ◽  
Lgbt Community ◽  
Gay Rights Movement ◽  
Developed World

Equal treatment for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community has improved at a rapid pace around the world since the gay rights movement first rose up to become a salient global force for change. With important regional exceptions, laws criminalizing same-sex sexual relations have not only come down in multiple countries, but same-sex couples can now also construct families in many advanced industrialized countries. Public acceptance of homosexuality, even in some non-Western countries, has increased dramatically. Yet, within those general trends hides the remarkable unevenness in the spread and adoption of policies fostering legal, social, and economic equality for LGBTQ communities around the world. Policy change toward more equal treatment for sexual minorities is concentrated in the developed world and within the cisgender gay and lesbian communities in particular. The existing literature in policy change shows the importance of transnational activists, changing international norms, and increasing levels of secularization have made this possible. But the effectiveness of these factors rests on an underlying foundation of socioeconomic factors based on economic and social development that characterizes advanced industrialized states. There is an uneven distribution of resources and interests among pro and anti-LGBT activist groups alike, and the differing levels of economic development in which they operate that explains the decidedly uneven nature of how LGBTQ human rights have advanced in the past 50 years. In addition, new political parties and activist organizations have emerged to lead the backlash against LGBTQ rights, showing progress is neither inevitable nor linear. In addition, serious gaps in what we know about LGBT politics remain because of the overwhelming scholarly focus on advanced industrialized states and policies that benefit the cisgender, gay and lesbian middle class in primarily Western societies. The study of LGBT politics in non-Western and developing countries is woefully neglected, for reasons attributed to the nature of the research community and the subject area. In the developed world, greater attention is needed to inequality within the LGBTQ community and issues beyond same-sex marriage. Finally, issues of intersectionality and how different groups within the LGBT community have enjoyed most of the benefits of the gay rights movement since its takeoff more than 50 years ago.

scholarly journals The New African Queer Aesthetics

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin P. Botha
Keyword(s):  
Broad Spectrum ◽  
Sexual Attraction ◽  
Gay And Lesbian ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
African Countries ◽  
African Cinema ◽  
History Of

THE PORTRAYAL OF HOMOSEXUALITY IN INTERNATIONAL CINEMA      The purpose of this article is to discuss images and visual portrayals of openly gay characters in African cinema in countries sometimes characterised by homophobia. My intention is to discuss these images and portrayals within the contexts of the societies and film structures in which they were created. I attempt to provide a balance between a background on the history of gay and lesbian lives in specific African countries and a brief overview of the history of gay films. I defined homosexuality as a broad spectrum of psychological, emotional and sexual variables in a state of interplay between people of the same sex .(1) Homosexuality, for me, is not only sexual attraction between people of the same sex, but it also includes an emotional as well as a physical bond, a fantasy system, and elements of symbolism, eroticism...

The invention of tradition: Same-sex marriage and its discontents in Hong Kong

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 539-562
Author(s):  
Marco Wan
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Sexual Orientation ◽  
Gay Rights ◽  
Civil Servant ◽  
Marriage Equality ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
Tax Assessment ◽  
Traditional Marriage ◽  
The Government

Abstract In Leung Chun Kwong v. Secretary for the Civil Service, the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal held that the government unlawfully discriminated against a gay civil servant by refusing to recognize his same-sex marriage—entered into abroad—when considering the granting of local spousal benefits and joint tax assessment. The year before, in QT v. Director of Immigration, the court had ruled against the government for denying the partner of a British lesbian a dependant visa on the basis of her sexual orientation. QT and Leung Chun Kwong are landmarks in the rapidly evolving jurisprudence on same-sex marriage in the territory. This article presents an analysis of the Hong Kong cases relating to gay rights and same-sex marriage. It contends that, even though the need to protect traditional marriage is cited as a reason against marriage equality in many jurisdictions, the claim is particularly problematic in Hong Kong, given the city’s unique marriage history. It draws on the historian Eric Hobsbawm’s notion of “the invention of tradition” to argue that the rhetoric of traditional marriage conjures up an imagined past that displaces a vast and varied set of long-standing marital practices. By exploring government reports and records pertaining to Chinese marriages in colonial Hong Kong, this article then examines these forgotten traditions and demonstrates their significance for understanding the marriage equality debate in the territory in our own time.

