Spatialities of queer globalization: Middle- and working-class Hong Kong gay men’s subjective constructions of homophobia
This article formulates a class critique that fosters productive tensions between global queering discourses and a Chinese homophobic order affecting Hong Kong and other ethnic Chinese societies. Vis-à-vis middle- and working-class Hong Kong gay men’s subjective constructions of homophobia, the findings demonstrate that class was configured through different geographical referents of everyday queer struggle, namely the West and China, with which my informants compared Hong Kong. This spatial manifestation of class was the result of an unequal cosmopolitan condition which enabled my middle-class informants to see, while excluding their working-class counterparts from seeing, Hong Kong as a gay-friendly city. Drawing on the geography of sexuality and the sociology of class and mobility, this article argues that Hong Kong is a significant site for understanding multidirectional flows of queer globalization.
Publication date
1 Jan 2021 – 31 Dec 2021
Journal title, volume/issue number, page range
Sexualities 24(4): 636-653
ISSN
1363-4607
URL of article
Specialisation
Social Sciences
Theme
Human Rights
Globalisation
Gender and Identity