On Not to be Gay: Aversion therapy and transformation of the self in Postsocialist China

H Bao

doi:10.5195/hcs.2012.103

Abstract

In this article, through a critical reading of the published diaries written by gay ‘patients’ who received aversion therapy in south China in the 1990s, I examine how the transformation of subjectivities from gay to straight was made possible by such ‘self-technologizing’ practices as writing and communication. I also consider the centrality of the body and affect in the process of subject (trans)formation, and ask how a new, coherent and authentic ‘self’ was fabricated through bodily and affective experiences. This discussion not only reveals the social construction of the self as central to China’s postsocialist governmentality, but also the central role that gender and sexuality play in processes of self-formation.

Highlights

This article is constructed around a critical reading of the diaries of Chinese gay men who were the subjects of aversion therapy—a form of medical treatment which aimed to turn gay people into straight— in south China in the 1990s.2 In framing these narratives in the light of the history of what is often referred to in academic research and modern literature as “queer desire”, I want to explore how the transformation of subjectivities was made possible by a series of political, social and cultural factors other than the medical treatment itself, and how a sexual self was constructed in the process shaped by these wider cultural forces
I shall first provide a brief account of how aversion therapy was practiced in China in the 1990s by citing from a gay man’s diary in which he recounted his experience of this form of therapy
I return to the historical and social background for the emergence of gay identity in post-Mao China. When reading these gay patients’ diaries, I focus on the centrality of ideas about the self framed by the imperative of “knowing the self” and “transforming the self”

Summary

Introduction

This article is constructed around a critical reading of the diaries of Chinese gay men who were the subjects of aversion therapy—a form of medical treatment which aimed to turn gay people into straight— in south China in the 1990s.2 In framing these narratives in the light of the history of what is often referred to in academic research and modern literature as “queer desire”, I want to explore how the transformation of subjectivities was made possible by a series of political, social and cultural factors other than the medical treatment itself, and how a sexual self was constructed in the process shaped by these wider cultural forces. This article is constructed around a critical reading of the diaries of Chinese gay men who were the subjects of aversion therapy—a form of medical treatment which aimed to turn gay people into straight— in south China in the 1990s.2. In framing these narratives in the light of the history of what is often referred to in academic research and modern literature as “queer desire”, I want to explore how the transformation of subjectivities was made possible by a series of political, social and cultural factors other than the medical treatment itself, and how a sexual self was constructed in the process shaped by these wider cultural forces. It points to the multiple ways that governing strategies might fail in their operations as well as the complexities to policy construction when seeking to engage with identity

Aversion Therapy in Postsocialist China

Narrating the Self in Post-Mao China

Diary Writing as a Biographical Technology of the Self

Conclusion