scholarly journals The New Gay and Lesbian Partnership Law in Germany

1969 ◽  
pp. 573
Author(s):  
Greg Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Gay And Lesbian ◽  
The Political ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Federal Constitutional ◽  
History Of ◽  
Interdependent Relationships ◽  
German Federal Constitutional

This article explores the recently-enacted German registered partnerships law: An Act To End Discrimination Against Same-Sex Partnerships. The Author first considers the range of options open to a legislature wishing to recognize same-sex unions partnerships. The author then critically and thoroughly analyzes the legislation: he gives a brief history of the political developments leading to the legislation and the important effect of these developments on shaping the Act as it came into force on 1 August 2001; provides timely legal commentary on controversial provisions and omissions of the Act; and contrasts the legislation with Alberta's Adult Interdependent Relationships Act The various constitutional challenges to the Act, and the German Federal Constitutional Court's response to these arguments are explored, with some discussion of the possible implication of the German issues to the Canadian situation.

Gay Marriage in an Era of Media Visibility

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leigh Moscowitz
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Gay Rights ◽  
The United States ◽  
Gay Marriage ◽  
Gay And Lesbian ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
Gay Rights Movement

This book examines how media coverage helped to define and shape the gay marriage debate as well as gay rights activism during the period 2003–2012. Through an analysis of media reports and in-depth interviews with leaders of the modern gay rights movement, it investigates how media frames and activist discourses evolved surrounding the issue of same-sex marriage. It looks at the aims and challenges of leading gay rights activists who sought to harness the power of mainstream news media to advocate for their cause and reform images of their community. It also considers how gay and lesbian rights groups attempted to shape coverage of the same-sex marriage debate, and what images and narratives about gay and lesbian life activists foregrounded. Finally, it discusses ways in which media attention surrounding the gay-marriage issue reshaped the structure, organization, and goals of the contemporary gay rights movement. This introduction provides an overview of the legal and political contexts of gay marriage in the United States, the rise of gay-themed media, and the research approach and plan of the book.

scholarly journals The Negotiation Between Queer Spectatorship and Queer Text on Riri Riza’s Soe Hok Gie

ATAVISME ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Maimunah Maimunah
Keyword(s):  
Personal Experience ◽  
Sexual Minorities ◽  
Physical Contact ◽  
Gay And Lesbian ◽  
Young Generation ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Sexual Diversity ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Social Commitment ◽  
Private Spaces

The emergence of young generation filmmakers who are more confident in depicting gender and sexual issues after the Soeharto era (1998), significantly changes the construction of sexual diversity in 2003-2006 Indonesian films. One of the considerable phenomena is the personal experience and social commitment to support sexual minorities such as gay and lesbian issues. At the same time Indonesian queer communities strive to read the discourse of homosexuality in different way. Physical contact and even intimacy between persons of the same-sex, in both public and private spaces, was common practice in Indonesian cultures, and did not carry any suggestion of homoerotic desire. In this Riri Riza’s film, Soe Hok Gie, however, cinematic technique, narrative and dialogue all contribute to an eroticising of same-sex relationships that is particularly perceptible in cultures that previously regarded physical and emotional interactions between persons of the same-sex as unremarkable. This article based on Benshoff and Griffin’s (2006) theory on queer film. Abstrak: Perkembangan film Indonesia setelah tumbangnya rezim Soeharto menunjukkan adanya fenomena di kalangan sutradara muda untuk mengeksplorasi tema tentang gender dan seksualitas. Isu tentang seksual minoritas seperti seksualitas gay dan lesbian adalah salah satu ciri yang cukup menonjol dalam film-film yang diproduksi setelah tahun 2003. Pada saat yang sama, penonton queer (seksualitas nonnormatif) terutama yang berasal dari komunitas queer membaca scene sebuah film terutama yang menampilkan kontak fisik dan keintiman antara orang-orang sesama jenis dengan cara yang baru. Dalam tradisi budaya Indonesia, kontak fisik dan keintiman itu tidak diterjemahkan dalam sebuah hubungan homoerotika . Pembacaan yang berbeda ditunjukkan pembaca dalam film Soe Hok Gie karya Riri Riza. Artikel ini menggunakan teori Queer Film yang dikemukakan oleh Benshoff dan Griffin (2006). Kata-Kata Kunci: queer spectatorship, homoerotisisme, Soe Hok Gie

