The growing number of Tongqi,straight women who are married to closeted gay men, has become a social problem in China. Just give you a general idea, about 90% of gay Chinese men marry a heterosexual woman. Sexologist and sociologist Li Yinhe believes there are 20 million male homosexuals in China, 80% of whom marry a woman.
Compared with the US, I think East Asian countries care more about families and offspring. Many parents, even when they know their sons are gays, will force their sons into marriages to have grandchildren. There are also many cases that gay men use sham marriages to have kids. Vice has a comprehensive report on the topic. In China, millions of straight women have married deeply closeted gay men–and many only find out about their partner's sexuality after the wedding. What is life like for tongqi and the men that they marry?
I think this is super interesting in relation to China's existing issues surrounding gender, including gender inequality, gender gap due to the one-child policy etc.
ReplyDeleteI can understand why many people in China show no support for the LGBT movement. The case of Tongqi just shows how gay men are exploiting women and enjoying all special rights. As long as the society values offspring and nuclear family, it will be difficult to improve the current situation.
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