title: Good Gay Buddies for Lifetime: Homosexually Themed Discourse and the Construction of Heteromasculinity Among Chinese Urban Youth.
abstract: Starting as an Internet meme, the homosexually themed gao-ji discourse recently became popular among Chinese urban youth in describing intimate relationships among heterosexual men. Positioned within a body of scholarship on the interplay between language, homophobia, and the construction of heteromasculinity, this article suggests that the gao-ji discourse manifests a form of male homosociality, through which new boundaries of Chinese heteromasculinity may be renegotiated. Based on qualitative interviews with college students, the article first tracks the genealogy of the gao-ji discourse in the wake of China's booming Internet culture. The main body focuses on unpacking the daily use of the gao-ji discourse, with an attention to the two latent functions it serves (i.e., expanding heteromasculine behaviors and reiterating heteromasculine identities). In conclusion, I argue that the prevalence of the gao-ji discourse mainly resolves straight men's anxieties against the background of growing public awareness of homosexuality; therefore, it cannot necessarily translate into social acceptance of homosexuality.
authors: a School of Social Development , East China Normal University , Shanghai , China.
authors: Wei
authors: W
authors: Wei
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002681:China; D003469:Culture; D033062:Friends / Q000523:psychology; D020010:Heterosexuality / Q000523:psychology*; D063509:Homophobia / Q000523:psychology*; D018451:Homosexuality, Male / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D057228:Masculinity; D012929:Psychological Distance; D000072339:Sexual and Gender Minorities; D013334:Students; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: China; Internet meme; gao-ji; heteromasculinity; homosexually themed discourse; popular culture; urban youth