Language Onset and Concomitant Speech and Language Problems in Subgroups of Stutterers and Their Siblings

1982 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 482-486 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin A. Seider ◽  
Keith L. Gladstien ◽  
Kenneth K. Kidd
Keyword(s):  
Family History ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Speech And Language ◽  
Negative Family History ◽  
Late Talkers ◽  
Language Problems ◽  
History Of ◽  
Language Onset

Time of language onset and frequencies of speech and language problems were examined in stutterers and their nonstuttering siblings. These families were grouped according to six characteristics of the index stutterer: sex, recovery or persistence of stuttering, and positive or negative family history of stuttering. Stutterers and their nonstuttering same-sex siblings were found to be distributed identically in early, average, and late categories of language onset. Comparisons of six subgroups of stutterers and their respective nonstuttering siblings showed no significant differences in the number of their reported articulation problems. Stutterers who were reported to be late talkers did not differ from their nonstuttering siblings in the frequency of their articulation problems, but these two groups had significantly higher frequencies of articulation problems than did stutterers who were early or average talkers and their siblings.

Rebellious Wallflowers and QueerTangueras: The Rise of Female Leaders in Buenos Aires’ Tango Scene

2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-197
Author(s):  
Juliet McMains
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Buenos Aires ◽  
Female Leaders ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Overlapping Communities ◽  
Heterosexual Women ◽  
Bisexual And Transgender ◽  
History Of

This paper interrogates the history of same-sex dancing among women in Buenos Aires' tango scene, focusing on its increasing visibility since 2005. Two overlapping communities of women are invoked. Queer tangueras are queer-identified female tango dancers and their allies who dance tango in a way that attempts to de-link tango's two roles from gender. Rebellious wallflowers are women who practice, teach, perform, and dance with other women in predominantly straight environments. It is argued that the growing acceptance of same-sex dancing in Argentina is due to the confluence of four developments: 1) the rise of tango commerce, 2) innovations of tango nuevo, 3) changing laws and social norms around lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights, and 4) synergy between queer tango dancers and heterosexual women who are frustrated by the limits of tango's gender matrix. The author advocates for increased alliances between rebellious wallflowers and queer tangueras, who are often segregated from each other in Buenos Aires' commercial tango industry.

Collective References and Identity Threat among Lebanese and Lebanese-Armenians in the Context of Continuous Intergroup Conflict

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucy R. Tavitian ◽  
Michael Bender ◽  
Fons J. R. Van de Vijver ◽  
Athanasios Chasiotis ◽  
Hrag A. Vosgerichian
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
Identity Management ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Minority Group ◽  
Intergroup Conflict ◽  
Identity Threat ◽  
Identity Processes ◽  
Identity Threats ◽  
History Of ◽  
Sectarian Group

How people deal with adversity, in terms of threats to their social or ethnic identity has been extensively investigated. However, most studies have focused on samples (e.g. minority groups) from prototypical Western contexts. It is unclear how individuals perceive and deal with identity threats within non-Western plural contexts characterized by intergroup conflict. We therefore assess whether self-affirmation by recalling a past success can buffer against identity threat in the plural, non-Western context of Lebanon. In two studies we investigate how threats are negotiated at a national (Lebanon) (Study 1) and ethnic minority (Armenian) level (Study 2). In Study 1, we show that in a context characterized by a history of intergroup conflict, a superordinate national identity is non-salient. When investigating the content of memories of a sectarian group in Study 2, we find a hypersalient and chronically accessible ethnic identity, a pattern specific to Armenian Lebanese. We suggest that this hyper-salience is employed as a spontaneous identity management strategy by a minority group coping with constant continuity threat. Our findings point to the importance of expanding the study of identity processes beyond the typically Western contexts and in turn, situating them within their larger socio-political and historical contexts.

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