The Issue of Gay Men in Marriage to Women in China

Abstract

Gay mens marriages with females are a social phenomenon that happens in conservative regions and countries lacking gay marriage legislation. These regions and countries restrict the sexual orientation expression of LGBTQ people and try to discipline them to accept the heterosexual marriage. On account of patriarchal society and the emphasis of offspring, Chinese gay people not only suffer from social discrimination, but are also forced to finish marriage and carry on the family line by their parents. This pressure sometimes results in a deceptive marriage. In a deceptive marriage, gay men hide their sexual orientation and deceive their wives to reproduce. Therefore, gays wife become reproductive machines and victims of deceptive marriages. This paper chooses baidu tieba as a virtual field and observes the situations of gays wife in the forum. A part of the participants in forum have known that they are victims of deceptive marriage, but most the forum members just suspect their husbands are gay and are stricken with anxiety. Through observation of gays wife groups, this paper analyses three problems: the AIDS risk, twofold oppression of patriarchy, and demonization of homosexuality. It applies dramaturgy proposed by Goffman to analyse the causes and puts forward suggestions for the three problems.